What do you think of this quote

[Mirage]

I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.

--Albert Camus

I've just got into Mr. Camus, and found this quote, which surprised me. What do you all think of this? Would it be something you would live by? (I wouldn't personally, but...).

 

[Polaris]

I'm an atheist (a blasphemous one) but I think it would be cool to meet Thor or Anubis in person.

 

[kineaesth]

I'd like to meet Hephaistos. He could make me a sweet sword.

Or Loki. For tricks and that.

 

[Mirage]

I'm an atheist (the blasphemous one) but I think it would be cool to meet Thor or Anubis in person.

Hehe...well, Set is way more Badass.

 

[MJ12]

He has a good point.

 

[kineaesth]

He has a good point.

Whom?

 

[Mirage]

I think he meant the quote in my original post, not sure though.

 

[Emporius]

Pfft, Aphrodite all the way :naughty:

 

[Jintor]

It's associating 'lack of belief in a god' with 'immorality'... possibly. I dunno.

 

[MJ12]

The dude from the quote, KA

 

[Krynn72]

The only way the OP's quote can work is if pretending to believe in god is legit enough to actually count as having belief. His quote makes it seem like its a choice. An atheist cant just say "I believe in god" and then believe.

 

[Mirage]

Just to be clear, I don't support the quote, I just wondered what people's thoughts on it were.

 

[Jintor]

It's like some sort of bent Pascal's Wager?

 

[MJ12]

The way I look at the quote is basically he's saying he'd rather be happy believing in a God all his life, and not having it exist, than live his life believing in nothing, thus possibly making him miserable throughout his life, and then having it exist all along.

Of course, that's just the way I look at it.

 

[Hazar]

if you worshiped a generic god and there turned out to be a specific god wouldn't the specific god still be mad that you didn't worship it specifically?

 

[kineaesth]

if you worshiped a generic god and there turned out to be a specific god wouldn't the specific god still be mad that you didn't worship it specifically?

Probably. Zeus would be all '**** you when you slaughtered those animals you had their heads facing down, you moron. Don't you know anything about sacrificial ceremony? Now you're going to hell, or my version of it anyway. You dick.'

 

[theotherguy]

Yeah, that's a very quick summary of the "wager" philosophical argument for the existence of God. It's logical, certainly, but not particularly convincing either.

It isn't logical, because it fails to take into account the infinite possibility of other gods.

It's not a 50/50 wager, its more like a 1/infinity wager.

With an infinite number of possible gods, choosing the right one is practically impossible, and thus the wager means absolutely nothing.

 

[theotherguy]

The way I look at the quote is basically he's saying he'd rather be happy believing in a God all his life, and not having it exist, than live his life believing in nothing, thus possibly making him miserable throughout his life, and then having it exist all along.

Of course, that's just the way I look at it.

So, all of that wasted time, money and effort, not to mention living in shackles under a religious creed, that is worth the happiness that such ignorance provides?

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

The way I look at the quote is basically he's saying he'd rather be happy believing in a God all his life, and not having it exist, than live his life believing in nothing, thus possibly making him miserable throughout his life, and then having it exist all along.

Of course, that's just the way I look at it.

Why would an atheist have any greater possibility of being miserable than someone who believed in fairy tales? There are plenty of miserable religious people, I would wager more than atheists proportionately.

 

[Dinkleberry]

--Albert Camus

I've just got into Mr. Camus, and found this quote, which surprised me. What do you all think of this? Would it be something you would live by? (I wouldn't personally, but...).

What difference would it make?

 

[Blackthorn]

I like the quote. I myself am a strong believer in God, though in no strict religious sense. I also believe in Christ as an example of God's will on Earth, a person who's purity we can use as an example to better themselves. And I don't believe in fairytales, my beliefs are fully though-out and independently constructed as I was raised under no faith. My concept of God is more as a source of all life, and the very essence of goodness, not a judgmental overseer of humanity.

I'm often surprised by how hostile atheists can be towards my beliefs, especially on the internet where the most common faith seems to be the Church of Being a Total Ass. I'm not sure who I despise more, a narrow-minded atheist or religious nuts. Hell, I'll despise 'em equally.

A good religious quote is from Bill Hicks: "Christian, are ya? Then forgive me."

 

[Mirage]

What difference would it make?

Not much, just curious as to others opinions.

 

[kineaesth]

I like the quote. I myself am a strong believer in God, though in no strict religious sense. I also believe in Christ as an example of God's will on Earth, a person who's purity we can use as an example to better themselves. And I don't believe in fairytales, my beliefs are fully though-out and independently constructed as I was raised under no faith. My concept of God is more as a source of all life, and the very essence of goodness, not a judgmental overseer of humanity.

I'm often surprised by how hostile atheists can be towards my beliefs, especially on the internet where the most common faith seems to be the Church of Being a Total Ass. I'm not sure who I despise more, a narrow-minded atheist or religious nuts. Hell, I'll despise 'em equally.

A good religious quote is from Bill Hicks: "Christian, are ya? Then forgive me."

So you're all 'I'm Chwistian' and I got my attack gloves on, but then you're all 'I made up my mind myself, etc etc.' and I was all 'Oh, right. Okay.'

Now my gloves are back in my drawer.



Soon, my pets. Soon.

 

[Jintor]

I'm often surprised by how hostile atheists can be towards my beliefs, especially on the internet where the most common faith seems to be the Church of Being a Total Ass.

I'm going to go out and trademark that ASAP.

 

[Blackthorn]

Ah great, Jintor's gonna be a regular L. Ron Hubbard soon.

What have I created?! ;_;

 

[kineaesth]

Ah great, Jintor's gonna be a regular L. Ron Hubbard soon.

What have I created?! ;_;

J. Intor Hubbard.

maybe.

Scientology is for fags.

 

[Dinkleberry]

Not much, just curious as to others opinions.

Sorry, I think what I said was a bit ambigious - what I meant was... how would your moral path be different should you 1) "live life as if there is a God" or 2) "live life as if there isn't and die to find out there is"?

 

[Blackthorn]

That depends on how you use your belief in God. I'm sure there's plenty of terrible, terrible people who believe in God. On the other end, you have those such as Buddhist monks who use their belief to attain enlightenment. If any belief can make you a better person, go for it. Nothing can do it all for you though.

 

[Bad^Hat]

The only way the OP's quote can work is if pretending to believe in god is legit enough to actually count as having belief. His quote makes it seem like its a choice. An atheist cant just say "I believe in god" and then believe.

This is exactly why pascal's wager is a piece of shit. The argument is logical, but it requires a level of believe that's anything but.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Sorry if I sounded like an ass, I was more referring to the "literal translation" people who think the bible was typed up by god himself. There's a difference between being religious and being spiritual.

Do you believe in an afterlife? It would seem to me being conscious for all eternity would be tortuous.

 

[joule]

If there wasn't a God, you wouldn't know otherwise. The quote is flawed.

 

[Blackthorn]

(Assuming TechnoHippyChic's post is directed at me.)

I totally agree with your opinion on those who follow the Bible literally. To me it's a book like any other, it was wisdom, and it has flaws. To believe anything written by man can be the word of God is unbelievably arrogant. And my belief of the afterlife is simple: Our mortal form ceases to exist, our spirit/soul/life, whatever you want to call it, which is pure and therefore a part of God, returns and continues to exist eternally. Trying to think further than that is impossible.

 

[MJ12]

So, all of that wasted time, money and effort, not to mention living in shackles under a religious creed, that is worth the happiness that such ignorance provides?

Who said you had to chose a Religion that drains your money? And more importantly who said you had to follow a Religion to believe in God?

Why would an atheist have any greater possibility of being miserable than someone who believed in fairy tales? There are plenty of miserable religious people, I would wager more than atheists proportionately.

It's all perception, everyone is different.

 

[Hazar]

your avatar is awesome joule

 

[Geogaddi]

further reading : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_Wager

 

[Dinkleberry]

That depends on how you use your belief in God. I'm sure there's plenty of terrible, terrible people who believe in God. On the other end, you have those such as Buddhist monks who use their belief to attain enlightenment. If any belief can make you a better person, go for it. Nothing can do it all for you though.

I hear you. What's the net result of the consequences of peoples actions - do you think it works out the same no matter what they believe?

 

[Blackthorn]

Jeez there's a new post every second!

@Dinkleberry: My belief in God revolves around God being pure. If God is pure, God cannot judge and deny the return of someone's soul. That leads me to the conclusion that either our punishments for our actions are delivered in life purely on a karma-like basis, or that our human nature of being capable of evil acts somehow separates us from our soul, or destroys it.

 

[wrongworld]

The way I look at the quote is basically he's saying he'd rather be happy believing in a God all his life, and not having it exist, than live his life believing in nothing, thus possibly making him miserable throughout his life, and then having it exist all along.

Of course, that's just the way I look at it.

Totally agree, think thats the way it is meant also tho.

anyway i dont believe in such madness.
for me, GOD is the good around us, the good in ppl, ppl that can look outside themselves and think of others then themselves, ppl that are good hearted, got space for caring about others, well u get my point, and SATAN is, just the other way

but with that said, i dont hate ppl who really believe, even tho its for sure that there aint a GOD, religion can be a good thing for evolved spiesies like humans, but few religions that really can be seen as good all in all, and cristanity aint one of them, more like a religion in the line of Buddhisme.


look at it.
chistianity is saying if something good habbens to u, u have done something good, if something bad habbens to u, u done something bad:rolling:
whats that to put in kids head.

your mother died of heart failure.( kids head) what have i done God!?!?!?!

and u dont run around and kill ppl that dont believe in God like they did ages ago.

Science, evolution is not a theory, its not something u can believe in, evolution is truth!

kinda long post to this :E

 

[VirusType2]

if you worshiped a generic god and there turned out to be a specific god wouldn't the specific god still be mad that you didn't worship it specifically?

I always wondered. Who is really right? Didn't all of the early civilizations think they were right?

weren't they unfortunate that Jesus or any other 'modern' religious figure wasn't born yet?

I mean, what if the Egyptians had it right. DOH.

As a kid I thought - well it's better to not believe in any, than to believe in the wrong one right?

Besides, doesn't he forgive everything? So I'm sure he could forgive me for being wrong on this.


I think religion is the fall of man.

It's a fear of being mortal. An inability to accept that they (the individual) aren't any more special than any other living thing

Face up. I could die today and If I could see myself dead, I would be like, "aww man! I never got to do all these things." But then I'd realize that they don't matter anymore, because I'm dead. I can't be regretful if I'm dead and it's entirely my feeling to feel.

Talking about no longer being alive kind of upsets me right now, but I'm not going to go praying that I will live forever in some paradise.

I believe in right and wrong - using my personal opinions to decide which is which, and that's all I need.

 

[kineaesth]

I heard you started another ridiculous hl2.net religion debate that will eventually turn into flames and then be locked by... Sulkdodds.

If I was a betting fellow, I'd say Sulkdodds. Yup.