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Would you sell your soul for $1,000,000?

Temporal Renegade

Last of the Time Lords
Temporal Renegade
Joined
May 26, 2003
Messages
1,890
The other week, I was watching Tales from the Darkside on the Sci Fi channel.

In the episode 'I'll Give You A Million' had Keenan Wynn buying an atheist friend's soul for one million dollars; of course, the friend tries to get it back, the Devil shows up, etc. etc.

My question is, if someone were to offer to 'buy' your soul for $1,000,000 cash (you'd have to sign a legal contract and all that), would you?

And, no, this isn't an intepretation of the Million Dollar Challenge! :)
 
Even for less.

Quite often I try to sell and buy souls, specially when there are evangelic persons around. They freak out. Its funny.

But it would be a scam.
 
Temporal Renegade said:
The other week, I was watching Tales from the Darkside on the Sci Fi channel.

In the episode 'I'll Give You A Million' had Keenan Wynn buying an atheist friend's soul for one million dollars; of course, the friend tries to get it back, the Devil shows up, etc. etc.

My question is, if someone were to offer to 'buy' your soul for $1,000,000 cash (you'd have to sign a legal contract and all that), would you?

And, no, this isn't an intepretation of the Million Dollar Challenge! :)
Click to expand...


Sure, why not! Any god so psychotic as to enforce that contract is going to throw me into Hell anyway. Which leads me to believe nobody would want to buy my soul because only God and the devil are in the market.

Actually, I may try to demand more of an offer like Jesus got from the devil, to be the master over all kingdoms.
 
I think the best thing, would be trying to explain where the money came from; imagine explaining to your bank that you didn't get the money from the lottery or an inheritence, but from a metaphysical transaction. :)
 
No, I wouldn't.

Either I have a soul, and then it supposedly serves some function. Selling it without knowing what effects it would result in would just be stupid.

Or, I do not have a soul. In that case, the people buying the soul would get nothing for their money, and I would be profiting on their superstitions. I do not want to do that either.
 
In a hearbeat. Since the devil and deity are figments of someone else's imagination, and the only soul I have is my Aretha and Sam and Dave CD's, anyone willing to part with a million for them is more than welcome. I could be the boxed sets of everything Motown ever produced and have about 998,000.00 left over for a good party.
 
Sure, if someone daft enough to buy something non-existent, I'd take the money. I probably couldn't convince them it doesn't anyway and if they have that much cash to throw around, I won't feel bad taking it.

Post 666 for me, hee hee hee :D
 
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Temporal Renegade said:
The other week, I was watching Tales from the Darkside on the Sci Fi channel.

In the episode 'I'll Give You A Million' had Keenan Wynn buying an atheist friend's soul for one million dollars; of course, the friend tries to get it back, the Devil shows up, etc. etc.

My question is, if someone were to offer to 'buy' your soul for $1,000,000 cash (you'd have to sign a legal contract and all that), would you?

And, no, this isn't an intepretation of the Million Dollar Challenge! :)
Click to expand...

That could explain what happened to Kenny G. (on sevral different levels).
 
Yes I would but I have a sneaky feeling it's not worth that much.

If someone wants to give me £1million for nothing, I won't stop them. Heck, I might even throw in one night with my husband, too.
 
As far as I can see, there isn't much difference between selling your non-existant soul to someone who hopes it will grant them some knowledge, privileges or powers or selling your non-existant supernatural services to someone who hopes it will grant them some knowledge, privileges or powers. Both are ways of profiting on the superstitions of people, and I thought the JREF was opposing such activities, and that most of the participants on this forum were supporting them.

Maybe I was wrong.
 
Rufo said:
As far as I can see, there isn't much difference between selling your non-existant soul to someone who hopes it will grant them some knowledge, privileges or powers or selling your non-existant supernatural services to someone who hopes it will grant them some knowledge, privileges or powers. Both are ways of profiting on the superstitions of people, and I thought the JREF was opposing such activities, and that most of the participants on this forum were supporting them.

Maybe I was wrong.
Click to expand...

There's a vast difference between making up some crap and emotionally blackmailing vulnerable people into buying it, and someone approaching you with the offer to buy something you don't value and have made no claims about. A vast difference.

Now, if I were to put my soul on ebay and invite people to buy it, telling them it would grant them some powers or whatever, then that would be comparable with the woo-for-sale most of us object to.

ETA: Also, the OP makes no mention of the buyer's motivation. The mention of the soul granting powers or whatever is your addition.
 
Temporal Renegade said:
The other week, I was watching Tales from the Darkside on the Sci Fi channel.

In the episode 'I'll Give You A Million' had Keenan Wynn buying an atheist friend's soul for one million dollars; of course, the friend tries to get it back, the Devil shows up, etc. etc.

My question is, if someone were to offer to 'buy' your soul for $1,000,000 cash (you'd have to sign a legal contract and all that), would you?

And, no, this isn't an intepretation of the Million Dollar Challenge! :)
Click to expand...

You mean to a person? Or to a supernatural entity who suddenly materializes in front of me, sporting a barbed tail, hooves and horns?

Because in the latter scenario, all bets are off.
 
tkingdoll said:
There's a vast difference between making up some crap and emotionally blackmailing vulnerable people into buying it, and someone approaching you with the offer to buy something you don't value and have made no claims about. A vast difference.
Click to expand...
I agree. But by the transaction and the signing of the contract, aren't you claiming that you have a soul to exchange for the money?

Now, if I were to put my soul on ebay and invite people to buy it, telling them it would grant them some powers or whatever, then that would be comparable with the woo-for-sale most of us object to.
Click to expand...
So creating a delusion makes the entire difference, rather than encouraging it?

ETA: Also, the OP makes no mention of the buyer's motivation. The mention of the soul granting powers or whatever is your addition.
Click to expand...
True. It struck me shorty after I posted it. Either way, the buyer must be convinced that there is a soul to be bought.
 
Sure I will. I'll also offer my Spchlinge, my ghudmandith and my hrendist for sale as well. There's no drawbacks at all selling undefined non-existing fantasy concepts.
 
Rufo said:
I agree. But by the transaction and the signing of the contract, aren't you claiming that you have a soul to exchange for the money?


So creating a delusion makes the entire difference, rather than encouraging it?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I think it would come down to individual circumstances. If someone genuinely wanted to give me that much money and was in some way emotionally invested in the transaction in an unhealthy way, I might falter. I mean, if I thought I was contributing to someone's mental health problems or encouraging a delusion that was dangerous for them or anyone else, I might not do it. But then, think of all the good you could do with it.

A million dollars could do more good than the bad that would be done by me encouraging one person in superstitious beliefs. Imagine how many kids you could educate in critical thinking with a million dollars. Or how many skeptic organisations you could support, or set up your own, or help the homeless, or set up a scholarship or science award...etc etc. Or even just helping your own family.

As posed in the OP, if someone offered me a million dollars for my soul, given no other conditions that make me uncomfortable, I would do it.

I'll even dip a toe into cynicism and say even as a skeptic, I have a price.

However, I run a marketing business and I have a policy of not accepting clients who are promoting something I don't agree with. If a church or alt med company offered me a million to market their products and services, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't want to contribute to the conversion of thousands of people to a delusion as the million I gained would not be enough to counter-act it.
 
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