It's Dangerous To Go About Your Life Assuming Zeus Won't Punish You For Eternity

Our lives are based on assumptions. I remember a conversation between a Christian and an atheist. The Christian assumed that the Bible was true, and that he would go to heaven when he died. The atheist assumed that the Bible wasn’t true, and that when you’re dead, you’re dead.

Finally, the atheist said, “So, what happens if you live your Christian life and at the end of it you discover that I was right and you were wrong?”

The Christian replied, “I will have lived a good life and I will die.”

Then the Christian asked, “But, what if I’m right and you’re wrong?”

The atheist thought for a moment before saying, “Then I will have made the worst possible mistake of all of eternity.”

Our assumptions shape our thinking about everything in life. But if our assumptions are wrong – the results are eternal.

Nope. Wrong. Atheists have already answered Pascal's Wager probably a million times over in an hundred different ways, but apparently it still has no affect on people regurgitating it over and over and over like they discovered the human genome or something. HaHA! Checkmate Atheist!

Off the top of my head, here are just a few answers that an actual atheist would have responded to "What if the Christian is right and you're wrong?" none of which include "Then I will have made the worst possible mistake of all eternity." ...

1. What if we're both wrong, and Muslims are right? There's aren't just 2 choices here. And further, if Muslims are right, I believe Allah would be even even more angry at your false-god Jesus love, that he would an atheist's disinterest in the whole thing.

2. Assuming the bible is true takes faith. You don't have to believe anything on insufficient evidence to assume the bible isn't true.

3. Belief is not directly subject to the will. I can't just self-induce myself into theistic belief. Thus, if i got up to the pearly gates, i imagine a true god would be aware i was just pretending to believe, and pretty unimpressed by this.

Prepare Your Mind By Closing It Off

A common report from police officers, fire fighters and soldiers is that they survived an unexpected attack because their earlier training “kicked in.” I remember a TV interview with a soldier who said, "I was too scared to think. I just did what they trained me to do and it worked."

This is true in our spiritual lives as well. In fact, the Bible instructs us, “Prepare your minds for action.”

That means anticipating the dangers or temptations that are apt to come our way and imagining in advance how we will respond.

Think about your values – what you believe in. Think through what it means to be faithful to God, to be honest, to avoid sexual temptation. The key point is to prepare in advance! Become spiritually strong before troubles arrive. Otherwise it may be too late.

The bible says "Prepare your mind for action" ... Let me translate here. By "action" the bible means learning. But it doesn't mean "prepare your mind for learning." It means "prepare your mind for encountering the danger of learning." The problem is Christianity already claims to have all the answers for everything. So the religious totally hate it when science goes around solving things with real evidence and reason that they pretended to already give you the answer for. Thus Christianity is kind of counting on you to close your mind off to new things prepare your mind for action.

Notice the random attack on sex once again as well... Awesome. Shame people about their human sexuality over and over.

I'd definitely suggest waiting until marriage for sex. That way you have a much greater chance of spending the rest of your life with someone you're sexually incompatible with. But that's just as well, since you should probably only have sex to procreate anyway. You can wait until heaven to experience pleasure. And god knows that there's no sex in heaven ... so there must be something even better than sex there. Maybe it's those chocolate strawberry crostatas from D'Amico & Sons? I'm not sure though, that's just a guess.

Spread the love of God? Gaaaaaaross

“Bloom where you are planted” is a familiar phrase. It’s a very pleasant idea but to me it raises a nagging question, “What does God want from me where I’m planted?” Or, put another way, “What’s the purpose of my life?”

Living your whole life without any understanding of what you are here for is sad. It’s kind of like a fruit tree that appears healthy but never grows any fruit. It looks good, but it misses out on what matters the most.

When you discover that your purpose is to show others the love of God in whatever place you are planted, then you will grow the fruit God has designed you to produce. Your attitude will change. You’ll be able to face disappointment with courage and accept success without pride as you reflect the love of God. Then you will truly bloom where you are planted!

Annnnnnnd we're back! Little hiatus there.

I have to say, this is a pretty big disappointment that the purpose of my life is to "show others the love of God," unless that's a euphemism for something, in which case, that sounds kinda sexy.

Note it's no mistake that this is common thread throughout most religions in history: It's not enough to just lie to your kids and immediate family about things you don't really know. You're mandated to go out and spread the great news to others. Why? Pretty obvious. The same reason the church is "against birth control." Gotta get as many subscribers as possible before logic and reason win out and you become another extinct religion buried in the mass grave that is mythology.

Also, God sure has a funny way of showing love. I generally don't give the people i love ultimatums backed with a threat of torture, but that's just me.