The Anguish of Semi Believers.
First of all there is nothing wrong with mentally assigning a probability that something has already happened. You can technically define what it means to say "I think there is a 97% chance OJ killed Nicole". Or if you want to be less precise, you can say something like "I think there is probably life on other planets." Exactly how these statements should be interpreted is a technical mathematical question. But everybody instinctively knows what I mean.
It is silly to think that the subject of whether there is a God is somehow in a different category. By which I mean that whether they admit it or nor most people are not 100% certain one way or the other. Just like any other question. Almost all people deep down think that God is either highly unlikely, somewhat unlikely, possible but not probable, likely, or highly likely. Many will not mind admitting which camp they are in.
But things change when we are talking about not just the existence of God, but rather the existence of a God who will reward, or even perhaps punish you for eternity, unless you fully believe or at least rate the existence of such a God highly likely.
In the above situation, the people who rate the chances that such a God exists anywhere from somewhat unlikely to somewhat likely, deserve a lot of empathy. Think about their situation. Non believers aren't worried and believers have their ducks in a row. But what about the others? Surely there are many of them, just like as there are many who aren't sure about lots of other issues. But in the other cases there is no torment associated with their uncertainty. Here someone who thinks the punishing God is somewhat likely has to believe he is somewhat likely to go to hell. Imagine being one of them.
Of course many of them, once they believe somewhat, will claim a full belief, Pascal Wager style, that they don't actually have. At the same time though, they fear that God, if there is one, will not be fooled. Pretty tough place to be psychologically. I wonder how many people are in that boat. Including posters on this forum.
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