[InOne]

"God is, or He is not"

A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up.

According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

You must wager. It is not optional.

Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.

Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) There is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain. (wiki)

So another way to look at it is he's saying you may as well believe in God cos you've got nothing to lose and you'll go to heaven. But by not believing you're taking a risk by going to hell if it turns out he really exists

It's quite an interesting idea, but quite easily debunked really.

[MTVN]

But it becomes a bit problematic with all the different religions, this seems to imply that the only God that might possibly be in existence is a Christian one

[Shaun]

it's basically a coward's way to go through life.

[GypsyGoth]

Why does a god need to be believed in?

If that god is all powerful, what does he or she get out of people worshipping them?

[InOne]

Yep, all those problems arise. I think it comes down to the fact that nobody is scared of hell anymore. Well, apart from fundies