What "if" you are wrong

[Mock Turtle]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

If it mattered, that I should behave differently than what I believe to be the case - thus not acting as honestly as I can, and according to my beliefs - then I couldn't care less if I am wrong, given that this scenario would make existence a bit of a joke, and any God a rogue in disguise.

Given that God seems to have provided so many choices as to any path to Him.

 

[Ajax]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

You forgot the agnostics. The ones claiming -according to their brain that supposedly God gave them - that they can not possibly know if God exists, because he can not be proven, nor disproven. And therefore is irrelevant for them if God exists or not, but they live according to their own morality.

 

[Valjean]

I know you’re joking about the 100%. Even so, isn’t it a bit uncomfortable, this constant struggle to be right?

I find it better to be open to new learning, rather than attached to the rectitude of my current stock of knowledge, which is certain to be somewhat offbeat in any case.

But open to new learning is how one gains or corrects their "right" views, is it not?
Open to new = continually learning, incorporating state-of-the-art knowledge, as well as the latest research results.

 

[Valjean]

You forgot the agnostics. The ones claiming -according to their brain that supposedly God gave them - that they can not possibly know if God exists, because he can not be proven, nor disproven. And therefore is irrelevant for them if God exists or not, but they live according to their own morality.

If God gives us brains capable of critical analysis and reason, then provides no objective evidence of himself or his wishes, then punishes us for using the reasoning capacity He endowed us with to defer belief pending evidence... well, that's simply an unjust God, and our ultimate fate a roll of the dice.

 

[SalixIncendium]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

It won't for me. I'm usually wrong.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Well, if god does exist, I'm probably going to hell anyway. Ho-hum. What does Trip Advisor say about Hell?

In a cursory view, it looks like a nice little community with a lot of amenties rated 4 or 5 out of 5.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g668687-Hell_Michigan-Vacations.html

 

[bobhikes]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

Well the only way I'll find out is if I'm dead at that point there's nothing I can do, so no its not going to matter.

 

[SalixIncendium]

You forgot the agnostics. The ones claiming -according to their brain that supposedly God gave them - that they can not possibly know if God exists, because he can not be proven, nor disproven. And therefore is irrelevant for them if God exists or not, but they live according to their own morality.

It's interesting that you chose to speak for agnostics rather than Christians here. I'm curious as to why.

 

[Stevicus]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

I suppose being an agnostic is the only "right" answer here. To say "I don't know" is probably the most honest answer that anyone can give. How can that be wrong?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

Depends on the specific god(s).

... but how much does the question matter? Why would my assumptions about gods be the ones that I need to second-guess more than any others?

I mean, I go around assuming that, say, my apple juice doesn't have arsenic in it and that nobody's rigged a car bomb to my car. There's all sorts of things that I can worry about this way if I don't care about whether there's any substance to my worries.

 

[Balthazzar]

What if we knew we were wrong?

 

[MikeF]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

I'm in the non-believer camp. Given the vast variety and conflicting entity beliefs over the millennia, if I am wrong then it seems 99.9 % of believers are also going to be wrong. In that light, if I am wrong it will make no difference. If I am wrong it will still have been human beings trying to figure things out, making up rules by which to live and to live in society with one another and then enforcing those rules themselves, over these many millennia. Since it is clear that it is all down to us anyway, it seems that all that is left to us is to make the best of whatever *this* is. From my perspective anyway, I think we have been making slow and steady progress in this regard.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Good luck seeking to correct your views when you are dead lol

If someone after death somehow has the ability to recognize that they were wrong or experience consequences, why wouldn't they have the ability to correct their views?

 

[Valjean]

I suppose being an agnostic is the only "right" answer here. To say "I don't know" is probably the most honest answer that anyone can give. How can that be wrong?

Yet when we "I don't knowers" call ourselves atheist the religious seem to take issue with that.

 

[ChristineM]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

Nope it won't matter, I'll be dead.

 

[Balthazzar]

Nope it won't matter, I'll be dead.

What if you're wrong now?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I suppose being an agnostic is the only "right" answer here. To say "I don't know" is probably the most honest answer that anyone can give. How can that be wrong?

"I don't know" isn't agnosticism. Not by itself, anyway.

For it to be agnosticism, you'd need "I don't know because the existence of this god (or gods in general) is unknowable."

I'm not sure how that particular "meta" knowledge claim could ever be justified.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

What if you're wrong now?

If the atheists are wrong about the existence of gods but we haven't been able to tell that we're wrong, then it means those gods are generally irrelevant. It also means that most if not all religions are wrong.

 

[ChristineM]

What if you're wrong now?

There is no evidence that I'm wrong so I'm content.

Even if relyable evidence was shown it wouldn't matter to me, the big G God and many of the other claimed gods are depicted as genocidal maniacs. Just not the sort or thing i like to worship

 

[Soandso]

To all that believe a god does exist and those that believe(or lack belief) a god does not exist.....
What if you are wrong? Will it matter?

If I'm wrong, I'll adjust my beliefs in light of the best I have evidence at hand. I've been mistaken about other things in the past, so I anticipate that I'll be mistaken about other things in the future. I'm not that attached to my beliefs