The French philosopher, Blaise Pascal, is known for his famous "wager." He proposed that since the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, that a person should "wager" that God does exist because if he is wrong, he has nothing to lose, and if he's right, he has everything to gain.
However, when we compare that to what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
I don't know about you, but having a "miserable life" would be something lost. That is, back to Pascal's wager, if there is no God, then Paul says I can expect to live the most miserable life of all men because I follow Christ. And if there's no God, then after this miserable life, there is... well... nothing?
Pascal's wager seems to have two flaws, in my ignorant opinion. First of all, it is still using "reason" to arrive at God. His wager is "reasonable," yet God demands that we come to Him by faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Second, Pascal's wager dismisses the denial of self that the Christian life calls for. Dying is not a comfortable thing, but following Paul's example, all Christians should "die daily."
No, if God were not to exist, then we have everything to lose. However, God does exist; Jesus Christ did rise from the dead; our faith is not vain! I believe philosophy fails yet again to God's word.
Just a thought...
3 comments:
he's also forgetting that he (pascal) can't just look at both options and scientifically pick the least (most?) painful one... or is that the subject of a different post? what brought up pascal? haven't heard of him in a while.
I have heard Christian's use Pascal's wager as an evangelistical tool. I don't think it should be -
Oh, and I also heard it mentioned on a TV show recently, and that reminded me of it too.
yeah i've heard the 'why not be sure, choose Jesus just in case' i suppose any reason technically would be good, but would have a hard time believing that's a legitimate salvation... oh well. good game monday... what time do we play this weekend?
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