Isn't a life based on reality better than one based on a fantasy?

Nonsense.

That makes no sense. We have a moral life and we don't need to fear a god to do what is right. We do it because that is the right thing to do, not because of the reward in heaven.

I think I would be living the same way...knowing right from wrong and it has nothing to do with behaving as if....It has always seemed instinctual to me.

I feel like once you allow something else <God> to be in control of your life, actions, judgments and beliefs; intellectual evolution halts. Honest critical thinking is sooo valuable and to trade it in for some fairy tale sounds like madness. Hard Pass!

I think it's nonsensical. It's confused thinking.

I live my life without regard to a fairy tale.

I know that every human being gets hungry, just as I do.

etc

No one needs God to be good

Google something like "Pascals wager critical" and you will find a thousand places where this argument is shot to pieces.
Most of them will point out that there are thousands of gods set in tens of thousands of religions, all of which religions claim to have exclusive access to god. (Exclusive is important because it is the only thing they have to offer, that sets them apart from deism and one another.) Therefore they usually say, which one do you pick ?

BUT, here is one small bit of logic that you will not often hear. How do you know that god, if it does exist, does not respect agnostics, and atheists the most. For their reason and for not telling it what it should be, or insulting it by saying that it is exclusive, i.e. racist culturalist. You may as well bet on it liking us best. Its the same bet..

ridiculous!

Sounds like Pascal’s wager. This is a philosophical question, not religious. Bear in mind that Pascal is asking a philosophical question and it is necessary to understand the base upon which the question is being asked. If you look up Pascal’s Wager you will get a clear idea of what he is exploring.

I differentiate between morality and religion. The two are separate things (in my life). I consider myself a moral person. I'm not perfect, but I try to obey the laws of the land -- don't agree with all, but I doubt everyone does. I would rather live in an ordered environment that a chaotic one (no laws or laws different in every place one travels). I've met many people of many faiths, who are moral folk, but don't believe in Christianity. Many Christians (and others) think morals are their domain and it is not.

How does one live as if there is a God? Without specifying a god, it has no meaning to live as if there is one. If you specify one, you really start running into trouble.

I think that god is an irrelevance and have never believed that there is such an entity, How then can I start pretending that I think there is? I think that would be completely nonsensical, and it would mean that I would be pretending to believe something that I don’t. Can’t be done. Surely if there is a god, he wouldn’t be fooled by my pretence anyway!

Even if your parents don't beat the crap out of you, you should live your life as though they do

impossible cause what is god, some many of them too!

If there is a God, Will that God punish you if he finds out you didn’t believe there was a God? Is that what this premise is about?
If you live a good moral, life and are an ethical person and a generous and kind person, And you still don’t believe that there is God, is that God going punish you? Just because you didn’t believe? What kind of a SOB of a God is that?

So far I have not seen any evidence that there is a God.
Does that mean that gives me the freedom Lie, steal, cheat and kill? Because no “God” is looking?
The someone that said that has no self respect.
pretending believe in God is living a lie.

I guess I have questions as well as preliminary thoughts about what this entails. What does it mean to "live your life as if there is a God"? What is the motivation to do so? What are the supposed benefits? At first glance, it looks like an argument that one cannot be good without God — which I wholeheartedly reject. But then I think maybe it's similar to my aunt's assertion that people draw strength and comfort in their faith and she thinks that people should believe even if there is no God; I tend to think of this as an infantile view that keeps people from dealing with the problems and challenges that face them, and I don't think everyone feels enriched by religion. In fact, I'd suggest that even if there were a God that it's better to live as though none exists: no action in exchange for reward, no thought of another life that wipes this one clean, no God to fix all of our problems. We need to take responsibility for the life we lead, how we care for one another, what sort of world we leave for future generations, without thinking a deity will render the solutions. I think humanity needs to mature and grow without falling back to the fanciful notion that a magical celestial being will fix all of our woes.

So far, no one has actually responded to your question. In essence, you are asking whether people should live by a set of “god-based” principles, without actual reference to any god. This is NOT Pascal’s theorem, which concludes that you should believe in a god as a hedge against the risk that one might exist. One problem with the concept is choosing which set of principles to live by. Assuming some subset of Judeo-Christian mores, most of them are humanist in nature: treat others as you would be treated; give to the poor; accommodate strangers, etc. If that is the moral code, then the only significant difference between a humanist and theist approach is that the humanist doesn’t expect to be rewarded or punished, except by his/her own conscience. In other words, most humanists already live as if a god exists, but without the childlike dependence in third party approval that that implies.

that would be the path of a chickenshit hypocrite.

I think it’s BS

I don't see any evidence for the existence of any god past or present, therefore I cannot live my life as if there is one unless I make the god up myself. So if I have to believe in the god I make up I'm only believing in myself, which I already do

This is most commonly attributed to Pascal
[en.wikipedia.org]

In my view there are two serious flaws in this argument.
First is what the hell would God want me to do? Unless you are stunningly ethnocentric and willing to only accept your most local god obsession, you have to accept that there are so many gods out there it would be impossible to choose one to know which is the true one.

The second problem is that having chosen one path, following the creed of a bunch of crackpot religionists is the most sure fire way of wasting the only life you know you have in the hope of some dodgy promise of a uncertain future state.

In my view you need to be true to yourself and live according to your best guess, that most refects your nature.
In any event - if you want to insist that you are the creation of god, then living close to your nature would have the same effect. Following a natural path means enjoying yourself more, eating, drinking and having sex; loving your dog, and even your progeny!! These things are most likely to fly against all the advice of most religions.
So play the wager by all means, just reject all religion.

Which god? The christian/Jewish god is no hero. He's an evil thing.

Who advises that and why? It's not that I'm curious at all... I just think that when people go around giving out unsolicited blanket advice as to how you personally and by extension the human race should live, they should at least finish the thought out of politeness. That they don't qualify such a grand conclusion is arrogant, pretentious and presumptuous. Also, why is this in the General & Hellos category rather than one more specific? Is that for the purpose of hitting as many viewers as possible, unsuspecting to see (perhaps because they don't want to see) religious/spiritual discussions in this category that isn't designated to be such? I personally made up my mind as to why I'm here, so as not to have to politely say no thank you all the time; to live my life without that and without having to explain myself. I don't go to religious sites to preach my way of life... I came here to be left alone by preachers and not have these kind of philosophical fishing expeditions posed to me, which I think is kind of passive aggressive.