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Friday, April 3, 2009

The Atheist's Wager


I received this comment today from the author of 11Myths and Truths on Atheism

The Atheist's Wager:
“It is better to live your life as if there are no Gods, and try to make the world a better place for your being in it. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, He will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in Him.”

Many people agree with the above statement. They believe that you if you have been a good person, you will go to Heaven. People say things like, "John was such a great neighbor, he gave food to the poor, he volunteered at the homeless shelters, and he always had a good thing to say - he will surly go to Heaven." Well, the Bible is very clear how to you can get to Heaven. The ONLY way is through Jesus Christ our Savior. You can't get to Heaven by just doing good deeds. You can't get a ticket on the Golden Highway to God because you were a good person. God, will not say, "Oh, you didn't believe in me that's okay... you were a good person, so come on up." If good deeds did earn your way to Heaven then Jesus died on the cross for nothing...

The Atheist's Wager unfortunately is a cope out. If a person is old enough to use this wager than they have been on Earth long enough to get know Christ. So saying, I will not believe in God because I just don't.... but if he does exist...I'm a good person..so he'll let me in.. It does NOT work that way...

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" this means that no one can live up to God's perfect way. We cannot save ourselves because as sinners we can never meet God's requirements. Our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ...

John 3:16 is another verse that spells it out "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.."

I did respond to my new atheist author friend, however, my comment has not posted....hmmm. All I said was basically what I said in this blog...but much less wordy... I also wished him the best in his research of religion.. ..Like I have said before...when he discovers God is real and accepts Jesus as his savior..what a mighty warrior he will be to glorify God's Kingdom..

4 comments:

Brian Westley said...

Sorry, Pascal's wager is a bad bet. You can't assume any particular god, so if (for example) you follow Christianity, you are violating one of the seven laws given to Noah (idolatry) if the Jews are really right, because if the Jews are right, Jesus is not a god, and worshipping Jesus constitutes idolatry.

Judy Dudich said...

Well...our benevolent God recognizes that we, in and of ourselves HAVE NO MERIT...but only through the grace and gift of JESUS CHRIST.
Also...his thought process does not lend itself to be in harmony with Christ's words: "for many will cry 'Lord, Lord', and I will say 'I know you not'"......this Scripture is speaking directly to the idea that 'all we have to do is be nice and perform good deeds and we will go to Heaven'...Jesus' admonishment above tells us that is not true.
May our prayers for that young man and all others who do not believe...bring God's Mercy upon them that in their dying moments, (or hopefully BEFORE) they WILL accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

Anonymous said...

A man persuaded against his will reamins unconvinced.
Do not worry, just plant seeds.
J.

Brian Westley said...

our benevolent God recognizes that we, in and of ourselves HAVE NO MERIT...but only through the grace and gift of JESUS CHRIST.You are assuming what god exists in order for your theology to "win," but you have no reason to assume your god over anyone else's. As I said earlier, if the Jews are right, Christians are violating one of god's laws against idolatry.

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