A friend of mine recently sent me an article about Pascal’s wager. Pascal’s wager was his argument for believing in God even though, as he acknowledged, our reason cannot prove God’s existence. In spite of this lack of proof, we must decide whether to believe in God or not. How do we decide?
Pascal states this decision is like a wager where we consider the probability of something happening. If we wager not to believe and God does not exist, we might gain a few more earthly pleasures for 70 some years. However, if God does exist, we will suffer eternal torment. If we wager to believe in God and God does not exist we might lose a few years of earthly pleasure. However if God does exist, then we gain an eternity of pleasure. Which wager will we make? Pascal maintains it would not be rational to risk losing an eternity of gain when there is just a finite chance of being in error or in losing a finite amount of pleasure in our life here on earth.
Now I believe Pascal’s wager has some merit. However, I see five problems with it.
First, in his wager, Pascal assumes the Christian God is the God who created this universe. If you are a Christian, you believe this to be true. However, one can believe in a creator God, a Supreme Being, without believing in the Christian God. Will God sent people to heaven who just believe in the Supreme Being?
Second, Pascal maintains that because we are finite, “we are incapable of knowing . . . whether [God] is”. [1] However, Romans 1:18-22 tells us all of us have some knowledge of God. What can be known of God is revealed to us through nature namely God’s “eternal power and divine nature”.
The problem is that while nature tells us there is a Supreme Being, nature does not tell us what kind of person he is. As Pascal admits: “Therefore we may well know that God exists without knowing what he is.” [2] If we do not know what kind of person God is, how do we know that he will keep his promise that if we believe in him we will go heaven?
Third, why would a God of love and justice set up this world so that our decision of whether we believe in him or not determines our eternal fate particularly when he hides himself from us (Isaiah 45:15)?
Fourth, why would God set up our world so that we need to use the language and techniques of the gambling table as our main argument for why people should believe in God? Is our argument for our belief in him that weak?
Fifth, what do we need to do to go to heaven? Is it just to believe in God? Or is it, as we maintain in this blog, that we must change so our soul becomes more like God?
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[1] A. J. Krailsheimer, translator. Pascal Pensées. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1966, p. 150.
[2] Ibid., p. 149.
