Pascal's Wager

Another of my 'giants' is Blase Pascal.

Alan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind" said: 'Every Frenchman is born, or at least early on becomes, Cartesian or Pascalian. Descartes and Pascal are national authors, and they tell the French people what their alternatives are, and afford a peculiar and powerful perspective on life's perennial problems. They weave the fabric of souls.[They] represent a choice between reason and revelation, science and piety, the choice from which everything else follows.' (p.52) It is not that I take my marching orders from Pascal, but he does present life's alternatives in their black and white forms, from which we can start to develop or identify our own world view or frame of reference.

Blasé Pascal (1623-1662), a French philosopher and mathematician posed an argument for believing in God – as opposed to disbelief. It is summarized as follows (from his Pensees):

“You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed….”

The argument: Either there is a God or there is not.

1.If there is not a God but you choose to believe there is a God, you have lost very little, if anything, because your belief will motivate you to act according to what you think God has prescribed. This will give you a moral framework for ordering your life and your life will have focus and society will be benefited by your right (unharmful) actions.

2.If there is not a God and you believe there is not a God your life may or may not be focused but those who ignore the promptings of their consciences, which initially are undeniable, are likely to act in ways that are harmful to themselves and to society.

3.If there is a God and you believe there is a God you will act on your belief consistent with what God has revealed as to the proper way of living. The consequences of your belief/actions will benefit you eternally (for He has said so) and will benefit mankind because your actions will be good and just.

4.If there is a God and you choose to not believe and act according to the guidelines God has given, you will sooner or later bring misery and damnation [a stopping of progress] to yourself (for God has so indicated), and perhaps to others, as a consequence of your disbelief.

Pascal’s wager, therefore, is to bet on God. You really can’t lose.

*The caveat, from my strong conviction of course, is to bet on and align yourself with the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to save us.