Who made the following statement about what happens after death? HELP read the d

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Question:

I can't remember the name of the person who said something like: If you live your life as a good person and die and there is God, you go to heaven and are rewarded!. If you live your life as a good person and die and there is no god, you have not lost anything and were just a good person!. i thought it was Pythagoras who said it but i can not find it anywhere!. I thought it was called the Theory of Relativity!. please help!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

You are probably thinking of Pascal's Wager!.

Pascal argues first of all that it is not possible to know reasonably if there is a god or not!. The god he's thinking of is entirely unlike ourselves so that we have no possible point of reference, but this god does insist that we sacrifice our will and happiness for the promise of an eternal reward!.

So Pascal suggests that it is rather like a wager!. You are betting your life, your will, and your happiness!. And there are two possible outcomes of the bet, as he sees it: either there is the kind of god he's thinking of or there isn't!.

If there is no god, those who believe will have sacrificed their life, will, and happiness for nothing!. They will probably have lived a good life, but not the one filled with hedonistic pleasure that an unbeliever might have had!.

On the other hand, if there is a god, those who believe will win not just one or two extra lifetimes full of happiness, but an ENTERNITY!. Those who didn't believe will get nothing!. (Pascal in his wager doesn't even have them thrown into eternal torment, which is pretty generous by some religious standards!.)

Given that the winnings for believers are infinite, Pascal thinks it's a no-brainer!. Especially since he considers the outcomes to be of equal merit - since we have no way to tell if there's a god of his kind or not, he rates them as being equally likely!.

Of course, there are counterarguments to many of the assumptions made in the wager, as well as elaborations taking into account Hell, other gods of other kinds, and so on!. But just the above is what Pascal himself referred to!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I think you are thinking of Blais Pascal!. Rebuttal to him: Believe may lead one to live happily now and not wait until "after the grave"!. Not committing one way or the other seems a hell to me!. Www@QuestionHome@Com