That's admirable, Travis. :  )

Because each of us lives a different life with different experiences we each make up a uniquely different part of the "body". My part is to be with the dying and it has to be one of the most enlightening things I've ever experienced in my life. For it has totally shattered the collective cultural paradigm held by secular society which is so "scared to death" of death it is not even permitted to be discussed.

Trace Oswald wrote:
The problem with that line of thinking is that you're assuming that the God you believe in is the right one.  So the actual wager you are making is, If I am right, and the God I believe in is the correct one, then I will have eternal life. If I am wrong, there may be nothing after death, so I have lost nothing, except all the money I contributed to keep my church running and all the time I sat in church listening to something that wasn't true.  That is time that could have been spent helping your family or others that needed it.  On the other hand, if I am wrong and one of the other Gods that I don't believe in is the correct one, I'm going to hell for eternity.  

Suppose a person truly believes in Odin as the one true God.  He could say the exact same thing you said, but he would go to hell for believing in God.  He just chose the wrong one.

Right. This is the problem. Arabic-speaking Christians refer to God as Allah, because that is the Arabic word for God. Applying Pascal's wager to the question of being Cristian vs. Muslim, we find that neither option offers the "nothing after death" outcome. Either of these faith systems has a God who will burn you eternally for believing the other one.

I'm really going to have to start studying many of these responses! I think I somehow got on the "there's a chance with this one" list, and haven't been able to shake them since. Originally I started by telling them that my beliefs were personal, and I mostly fell in line with Buddhism, that didn't sway their intent to convert me an inch. My current method is complete and utter avoidance. Number 1, if I see them walking down the street before they get here, it's in the house we go, and the door gets locked. 2, if we've been spotted, and there is no chance of full retreat, I leave hubby to deal with them (I know, that is just horrible of me). I need to learn from some of these tactics presented here so that I'm not hanging hubby out in the wind all by himself!