Skeptics say that we cannot know whether God exists, and in a sense they are right. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." If the believer knew, there would be no question of faith. Consider this: I don't have faith that my daughter is in the seventh grade; I know my daughter is in the seventh grade. I haven't been to heaven, and so I cannot say that I know there is such a place. But I believe that there is. Faith is a statement of trust in what we do not know for sure.
But is such faith reasonable or is it, as the atheists frequently allege, "blind faith"? This central human conundrum is the subject of Pascal's famous wager. Pascal did not invent the wager. It was offered by the Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali in his medieval work The Alchemy of Happiness. Pascal was familiar with Ghazzali and probably derived the argument from him. But Pascal gave the wager its current classic expression, and in doing so he places an unavoidable choice before all believers and unbelievers.
Pascal argues in his Pensees that in life we have to gamble. Let's say you are offered a new job that may take your career to new heights. It looks extremely promising, but of course there are risks. There is no way in advance to know how things will turn out. You have to decide if you will go for it. Or you are in love with a woman. You have been dating for a while, yet you cannot be certain what marriage to her is going to be like for the next several decades. You proceed on the basis of what you know, but what you know is, by the nature of the matter, inadequate. Yet you have to make a decision. You cannot keep saying, "I will remain agnostic until I know for sure." If you wait too long, she will marry someone else, or both of you will be dead.
In the same way, Pascal argues that in making our decision about God, we will never understand everything in advance. No amount of rational investigation can produce definitive answers, since what comes after death remains unknown. Therefore we have to examine the options, and we have to make our wager. But what are the alternatives, and how should we weigh the odds? Pascal argues that we have two basic choices, and either way we must consider the risk of being wrong.
If we have faith in God and it turns out that God does not exist, we face a small downside risk: metaphysical error. But if we reject God during our lives, and it turns out God does exist, there is much more serious risk: eternal separation from God. Based on these two possible outcomes, Pascal declares that it is much less risky to have faith in God. In the face of an uncertain outcome, no rational person would refuse to give up something that is finite if there is the possibility of gaining an infinite prize. In fact, under these conditions it is unreasonable not to believe. Pascal writes, "Let us weigh up the gain and loss involved in calling heads that God exists. If you win, you win everything. If you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate, then: wager that He does exist."
The ingenuity of Pascal's argument is that it emphasizes the practical necessity of us making a choice. This necessity is imposed by death. There comes a day when there are no tomorrows, and then we all have to cast our votes for or against the proposition on the ballot. The unavoidability of the decision exposes the sheer stupidity of agnosticism and religious indifference. These are people who refuse to choose when there is no option to abstain. So the refusal to choose becomes a choice--a choice against God.
Pascal also exposes the pose of the atheist who fancies himself as a brave and lonely man facing the abyss. We admire a man who is steadfast in the face of unavoidable adversity. If we knew we were alone in the universe and that death was the end, then there is no alternative but to stand tough in our mortal skins and curse the darkness. But what would we think of a man who stands ready to face a horrible fate that he has a chance to avert? If you are trapped in the den with a hungry lion, and there is a door that may offer a way out, what sane person would refuse to jump through the door? Viewed this way, the atheist position becomes a kind of reckless intransigence, a foolish attempt to gamble with one's soul.
With their trademark venom, atheists typically condemn, although they cannot refute, Pascal's wager. Christopher Hitchens can do no better than to launch an ad hominem attack on Pascal as a "hypocrite" and a "fraud." Attempting condescension, Richard Dawkins proclaims Pascal's argument "distinctly odd." And why? Because "believing is not something you can decide to do as a matter of policy. At least, it is not something I can decide to do as an act of will." Dawkins is right about this, of course, but the real issue is whether he wants to believe and whether he is open to the call of faith.
Pascal writes that there are two kinds of reasonable people in the world: "those who serve God with all their heart because they know Him, and those who seek Him with all their heart because they do not know Him." Pascal recognizes that faith is a gift. We cannot demand it but only ask God to give it to us. In the meantime the best thing to do is to live a good and moral life, and to live as if God did indeed exist.
And pray the prayer of the skeptic, which I get from the philosopher Peter Kreeft. "God, I don't know whether you even exist. I think you may be only a myth. But I'm not certain....So if you do exist, you must be hearing me now. So I hereby declare myself a seeker, a seeker of the truth, whatever and wherever it is. I want to know the truth and live the truth. If you are the truth, please help me." It is the claim of Christianity that all who seek God in this way with earnest and open hearts will find Him.
Reader Comments ( Page 43 of 44)
631. Sounds like something Carson might have come up with while wearing a fancy cushion for a hat!
not-pboyfloyd at 6:55PM on Apr 14th 2008
632. 630. Sounds like something Carson might have come up with while wearing a fancy cushion for a hat!
not-pboyfloyd at 6:55PM on Apr 14th 2008
---------------------------------
Thanks, that's about right. My sense of humor is about that much out of date. :-)
Where's your Moriarity tonight? The latest incarnation of Eric, I mean?
Moriarity. That's a great description of him, come to think of it.
Godless Heathen Brian at 9:13PM on Apr 14th 2008
633. Or perhaps Lex Luthor to your Man of Steel.
Or perhaps Morgan le Fay to your Arthur.
Conan.
Doyle.
I'm rambling and free-associating at the same time.
Hey, My hound of the baskervilles is a pug.
Go figure.
Godless Heathen Brian at 11:03PM on Apr 14th 2008
634. I used to like Sword and Sorcery.
Robert E. Howard. Robert Ervin Howard, from Peaster, Texas. Conan was cool, but not the best. Kull was also very cool.
But nothind ever beat Michael Moorcock. Britians foremost fantasy auther behind Tolkein.
Elric of Melnibone.
Stormbringer, the Black Blade, the Stealer of Souls.
Enough said.
Godless Heathen Brian at 11:09PM on Apr 14th 2008
635. Did you ever notice how many "christians" pass judgement about others who are not of the same faith? Or those who have no faith?
Take Catholics for instance.. I was born and raised Irish Catholic in a strict Irish Catholic household.. Catholics believe they are the true religion of Jesus and all others are heretics. Sound like any other religion we know of??
Belief or non-belief in God or Jesus as your own personal savior is up to you to decide, not me.
Science can't prove the existence of God, just like it can't disprove Gods existence.
Science is a tool used by man to meeasure our place in the universe. Science cannot prove the "Big Bang" actually happened, but there is evidence to the theory of it.. ok
So what about the evidence of Gods existence? Do we turn a blind eye to it? Or are we all so apathetic that we cannot recognize it when we see it?
Evidence you ask? yep, anyone remember Reginald Denny?? He was a truck driver in south central LA when the Rodney King riot broke out, here was a guy, driving his truck trying to do his job, when he is pulled out of the truck and almost beaten to death on camera, then as if the hand of God reached out, there were several people who rushed over to him and raced him to the hospital which saved his life.
Just an act of kindness?? Maybe, but some of us like to think it was something else.
gijoe1966 at 3:05AM on Apr 20th 2008
636. Just this past Easter the church service was about this very issue. Just the mear fact that Jesus has risin from the dead is proof enough. No magician at that time could have pulled off such a trick!
wapari at 3:08PM on Apr 15th 2008
637. But why would any just God dish out eternal bliss or damnation based on what a person thinks may be true at the time of his death? It's a completely ludicrous concept.
The idea isn't even based on clear biblical guidance. To "believe in" a prophet means embracing the teachings, not swallowing a load of implausible doctrine. The doctrines that go beyond Jesus' quoted teachings were promulgated to bolster the earthly power of the Church.
Steve Coulter at 7:39PM on Apr 15th 2008
638.
God came from millions of years of evolution.
The barren desolation between Africa & Europe caused one ape to develop independently from its counterparts. Ocassionally, a testosterone driven male would leave the nest and cross this divide.
Mating with now what would be considered a cousin, a hybrid was created. Back and forth the process continued for thousands of years. Until one day, evolution provided for a home, built from stone.
Populations grew. Rivers became territorial markers for kin around the Mediterranean. Soon they evolved to the Nile. A barren land suited for the first prison of the known world.
See Atlantis origins
God the man
See Roman origins
God the religion
Zule at 10:07PM on Apr 3rd 2008
600. Atlantis- Fat rulers of Greece tossed into Haites (Egypt) with the emanciated slaves. The phoenicians, the first police force of the mediterranean sailed to meet with their offspring in Israel, for the second coming. The phoenicians being the seafaring Greeks. The human race began.
Mayan civilization- Before the panama canal was built. Indians transported goods by foot from ships in the Atlantic to the ships in the Pacific, so they wouldn't have to sail around south america.
The Universe- decaying atoms, rock, molten core, sun, it happened all over the universe. No big bang.
The people universe diverted to India instead of going to Israel to create Christianity.
The World- swamp world created by gases freezing and melting with the rotation of the earth. Polar ice caps froze, planets crust twisted and cracked. Aquatic animals and walking reptiles encased by the upheaval of land masses. No island of Pangia or extinction level asteroid.
God- None, a pyramid of power, balance of the working class to rulers. Churches give to foreign countries, foreign countries give to those selling their genes. God is explained as bullies and mobs controlling the general public. If there wasn't chaos and a catapillar design to bring people from the east to the west, people would overthrow those ruling us. We all have different faces now, and are being joined as one world from this process. I'm waiting to become the Sta-puff marshmallow man.
Zule at 10:07PM on Apr 3rd 2008
592. matthew, what's up?
mark at 10:38PM on Apr 3rd 2008
593. luke is that you?
john at 10:38PM on Apr 3rd 2008
594. Ahh, Christ...
zzz at 10:38PM on Apr 3rd 2008
608. Stonehenge was a firepit, a signal fire to gather.
-entire trees were held up by the stone arches
Ark of the Covenant, it still exists
-it was brought out in Israel to scare away the phoenicians after they raped the women
-the phoenicians stole it at the Advent of Christianity
-they show it to people who discover the whole lie
It doesn't look like the one in the movies.
joe at 11:06PM on Apr 3rd 2008
626. I went to Bethlehem.
mary at 11:49PM on Apr 3rd 2008
627. I went to Mount Shasta
joseph at 11:50PM on Apr 3rd 2008
628. Ahh, Christ!
god at 11:50PM on Apr 3rd 2008
723. It's all about Pooty Tang,
Fill a glass halfway with ice, pour in that refreshing orange drink of the astronauts to the same halfway point. Pour in Ginger Ale to three-quarters. Fill to the rim with Pineapple Juice.
Pooty Tang, It's the nectar of the Gods.
joe at 11:25AM on Apr 4th 2008
642. I served blood at my coronation
moses at 12:22AM on Apr 4th 2008
643. I served wine at my coronation
jesus at 12:22AM on Apr 4th 2008
644. I got served my last meal at my coronation
christianity at 12:22AM on Apr 4th 2008
741. Dribble, dribble, dribble.
Your arguments are pages longer than the broken stone tablets left for archeologists.
When Athens fell, the Greeks left the Mediterranean. All the cultures that we know of... tried to sustain knowledge with their own plagiarized writings. They all died out.
America is now dying out from all the dribble.
You people recite the culture of Babel, so Babylon.
joe at 11:54AM on Apr 4th 2008
786. Joe/zule/whoever you are at the moment...
You are an interesting character. You have discordian tendencies. You like to throw your golden apples around, don'tcha? But poor zool, I am "gozer the keymaster." You didn't count on that, didja?
You see, what you don't know is that the ancient greeks fucked the atlanteans and thus, with hybrid vigor, wrote all the classics whilst on mushrooms. This provoked the romans to wear togas, as it was sunny in athens at the time, and fractals were in fashion. That provoked one particularly horny woman to mate with a bull, since men were in short supply, and the minotaur was born of the unholy western union. The minotaur represents animal man and Jesus wept when he saw one in his pajamas. (How he got into Jesus' pajamas is one of God's mysteries)
And unfortunately, chaos theory predicted the resurrection of Christ after the industrial revolution, but he came on time anyhow. Boy, was he pissed. In the british sense of the word. Quite the wino. And Judas was no help at all. Judas was Jesus' pusher. Then, when Mary Magdelene caught the clap, Jesus refused to heal her because she was a jew. I had no idea he was so prejudiced. He wore a simple robe and a yellow ribbon for the troops. And a shining star in the East. Satan was Jesus on acid, as everybody in Gehenna knows. But this has nothing to do with the Greeks. Except for the wine. They liked it too, only laced with hemlock for the extra kick. It caught on like wildfire in Rome, which promptly fell. Then, two thousand years after Rome fell, America caught it and ran with it.
That about catches us up to date.
How's by you?
Godless Heathen Brian at 1:02PM on Apr 4th 2008
777. Which sin is the cruelest?
To not abort a unwanted male fetus
or
To raise the unwanted male fetus, so that he may die in war, where he feels the pain of his limbs being separated from his body
787. Oh no, I'm on fire!
-stay puf marshmallow man
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Forwarded Message:
Subj: (no subject)
Date: 4/5/2008 7:52:56 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: InOakdale
To: TempusMn@comcast.net
712. God came from millions of years of evolution.
The barren desolation between Africa & Europe caused one ape to develop independently from its counterparts. Ocassionally, a testosterone driven male would leave the nest and cross this divide.
Mating with now what would be considered a cousin, a hybrid was created. Back and forth the process continued for thousands of years. Until one day, evolution provided for a home, built from stone.
Populations grew. Rivers became territorial markers for kin around the Mediterranean. Soon they evolved to the Nile. A barren land suited for the first prison of the known world.
See Atlantis origins
God the man
See Roman origins
God the religion
Zule at 10:07PM on Apr 3rd 2008
600. Atlantis- Fat rulers of Greece tossed into Haites (Egypt) with the emanciated slaves. The phoenicians, the first police force of the mediterranean sailed to meet with their offspring in Israel, for the second coming. The phoenicians being the seafaring Greeks. The human race began.
Mayan civilization- Before the panama canal was built. Indians transported goods by foot from ships in the Atlantic to the ships in the Pacific, so they wouldn't have to sail around south america.
The Universe- decaying atoms, rock, molten core, sun, it happened all over the universe. No big bang.
The people universe diverted to India instead of going to Israel to create Christianity.
The World- swamp world created by gases freezing and melting with the rotation of the earth. Polar ice caps froze, planets crust twisted and cracked. Aquatic animals and walking reptiles encased by the upheaval of land masses. No island of Pangia or extinction level asteroid.
God- None, a pyramid of power, balance of the working class to rulers. Churches give to foreign countries, foreign countries give to those selling their genes. God is explained as bullies and mobs controlling the general public. If there wasn't chaos and a catapillar design to bring people from the east to the west, people would overthrow those ruling us. We all have different faces now, and are being joined as one world from this process. I'm waiting to become the Sta-puff marshmallow man.
Zule at 10:07PM on Apr 3rd 2008
592. matthew, what's up?
mark at 10:38PM on Apr 3rd 2008
593. luke is that you?
john at 10:38PM on Apr 3rd 2008
594. Ahh, Christ...
zzz at 10:38PM on Apr 3rd 2008
608. Stonehenge was a firepit, a signal fire to gather.
-entire trees were held up by the stone arches
Ark of the Covenant, it still exists
-it was brought out in Israel to scare away the phoenicians after they raped the women
-the phoenicians stole it at the Advent of Christianity
-they show it to people who discover the whole lie
It doesn't look like the one in the movies.
joe at 11:06PM on Apr 3rd 2008
626. I went to Bethlehem.
mary at 11:49PM on Apr 3rd 2008
627. I went to Mount Shasta
joseph at 11:50PM on Apr 3rd 2008
628. Ahh, Christ!
god at 11:50PM on Apr 3rd 2008
723. It's all about Pooty Tang,
Fill a glass halfway with ice, pour in that refreshing orange drink of the astronauts to the same halfway point. Pour in Ginger Ale to three-quarters. Fill to the rim with Pineapple Juice.
Pooty Tang, It's the nectar of the Gods.
joe at 11:25AM on Apr 4th 2008
642. I served blood at my coronation
moses at 12:22AM on Apr 4th 2008
643. I served wine at my coronation
jesus at 12:22AM on Apr 4th 2008
644. I got served my last meal at my coronation
christianity at 12:22AM on Apr 4th 2008
741. Dribble, dribble, dribble.
Your arguments are pages longer than the broken stone tablets left for archeologists.
When Athens fell, the Greeks left the Mediterranean. All the cultures that we know of... tried to sustain knowledge with their own plagiarized writings. They all died out.
America is now dying out from all the dribble.
You people recite the culture of Babel, so Babylon.
joe at 11:54AM on Apr 4th 2008
786. Joe/zule/whoever you are at the moment...
You are an interesting character. You have discordian tendencies. You like to throw your golden apples around, don'tcha? But poor zool, I am "gozer the keymaster." You didn't count on that, didja?
You see, what you don't know is that the ancient greeks fucked the atlanteans and thus, with hybrid vigor, wrote all the classics whilst on mushrooms. This provoked the romans to wear togas, as it was sunny in athens at the time, and fractals were in fashion. That provoked one particularly horny woman to mate with a bull, since men were in short supply, and the minotaur was born of the unholy western union. The minotaur represents animal man and Jesus wept when he saw one in his pajamas. (How he got into Jesus' pajamas is one of God's mysteries)
And unfortunately, chaos theory predicted the resurrection of Christ after the industrial revolution, but he came on time anyhow. Boy, was he pissed. In the british sense of the word. Quite the wino. And Judas was no help at all. Judas was Jesus' pusher. Then, when Mary Magdelene caught the clap, Jesus refused to heal her because she was a jew. I had no idea he was so prejudiced. He wore a simple robe and a yellow ribbon for the troops. And a shining star in the East. Satan was Jesus on acid, as everybody in Gehenna knows. But this has nothing to do with the Greeks. Except for the wine. They liked it too, only laced with hemlock for the extra kick. It caught on like wildfire in Rome, which promptly fell. Then, two thousand years after Rome fell, America caught it and ran with it.
That about catches us up to date.
How's by you?
Godless Heathen Brian at 1:02PM on Apr 4th 2008
777. Which sin is the cruelest?
To not abort a unwanted male fetus
or
To raise the unwanted male fetus, so that he may die in war, where he feels the pain of his limbs being separated from his body
787. Oh no, I'm on fire!
-stay puf marshmallow man
Reporter: Mr. Hays... It's been 3,931 years since religion began worshiping the brick wall instead of the science community. How intelligent is that?
William Hays: It's dumbed down! If we worshiped the big bang, then we would get more pooty tang. Dimwit athiest!
Reporter: Mr. GHB... It's been 2008 years since the year of your Lord. How many dimensions have you circumnavigated through in your search for intelligence?
Godless Heathen Brian: True intelligence is the kind of intelligence that people figure out. It's Reason, the true religion of the Ori! I am in the 11th dimension of the current vernacular.
Reporter: Given that your Lord created a different vernacular for every year of his reign... doesn't that mean you are 1997 years behind the times?
Linda: I must protest, Mr. Reporter. GHB is a true renaissance man, the second coming. If he didn't come, then we would all be back to the Big Bang.
Reporter: Janesophie1... Is it true God blessed the US? GisUs uknow.
Janesophie: Well, given that half the population worships a brick wall... we must all sense that wonderful feeling of being one. Until our own split into two, one angel & one devil.
Reporter: Do you admit that religion has a devilish side to it?
Man_in_wilderness: That is an insult! If we hoard all intelligence into one being, that being would be God! If we only give it to those who read outside of school, then we are just a mob.
Reporter: What about the bully?
JetFlyingV: If he's bigger than a bread basket, he's been bred to be my workforce. If he doesn't like it... he can rob and pillage for a living. Middle class families love that stuff!
Reporter: But isn't intelligence about having a civilized society? To promote liberty & freedom?
Mokele Mbembe: You are not a real reporter are you? If you were a real reporter, you would know the have's would make sure Americans have knots!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporter: This just in... breaking news from the white house. The President of the United States has just confirmed not-pboyfloyd's insult. It appears the government has finally done it.... it has erradicated all intelligence in America!
All except for God's latest creation... internet bloggers who compete for the most memory capacity, so they can remember everything but the truth. So they can put down every American who wishes to evolve past the brick wall. So America will not remember why they prayed to a brick wall for all those years. So women can be free! as long as they watch the husbands they were forced to marry. And the men can have liberty... if they would just give up the right to Life & that pesky pursuit of Happiness!
Ladies & Gentlemen, the President of the United States...
The President: Thank you, thank you. In commemoration of this day, we will be making some changes to old faithful... that red, white & blue flag. It's now just Black & Blue.
If you wish to make a contribution... all communist nations have been invited into our borders to receive the gift of your soul. You will never know your children's names, but to console you, we have set up these nifty brick wall things to comfort you. Sing... and you will forget what it was like... to be intelligent! So screw over your family members, and let the free dumb ring!
sil-ly at 12:48PM on Apr 11th 2008
firequencher at 12:38AM on Apr 16th 2008
639. Bravo!
tay at 1:02AM on Apr 16th 2008
640. Steve Coulter - "But why would any just God dish out eternal bliss or damnation based on what a person thinks may be true at the time of his death?"
It is simple, the Lord thy God wants you to willingly serve Him, for what He has done for you. It is called gratitude. So the Lord gives us each a choice, while we pass thru this thing we call life. You choose to accept Jesus as your personal Saviour, or you do not. The choice is up to you, therefore eternal life or eternal damnation is completely up to each of us individually.
Man_in_Wilderness at 4:23PM on Apr 17th 2008
641. 777. "Which sin is the cruelest? To not abort a unwanted male fetus or To raise the unwanted male fetus, so that he may die in war, where he feels the pain of his limbs being separated from his body"
Cruelty comes from the heart. If you choose to murder someone for your own selfish personal gain, that would be cruel. Should you raise your son, and he decides to join the military, and unfortunately dies in the service. He chose to serve, and ultimately pay that price. However, he made that choice, not some self serving bimbo, wanting to murder an innocent baby.
Man_in_Wilderness at 4:32PM on Apr 17th 2008
642. DoubleD, I'll ignore pascal's wager, due to it being a self fulfilling gamble. But I'll stick with Occum's Razor which is reality based.
JefFlyingV at 5:49PM on Apr 17th 2008
643. There is a God.Period.The REAL QUESTION IS...Is Christianity credible.
mad african christian at 12:10PM on Apr 18th 2008
644. An atheist likes to think he is above living by faith. The truth is it takes just as much faith to say something does not exist as it does to say something does. Someone can say "GOD DOES NOT EXIST" just as easily as someone can say He does.If faith is simply believing something that can not be proven, then it takes a great amount of faith to make either statement because no one truly KNOWS. I am not saying that believing one over the other makes more sense (though I do like the argument the Dinesh made).
David Matheny at 4:30PM on Apr 19th 2008
645. Belief in God should not be a side bet. You make your choice based on what is in your heart, if you dont know what to believe, then that in itself is the belief, "you dont know".
Stop the pressure of believe or not. Just live the life you want to live and let the "chips" fall where they will. If there is a god, and he truly loves us, then just living a good life should be enough, shouldnt it?
I know what I believe (and it is for me, and me alone), however there seems to be a crisis of faith in this country. It is beginning to get uncomfortable when I am told to believe or go to hell. So I should believe or else? Thats not belief, thats fear.
Here is some logic: God created all; all created = evil; therefore God created evil. Which means that either 1: he is not so loving as is claimed, or 2: he is not infallible.
Bet on a god that may not love you or actually may hate you, or bet on the premise that there is nothing at all to look forward to when you die. What a choice. Lucky for me I know a third thing to do. Dont choose. Your choice to do nothing is a choice as well, you bet on nothing, you loose nothing, but you gain nothing.
cpncack at 3:22PM on Apr 22nd 2008