Exploring Faith: A Personal Journey Through Pascal's Wager

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Pascal’s wager states “even under the assumption that God’s existence is unlikely, the potential benefits of believing are so vast as to make betting on theism rational” (Saka). This was the most influential philosophy to me throughout the course. When the subject of theology was brought up in class, I was nervous but also intrigued. I was born into an uncommon kind of household with two atheist parents. My family celebrated Christmas and Easter but we never made any holiday directly about God. For the majority of my adolescence I identified as an atheist without any knowledge of any religious beliefs except the most prominent basics of Christianity and Judaism. My parents did, however, express to me why they thought religion was bad. I was told it was just an excuse for fighting, ignorance, control, and that it was all fantasy. They always allowed me to make my own decision on this …show more content…

I was receiving new information from all perspectives when, for all my life, I was only given one side. Different parts of the course applied to the different beliefs I had. Some topics appealed to my atheistic side, and others gave me new ideas about the possibility of there being more than just mortal humans. I have always believed in souls but where they go after the body dies is still an incomplete idea for me. Plato’s view of the self being synonymous with the soul and the immortality of souls is the closest thing I can agree with regarding souls. The dispute between mind and body and which is superior made me think about my current existence and my existence after my body dies. Regardless of the body, I believe that the mind is superior but the two do work together. I had never even thought of the possibility of there being only a body but I do understand how someone could think that. Thinking from the opposing perspectives and getting different views helped me find out what I personally believed to be

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