>>On the other hand, I understand his religious sermons better than technical stuff. So it helps my self-esteem to read on something I have a clue. Also, what if he is right and we all go to hell? I am just trying to hedge ...
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>ОК, here's a hedge: you have two variables - there's life after life as they describe it, and then you pay - or not. Then, two possibilities: you behave as if it was true or you don't.
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>Case .t., .t. - the afterlife exists, and you are rewarded for the good deeds in your life. You win.
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>Case .t., .f. - the afterlife exists, but you didn't count on it, so you lived as you liked it. You had a good life, you win; their accountant doesn't like you because you were not perfect, but you don't care - you're in good company of billions of others.
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>Case .f., .t. - there's no afterlife, but you thought there was; your good deeds were a reward unto themselves, you win during your life, and after that you aren't worrying, because you are not.
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>Case .f., .f. - no afterlife, and you weren't counting on it - you lived as you liked it, it was crazy and unforgettable, you win and there's no accountant to screw you afterwards, as there's no afterwards.
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>So either way, you win. Pick whichever you like, your selection is irrelevant.
Win-win. I like this logic.
"The creative process is nothing but a series of crises." Isaac Bashevis Singer
"My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all." Oscar Wilde
"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too." W.Somerset Maugham