[Mackerel]

[ QUOTE ]
For me it would have to be about 10,000 to one. But I'm rich.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL...okay, fair enough, but that is why I gave you the option of inserting a more desirable prize (King David the 1st (well second I guess) perhaps?, first 7 time WSOP main event winner?). [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I'm sure you see what the question is driving at. This is, in essence, the gamble that confirmed atheists have accepted. If the Christians are correct that there is a sentient, living God, and he is the same God described in the Bible, then the risk of an atheistic view is eternal punishment (not just ceasing to exist). Therefore, the risk of losing this proposition is just as extreme as the hypothetical one.

OTOH, the risk to the Christian is minimal. If there is no god, then the Christian has foolishly wasted his life trying to be a good person, help others, and being ridiculed for his foolish belief, when he could've been out screwing people over for his own gain and generally just having more fun. However, when he dies, if he simply ceases to exist (which seems to be the belief of most atheists, but I certainly don't claim to speak for any of them in particular) then it won't be of very much consequence to him.

Therefore, it seems to me that it behooves every good poker playing atheist to assess the odds that he/she could "lose the bet", so to speak. Obviously, to do this will require an objective look at all of the evidence available, so that each can come up with odds that they believe are close to correct. After that, they just have to answer the question posed in the original post to see if the odds are acceptable to them. This, ultimately, is simply a personal decision of course.

Edit: I just wanted to note that I am making no assumptions about your own beliefs in the area of "confirmed atheist", David. I was just curious about what odds you thought would be acceptable for such a proposition.