Surfing around today, I stumbled onto a blog on MySpace. Here is what he says:
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I've come to view Christianity this way. If i live right, do what the bible says, and die (which – face it, we all will someday) and there is no God … all i would of given up is a couple nights of partying… sex before marriage (cos you do get to have sex… all you have to do is wait…)
BUT…
If there is a God and he sent his son to die for us… and you haven't lived right. Do what the bible says you shouldn't… Who has more to lose?
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I hear this argument quite a bit, so I decided to take a minute to respond. Here is what I responded:
I find that sort of “Insurance” based belief to be a bit misleading. It works great if there are only two possibilities (Christianity or Nothing). But that isn't the case. Wikipeida's world religions category contains over 75 different entries, not including those in sub categories. Thus, in a purely statistical sense, by choosing Christianity, you have only a 1 in 76 chance in choosing correctly!
If your goal is to choose the spiritual path that will most likely help you avoid pain and suffering, you may want to look a Buddhism. Buddhism centers around focus on the present moment, and accepting what is, be it happiness suffering or whatever. Thus, the external world means little to the Buddhist. There are even Monks in Tibet who have gotten so good at being in touch with their inner energy, that they can turn off their sense of physical pain. (This is not conjecture, myth or just a story. Actual western scientists have researched this and have verified using brain scans etc, that they in fact do not feel pain unless they choose to). Thus, if the Buddhist is wrong, and a literal Jewish/Christian view is correct, I doubt it would matter in the slightest to the Buddhist if he were tortured in the depths of firey hell. He is no longer connected with physical and emotional pain, and can endure Satan’s torture as easily as you or I could tolerate a food we do not enjoy.
Now of course, this is pretty ridiculous. I’m not telling you to convert or anything. I am just saying that this sort of argument you've presented doesn't quite hold up. If you believe in Christianity, have faith from the depths of your heart – not as a fail-safe against suffering in the afterlife.