This is the first in a set of shorter posts that I’m going to call Quick thoughts and Whatnots. Ive had a couple of kind of half posts I’ve typed up the last few weeks but they didn’t feel like full post. To avoid these shot thoughts going to waste I submit to you all this new category.
I was on a theology page this week and came across a pretty cool thing I wanted to share with you all. It is called Pascal’s Wager. In short, a theologian in the 1600’s named Blaise Pascal came up with this way of looking at living a Christian life and he framed it in the form of a wager that people make daily. The idea is: Everyday you wake up you are forced to make a wager; Will you live as if God exists or not. It is a wager because you are placing a bet on the way your actions during the day will play out in the eternities.
The basic logic for understanding the wager are as follows:
First: God is or is not and there is no empirical way to prove either option. There is no third option, when you die you will find out.
Second: you do not have the option to opt out of the game
Third: bet on whether or not God is.
Let us weigh the options here really quick. If you bet that God exists you have two out comes, He does which results in Eternal Happiness or He does not and nothing happens. If you bet God does not exist, you have two similar out comes: He does and you win Eternal Damnation, He does not and nothing happens. Two Eternal options or 2 nothings.
As in any good wager there is a cost put up. What do you bet if you are betting God exists? You bet the finite happiness that could be gained from not living a Christian life, we will call this the chip. You bet with the same chip if you bet against God’s existence, but you are betting that this chip is worth more than the potential gain.
What is the potential gain? If you are betting that God exists you are betting your finite chip for a payout of infinite happiness; if you, lose you lose your finite chip but if you win you will it all. Versus your chip for a payout of nothing, if you win you keep your finite chip but win nothing, if you lose you lose big infinite unhappiness.
Eternal happiness vs Eternal Damnation vs Nothingness those are the options. How do you wager?
If you wager there is no God, best case you win nothing, worse case you lose infinitely.
If you wager there is a God, best case you win infinitely, worst case you lose nothing.
Hedge your bets, bet on there being a God. Believe in God, believe that He is, and that He created all things, both in heaven and earth. You stand to gain all and lose nothing.
As always I’m praying for thee, please pray for me.