4.4.01

Hey all! Sort of an unusual entry for you tonight. I have a friend who checked out the site and he wanted to talk a little about my God/religion post a while back (2.27.01) and he had this to say:

"It is pretty much common knowledge that the only way to go to heaven is to believe in God. So if you do believe in God and there is a God.. then your set.. and go to heaven. But if there is no God and you do believe in God well no real loss. If you don't believe in God and there is a God... major loss. And if you don't believe in God and there is no God.. no real loss there either. So from this you can conclude that you should believe in God. But I know... we all laugh when I say that. If only it was that easy to believe in God... But shouldn't it be your goal or duty to learn about religion in case you do find something to believe in. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

(He commented that when he said "you" he was meaning it as a generic term like "he" or "she", saying it was just much easier to write that way. I don’t blame him one bit, in fact, I do it myself.)

This is idea from my good friend, who we’ll call "Nate X", is essentially what Blaise Pascal, a mathematician, scientist, inventor and Christian philosopher of the 1600’s, said. Believe it or not, but I first read about Pascal in the men’s magazine "Maxim" (January 2001 - the one with the hot redhead from "That ‘70’s Show" on the cover; page 69); and they said that magazine was only good if you wanted hairy palms. The statement in question by Blaise is called "Pascal’s Wager":

"God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up... Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, you knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose... But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is... If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is."

Seems pretty logical to me. I really don’t have a problem with this statement, despite what might have been taken from my posting in late February. Let me explain my position.

There are a few things I see that might be a problem with "Pascal’s Wager". One, which God is the right God? Is it Allah? Buddha? Ra, the Sun God? Is it Joe, the kid who puts away the returned video tapes at my local Blockbuster? You can say that Pascal was being an open-minded Christian and meant all gods, just so long as you believe in that god(s). First of all, you’re more likely to actually meet God than meet an open-minded Christian, especially back in the 1600’s. Secondly, if he was meaning any god, then he defeats the purpose of the argument.

For example, I can earnestly believe that Joe, the kid who puts away the returned videotapes at Blockbuster, is a god. I could believe in Joe’s powers of alphabetizing, in his ability to tell if a tape has been rewound, and take pride in knowing that some day, when I die, I will go to "Joe at Blockbuster’s Heaven" where every movie is in, there are no late fees and every movie has been categorized in what I think is the proper genre. See what I’m saying?

So, ok, then, let’s assume that the God in question is the Christian God and no other. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it takes more than just believing in God to get into heaven? If it doesn’t take more, why go to church? Just stay at home and sleep in on Sundays; as long as you believe in God, you’re going to make it past the velvet rope of heaven. (Yes, they have modernized; pearly gates were, like, sooooo 1200’s) We won’t get into the reasons why the church won’t let you simply believe, pray, and read the Bible and get into heaven because that’s a whole nother post. The point is, it requires more than just believing in God to get into heaven according to Christian teaching, which means that Pascal’s Wager isn’t quite as simple as it sounds.

This requirement by Christianity adds a whole new level to the argument. If it requires more than that to get into heaven, how do we know what’s the right way in God’s eyes? How strict of a judge is this guy anyway? Is it ok to skip church because the Super Bowl is on? Is it ok to kill in a Holy War, using God’s name as your righteous shield? Is it ok to steal if you really, really like the dress? What about David Koresh? He seemed to honestly believe in God; did he get in? What about Koresh’s followers? They believed in God; they believed that the Son of God was the man they were following. Do they get in, despite the fact that they were following false prophets and going against God’s word?

This "believe in God cus why not?" isn’t enough of an argument anymore. The situation is complicated because we are a more knowledgeable people. We aren’t ignorant serfs who are out tending the Baron’s fields anymore (Ok, I could go on all day about that analogy, but I’ll leave it at that). We can read now and interpret the Bible for ourselves; we don’t have to listen to priests who tell us that they are the only way to heaven; we are smart enough to think for ourselves. Does this mean we always use this high-powered intelligence? Hell no, but the ability is there and it’s up to the individual to decide to use it or not.

This is where we get into the second half of Nate X’s email - shouldn’t we research religion to see if any of it makes sense to us? Of course we should! That’s what I’m doing right now - looking into my possibilities. If you’re drawn to Christianity because of the way you were raised, start there; but don’t stop - even if you think you’ve found what you’re looking for. You never know what you’re going to find somewhere else. Maybe you’ll find a sect of Christianity that is more in line with your beliefs than what you were raised with. Maybe you’ll find that being Hindu is the right choice for you after all. Who knows? But don’t be afraid to question your beliefs.

People who refuse to question their beliefs obviously don’t believe them very strongly. They are weak and I would think this even applies to the eyes of God. If you never question - why should God believe you are a loyal follower and not just some dumb redneck who doesn’t even know why he believes what he does? If you never question, how are you ever going to be able to stand up against someone or something that threatens your beliefs? You have no way of defending them; no way of justifying them. Is this where faith takes over? Faith is needed, but you have to believe to have faith or else you have nothing. So, explore religion and you explore yourself; once you know yourself, the path to true happiness is aneasy one.

Another point - if the reward for believing in God is eternal life, doesn’t that seem a bit selfish? Doesn’t God want you to be humble? To not think yourself above anyone else created in His image? If you are given a reward, then it means you are better than someone who is not given that reward. Essentially, you’re striving to be better than someone else by doing more good deeds and singing more hymns and having more faith; to look better in God’s eyes than that loser Buddhist over there who’s going straight to hell. That doesn’t seem very Christian-like to me.

Along those same lines - why should a belief come with a reward? That sort of defeats the purpose of it, because the only reason you believe it is so you can have something in the end. I’d rather believe something because it makes sense to me, not because there MIGHT be a reward when I die.

So you’ve died and God says you’ve lived a good enough life to get in. Apparently that night in Toledo with the donkey and the bubble wrap isn’t on God’s "don’t" list, yet; he just hasn’t been to the same websites you have, huh? What good are you now? You’re an angel. You’re not going to be reincarnated. The only thing you can really do anymore that’s going to help anyone is come down and deliver a message from God. And, let’s face it, today delivering messages from God to a person might as well be the same as delivering messages from their poodle, Mitzy; either the person doesn’t believe it happened or they do believe it, upon which they are immediately thrown into a mental institution and doped up so heavily they can’t speak "a word", let alone "the word".

If you believe that you are to be reincarnated, at least you get another chance, right? You can correct your mistakes; you can make someone’s life better this time around. That’s why I’m digging Tao; when you die you become one with the Tao - you are in every wind that blows and every tree that grows. It’s not exactly a reward because you’re going to get there either way, but Taoism can at least help you lead a happier life while you’re still on earth. Whether it’s reincarnation or becoming part of the wind, at least you’re still doing something, contributing something back to the world, to the God, that gave you the chance to live. You’re not just hanging out with Elvis, singing his classic tunes which are really just old blues songs that he ripped off from Black artists anyway.

Now, despite everything I just said, I still believe, much like all religious teachings, this statement can be true with the right interpretation. I don’t have any problem with there being a God. I don’t care if you call him Allah, Ra, or Joe at Blockbuster. Personally, I find things in this universe that are waaaaay to freaky to be considered pure chance. So, there has GOT to be "someone" or "something" behind the wheel.

For example, I don’t have my Freshman Biology book handy, but I remember learning about a small flap of skin in a woman’s body. This flap of skin is, as I recall, so small it can’t even be seen by the human eye. Once a month, it waves gently, brushing up against the "gate" that leads to the ovaries. Once the "gate" feels this brush, it allows an egg to be released into the fallopian tube. Now tell me just how the fuck a single-celled paramecium somehow evolved that little flap, let alone all the other gooey stuff that makes up the human body.

What I’m trying to say is, that life is just way too amazing for everything to be one big cowinky- dink. To some, it’s God. To others, it’s Buddha or maybe Joe at Blockbuster made that flap before he put away all the "A thru C" returns. Hell, it could even be considered "nature" or, as I’m leaning towards right not "Tao". Dare I say it could even be "science"? Why couldn’t science be a god? When you’re faced with something like the "ovarian flap" (now THAT is a band name!), it takes a lot of faith to just believe that it was "science at work". Probably more faith because there's not nearly as much literature on the "ovarian flap" than there is on Jesus Christ.

So, I do have a problem with Pascal’s Wager when you look at it in the context of his day. However, I don’t have a problem with it if you look at from a modern, open-minded context. The real question is "What do you believe?" Honestly, who gives a shit what I believe? Why should what I say make any difference in your life? It shouldn't because I am not the voice of Joe at Blockbuster or any other god; I'm a normal guy just trying to make sense of life. If I say something that makes you think, then that makes me happy. If you think I should change the name of the site to "Full of Shit Monkey", then more power to you - there are a billion other websites to go read in the world.

In conclusion, I say believe in whatever God you want; as long as you’re not hurting anyone with your beliefs, go for it. If you’re hurting someone, either mentally or physically, you probably need to re- evaluate yourself anyway, because no God worth following would really want you to be cruel to his fellow creatures. If you really believe your God will someday deliver you into a better life - great. If you really don't care if you get eternal life, but just want to live better while on earth - great. Just believe something or you'll fall for anything.

I hope this clears some things up about my beliefs. Frankly, I hadn’t intended to get into this so directly, but Nate X’s email was just too intriguing to pass up. Thanks, Nate X, and good luck in your searchings. I’d love to know what you find.

Space Monkey