Response to Religion and Theology by JR

Logic and rationality demand that one believe in God. If you analyze it logically, you will see this to be true.

When it comes to God’s existence there are only two possibilities. Either God exists or he doesn’t. Further, either you believe or you don’t (some might argue that “maybe” or "agnostic", is another option, but that is essentially the same as "don’t believe" and doesn’t really change the analysis other than to complicate it a bit). Given these choices there are four possible outcomes. If one believes in God and there is a God that results in a beneficial outcome. If one believes and there is no God, then the outcome is neither good nor bad. On the other hand if one chooses not to believe and there is a God, the outcome is negative in nature. If one does not believe in God and he doesn’t exist, the outcome is neither good nor bad. I’ve tried to create a logic chart to show the possibilities, hopefully it works.

......................God.........No God
Believe........Positive..........NA

Don’t.........Negative..........NA
Believe

As you can see, the only positive result occurs if you believe in God and there is a God. But whether you are right or wrong about the existence of God, there is no downside to believing. However, there is a downside if you don’t believe and you’re wrong, but there is no upside to not believing. The best you can hope for is a neutral result. Given these possibilities the logical and rational choice is to believe because it is the only choice where you can win.

Therefore, believing is the logical and rational thing to do. Of course believing in God is not the same thing as believing in a religion. This is a much more personal and spiritual decision and hence, less logical. But there are some logical things one can do to narrow the choices when picking a religion. First if the religion says it doesn’t matter what religion you believe in or doesn’t require anything from you, look elsewhere. Logically, if it doesn’t matter what you believe in or do, then you can go elsewhere and get the same results. Second, if the religion teaches you to do morally repugnant things, like killing, enslaving, robbing, or cutting of the heads of nonbelievers, then you should go elsewhere (this disqualifies Islam and the religion of the Maya and Aztecs). Now you’re left with the problem discussed in the blog, finding something that you can believe in from what is left. Not an easy task perhaps, but not impossible.

Many people simply give up too soon, or buy in to the idea that everything is a fairy tale and therefore the religion is false. Sometimes they accept a false premise and reject everything based on that. For example, take the story of creation in the bible. Many Christians believe the universe was created in 6 days of 24 hours, but the text doesn’t say this at all. How do we know this? Because days and nights are not created until “day” three. How long were the “days” of creation? The Bible doesn’t say, it could have been seconds or billions of years. The interesting thing is that the story actually mirrors quite well the modern scientific theories. Of course, there may be errors in religion, but that doesn’t mean that you give up on it anymore than you give up on science because some of the accepted theories turn out to be wrong (remember the earth as the center of the universe theory).

Now, I don’t believe that someone is going to hell because they don’t believe. My religion certainly never taught that. It makes no sense that a murderer who believes would go to heaven, while a saint who is an atheist goes to hell. If God exists I suspect he has a better sense of justice than that. Further, if he exists, he would surely expect people question and seek truth because it would eventually lead one to the right place (so long as we remember that we don’t know everything). Seeking truth may not lead where one likes, but it doesn’t have to lead to Atheism.

One other thing, one should not confuse the person next to you with the religion. My religion suits me and I find it quite rational, but not everyone sees things the same way nor is it possible that they do so. The person next to me doesn't make or break a religion. Everyone learns at a different rate. As long as they’re trying to be better people that’s a good thing.

2 comments:

  1. Good to hear from Eugene but I think that he has just reinvented Pascal's wager

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  2. I wasn't familiar with Pascal's wager, but it made an interesting read. Thanks JR.

    Of course the point is that believing in God is a rational position to take (although I doubt that many think of it in those terms). The debate comes after that.

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