The Benefits of Belief
Even if you don’t believe in God, do you wish you did? Even if you’re an atheist or an agnostic, is there still good reason to act religiously? Peter Kreeft, philosophy professor at Boston College, explains why even atheists should want there to be a God, and how acting as if there is one may actually lead to you believing it.
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Script:
In this Prager University course, I want to focus not on the evidence for God’s existence, but on the benefits of belief.
If God exists, then the world didn’t just evolve by chance, but by deliberate design. There’s an Artist behind this incredible work of art—this big and beautiful world.
If God exists, we’re living in a great story, an epic like “The Lord of the Rings,” with real heroes and heroic tasks. Ultimately, all the twists and turns of this epic narrative will be paid off, everything will make sense. It will even have a happy ending, not necessarily, or even likely, in our own lifetime—even Moses didn’t get into the Promised Land—but over the grand course of time in an afterlife, which exists as surely as God exists.
If God exists, the presence of evil, hard as it is to accept, makes sense. God allows it for a reason—namely, to preserve our free will. And God will reconcile all injustices in the end. If there is no God, life is one big crapshoot.
If God does exist, morality is a real, objective feature of the world. If there is no God, morality is just the rules we make up for this little game of life we play.
If God exists, love is the nature of an eternal reality. If there is no God, love is just a fleeting feeling, no more than a bunch of chemical and neurological interactions.
If God exists, you are of infinite value. He knows you as a parent knows his child. He’s accessible to you. If there is no God, each of us is as insignificant as a rock on an unknown planet.
If God exists, death is conquered because if there is a God there is a reality outside of space and time. If there is no God, there is nothing immortal, and all the good things in life are destroyed forever. You, and everyone you love, and everything you think matters are all consigned to oblivion. If there is no God, life is pointless. Everything we’ve done and lived for will ultimately be in vain.
Can I prove with an absolute certainty that God exists? I can make the case that overwhelming evidence suggests that he does. But no I can’t prove that He exists with absolute certainty. That’s likely part of His plan. God deliberately doesn’t give us absolute proof so that we’re free to choose or not to choose to believe in Him.
So which way do you want to go?
Be honest. Doesn’t your heart at least hope that there is a good God, a transcendent Validator of love and all the highest human values? Of course it does. Why would anyone not wish that life has some ultimate purpose; that good and evil are real; that there is ultimate justice; that our love for others means something?
If you choose to live as if there is a God—even if you are not sure there is a God—you lose nothing and you gain everything.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/benefits-belief
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Superb. Thank you, Peter (if I may be so informal).
This propagandistic production it's full of lies and extremely politicized points of view. Naturally.
If G-d doesn't exit, rules and ethics are just rules we created for a game, there's one lie.
Maybe for the same dumb person who made a video like this, without G_d rules will be that. But for smarter people we can stress the importance of rules, and do deep philosophical research around values and morals, often without the support of believing in gods.
Of course G-d is unique in that matter because it stress some values, strongly associated with that memento, but ethics and philosophy did explore values and morals, and even taught them at schools and to people, long before most people start believing in the G-d you are defending with lies, on this video.
I thought leftists were just weak minded fools who couldn't face the painful horrors of reality? Now we should all embrace religion because it feels good? Is Prager U leftist?
From Romans 1: 18 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
"21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles."
The evidence is all around us
How does he know this? How does he know these premises conclude God does or doesn't exist?
I've been an Atheist for 40 years, and I call BS on his ASSumptions about the supposed futility of life et al for Atheists. He and everyone else is welcome to believe as they so choose, but don't try to tell me about myself because I don't believe the same as you, that's just plain arrogant.
Modern Western laws are NOT based on Christians values, otherwise slavery would still be a moral practice. The Bible assumes slavery is moral practice and it teaches how to buy, sell & beat the slaves. No Bible verse indicates slavery should be abolished.
The only reason I could not in good conscious ask God for the gift of faith is that to do so would deny that he ever gave it to me in the past, as he surely did. I read from the Scriptures daily and sometimes go into the inspired Koine-Greek text for clarifications and, sometimes, for corrections to our less-than-perfect translations.
Possibly the best rationalizable evidence for the existence of a Creator is the non-past eternity of matter & energy. An eternal age of the physical universe would require application of the infinity concept to the actual duration of a physical entity — impossible, since infinity is purely a theoretical concept and cannot be used for the actual quantification of mass, time or length.
"Most people who think they have rejected God have really only rejected a caricature of him." – Rich Hannon
The benefits of belief
What is there about “not by works” (Eph 2:8,9) (which includes the volition of belief/believing) that you don’t understand Dr Kreeft? Also, what brings you to conclude that ‘sin’ is a MORAL infraction, rather than what Scripture clearly teaches – the lack of conformity to the holiness of God! We sin, because we are sinners – we are not sinners because we sin!
Being ‘Christian’ is absolutely NOT a matter of ‘mere belief’! I am a Christian, not because I believe – rather, because I am a Christian, I believe!
And why am I a Christian? Well, I have absolutely no idea! But thanks be to God (Rom 9:16…)!
This is pure, unadulterated Thomistic Romanism to it’s core! Gal 1:7-9!
All of science is designed only to prove what exists in our four-dimensional, space-time continuum that we can discern through our limited senses during our temporary lives. We would remain completely unaware of any being that exists outside of time and space, but such a being would know everything that has happened or is happening or will happen in our time and space. Life leaves us with two vital choices. We can choose to love and be considerate of others, or we can choose to be selfish. There is no love or justice in selfishness. Criminals do not live by earning respect but by invoking fear. If it is not in your heart to be loving and giving, there is no room in your heart for God.
Professor Kreeft demonstrates something that anyone who's watched WLC or Plantinga should already know: You can be a philosophy professor at a proper university and still be a shite philosopher.
Nice wishful thinking. Less nice it doesn't make it true, that with your direct monetary incentive resembles the pretty promises of a conman, and especially that you leave out the part where your doctrine states the "happy ending" the vast majority of humans will receive is maximal suffering, for literal infinite eternity. Also, on top of the false premises in it, that "argument" is called the appeal to consequences fallacy. Invalid reasoning, what else would one expect from a creationist propaganda mill…
Odin is superior.
I live my life that I’ve won the lottery. What’s the harm in that belief? Even though Im as broke as shit.
As long as the fear of death persists, religion, belief in God and the afterlife will persist.
Ignorance is bliss.
Wouldn't a universe starting out as a simple entity and expanding into what it is today be a way of explaining the problem of evil? Need I go into how many species are currently extinct and how many will be extinct 10,000 years from now and the simple fact of "lion lunch"?
Wouldn't life be a bit meaningless and boring if God just came in and reconciled ALL injustices?
The universe is basically a crap shoot. It has extremely low probability.
Morality is in the eye of the beholder, like beauty, prettiness, opinions, feelings, thoughts and other mind stuff. Saying morality is objective is like saying feelings are subjective whereas thoughts are objective. Nope. Thoughts are also subjective. How can morality be found in the objective or external world when there's an asteroid or a planet on a collision course with another asteroid, planet, etc. as I type this? Morality is mind-made and minds didn't happen until recently in the universe's lifetime.
Would YOU treat us as "rocks on an unknown planet" if you knew God didn't exist? I doubt it.
Ignorance is bliss. That's why people who attend church regularly are happier. Also, free coffee!!!!!!!!!
Which God should I believe in? I lose A LOT and have little to gain if it's the Christian or Muslim God.
I want to believe whatever is true.
Thanks for the help in explaining the importance to non believers. This backed me up to the t.
Even if God exists, what's said in this video is mostly based on ASSumptions and wishful thinking.