"Believing in God to obtain some meaning in life or to avoid Hell is merely paying lip service. It is akin to pretending to believe out of fear. Will God not judge on such blatant insincerity and intellectual dishonesty? "
Resounding YES!, the God of the bible abhor (to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion; detest utterly;loathe; abominate) insincerity. Jesus took pain and risk to expose this hypocritical stand. He said "many will come calling him Lord, claiming doing many acts in his name....but he will deny knowing them". Unless the nobility comes from the internal, even the good deeds will be counted as filthy.
Intellectual dishonesty? To judge that a person who chose to be on the side on holding on a belief of God with such categorical condemnation, one must completely, absolutely know for sure that there is no God.
When Christopher Hitchens wanted to promote his book "God is not great", he wanted to have it debated. He could not find any other faith except the evangelical Christians, who organized the debate.(http://www.fixed-point.org/templates/theme184/pensees/An%20Unlikely%20Friendship.mp3). And many more such debates, with Peter Singer, Richard Dawkins and others. It is either being utterly stupid for the Christian to do so and continues to fund and organize or that we had found that the argument put on by the best had not being adequate, and we are putting the faith to the test. That is Intellectual Sincerity and Honesty
I have found the foundation of my faith robust, and allows me to consider it critically, as well as trying to see it through the eyes of others.
"Intellectual dishonesty? To judge that a person who chose to be on the side on holding on a belief of God with such categorical condemnation, one must completely, absolutely know for sure that there is no God. "
ReplyDeleteLest there be any misunderstandings, by no means was I insinuating that all Christians are intellectually dishonest. However, I make no apologies for asserting that believing in God out of fear or wishful thinking, or for personal gain, is intellectually dishonest.
You mentioned that one must examine his faith critically and rigorously. Robust faith can and should stand up to scrutiny and introspection.
I cannot see how one can be intellectually honest and undertake a critical examination of his faith (like you exhorted) while being morbidly fearful of death, of eternal suffering, of non existence*. Such negative emotion overrides rational thoughts and dampens the inquisitive mind, rendering one intellectually impotent when confronted by evidence (or lack thereof).
*Irrationality is a characteristic shared by believers and non believers alike.
"should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose"
ReplyDelete- even if you weren't to consider losing anything by living either way, isn't Pascal also wagering that living one certain way brings *gain*? so i mean, even if it is intellectually dishonest to live one way for 'fear' of the alternative consequences if it were true, it's not necessarily also morally dishonest..?
"even if you weren't to consider losing anything by living either way, isn't Pascal also wagering that living one certain way brings *gain*? so i mean, even if it is intellectually dishonest to live one way for 'fear' of the alternative consequences if it were true, it's not necessarily also morally dishonest..?"
ReplyDeleteI didn't quite get that, could you please re phrase the above?