Pascal's Wager

Someone shared that he accepted Christ for no other reason than fearing hell... if hell exists, maybe we should hedge our bets?

Well, imho, this reason is less than the ideal motivation for faith, which is really, about seeing and loving God for who He is...

But then again, properly speaking, fear is a rational response to a clear and present danger, so, heheh...

Reminds me of Pascal's Wager...

"If God does not exist, it does not matter how you wager, for there is nothing to win after death and nothing to lose after death. But if God does exist, your only chance of winning eternal happiness is to believe, and your only chance of losing it is to refuse to believe. As Pascal says, "I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true."

Comments

Anonymous said…
The problem with Pascal's wager is that the faith of which it speaks is nothing more than a consciously rationalized determination, rather than a sovereign work of God turning the heart of stone to a heart of flesh. It is, furthermore, separated from the issue of truth, since the one who "believes" is simply, as you say, "hedging his bets". True faith is the conviction that Christ actually is who He claimed to be,and has done what He claimed to do, not, as it is portrayed in the Wager, as a decision to believe, "just in case." God will not be mocked. He surely knows the difference between a genuine faith, authored by Himself, and lip-service for the purpose of self-preservation.
6:33 AM
Dave said…
Yes, you are right that Pascal's Wager is separated from the issue of truth. Perhaps that's because it's designed to 'work' in less-than-ideal situations... where all else fails.

Ideally, our presentation of the gospel and its apologia is convincing, being accompanied by a sovereign work of the Spirit's 'monergistic regeneration'... without which no one believes.

But what if this person is in a "I believe help my unbelief" situation"..? He finds both cases equally strong, and wonder if there's any rational ground for belief? Just throwing out some questions...
5:23 AM
Anonymous said…
alternatively, perhaps the wager could be used a good opener to the presuppositionalist i.e. "Try to assume that God exists and see other benefits - rational, spiritual- MAY be available..."
11:08 PM
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