Pascal’s Wager proposes that the question of God’s possible existence has huge consequences and must be considered very seriously. It points out the potential eternal loss that faces those who reject God if it turns out that they are wrong and God does, indeed, exist.
VIDEO & AUDIO LINKS
VIDEO: Episode 21, Pascal’s Wager
AUDIO PODCAST: Episode 21, Pascal’s Wager
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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to Episode 21 of Evidence For Belief, a series which examines the evidence for the existence of God. Throughout this series, I have presented you with a variety of evidence that points to the existence of God:
- Evidence of a supernatural cause for the origin of the universe
- Evidence of a supernatural cause for the origin of biological life and consciousness
- Evidence of intelligent design throughout the universe
- The existence of objective moral values which are only possible if God exists
- Evidence of God’s intervention throughout history
- The miracles and resurrection of Jesus Christ
- Evidence of personal experience and miracles
If we consider this entire portfolio of evidence, it seems to me that it would take much more faith to DISBELIEVE in God than to believe in him. As each piece of evidence is added to the argument, the case for God’s existence becomes increasingly compelling until, in my opinion, it becomes utterly convincing. The simplest and most logically consistent explanation of all the evidence combined, is that an all-powerful Creator has brought our universe into existence and continues to interact with it.
The person who attempts to explain away the evidence, however, requires a great deal of faith indeed. The atheist who rejects God as the most likely explanation is left with an unsolvable puzzle. If not God, then what? How else can all the evidence be explained? Atheists either have to resort to increasingly speculative and even bizarre alternative explanations for the various pieces of evidence, or else they must concede that they simply don’t have a viable explanation. This is especially true in regard to the first three areas of evidence. The atheist is left saying, “I have no explanation for the origin of the universe, the origin of life and the indisputable signs of intelligent design, but I don’t accept the God-explanation.” In effect, the atheist is left believing in an alternate explanation that he cannot yet perceive. He is effectively saying, “Something else caused all this, but I have no idea what it was.” This is why I maintain that it takes MORE faith to disbelieve in God than to believe in him.
What about you? How do you respond to the evidence?
Let me tell you the story of Professor Antony Flew. You may not have heard of him but without doubt he was the most influential atheist of the last century and is still regarded today as the founding father of modern atheism. He possessed a towering intellect and he wrote 30 books and papers promoting atheism and attacking the Christian worldview. He became the leading spokesperson for atheism world-wide, and he convinced many people to discard their belief in God. But in 2004, he shocked the world by announcing that he had changed his mind, and he was now convinced that there is a God. His conversion made headlines around the globe, and at first, people struggled to comprehend it.
Shortly after his conversion, he published this book, “There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind”. The publication of his book sent further shockwaves around the world. The atheist movement was dumbfounded. How could their leader and spokesperson have changed sides?!
So, what changed his mind? – a mind that for so long had seemed resolutely determined in its denial of God? Did he have some kind of religious experience? A divinely inspired epiphany? Did God appear to him in a burning bush type encounter?
No. Professor Flew is very clear about this. He says that it was not a religious experience of any kind that changed his mind but, rather, a methodical, dispassionate analysis of the scientific evidence over many years that inexorably led him to the conclusion that there must be a God. He says that he decided to lay aside his preconceptions and personal bias and dogmatically follow the evidence wherever it led him, no matter how uncomfortable that ultimate destination was to his atheistic beliefs.
In his new book, he wrote: “we must follow the evidence wherever it leads” and in his case, it led him to the conclusion that there is a God. Not everyone is as brave as Professor Flew in following the evidence to its logical conclusion. Some people look at the evidence and see where it is heading but draw back from the brink. They don’t like where it is leading them.
They don’t want to believe in God because to do so would ruin their independence. They don’t want to be accountable to a Creator, so they reject the most logical explanation in favour of anything, no matter how fanciful or nebulous, that will allow them to maintain their sovereign independence.
As Winston Churchill once stated, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”[1]
So, I repeat: how do YOU respond to this evidence? Are you bold enough to follow it wherever it leads?
Let me reiterate something that I pointed out at the very beginning of this series: we are talking about ‘evidence’ not ‘proof’. If you are waiting until you are completely and utterly convinced, until God’s existence is proved in an absolute, undeniable sense, you will never reach a decision. Because absolute proof for just about everything is simply not possible. In most things in life, we have to act in good faith based upon the weight of evidence that establishes something beyond reasonable doubt. And, in my opinion, the existence of God is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt.
At this point, it’s helpful to consider a philosophical argument known as PASCAL’S WAGER. Apparently there is actually a video game called Pascal’s Wager – go figure! – but I’m not referring to a game. I’m referring to an argument proposed by
Blaise Pascal – a 17th century French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, writer and theologian. He proposed an interesting argument for having faith in God. Recognising the impossibility of ever attaining absolute proof of God’s existence, he argued that believing in God was a much safer bet than not believing in him.
His argument was essentially quite simple, and it can be expressed as follows:
- If you believe in God and worship him but it turns out that you’re wrong and God doesn’t exist, your loss is minimal (perhaps you’ve foregone some pleasures or ‘sins’ you might have otherwise enjoyed).
- But if you disbelieve in God and reject him, and it turns out that you’re wrong and he does exist, your loss is infinite (an eternity separated from him and from heaven).
Pascal concludes, therefore, that it is a much safer wager to worship God, and that to reject God is to place yourself in a very dangerous position. It’s not a safe bet. In fact, he reasons that considering the INFINITE potential losses of ultimately incorrect unbelief and the very negligible potential losses of misplaced belief, being a Christian is the most sensible and logical decision.
He also points out that no one can escape the necessity of making this decision. You can’t opt out of the bet. If you claim to be undecided, and your indecision is reflected in not actively worshipping and following God, then you have effectively decided against God. In this sense everyone is making a ‘wager’.
It’s an interesting way of looking at it, isn’t it?
But I disagree with Pascal on the issue of the minimal potential loss attached to belief – that is, the loss to believers if it turns out that God doesn’t exist. Pascal argues that the potential loss for Christians if it turns out their belief is wrong is minimal. But I would argue that there is ZERO potential loss – that living a Christian life is BETTER by far than not doing so, and that there is no potential loss whatsoever, even if it turns out that God doesn’t exist.
Consider, for example, the issue of sex outside of marriage. The Bible teaches that God has ordained that sex is for marriage only and that those who follow his commands should not engage in sex outside of marriage. Consequently, my wife and I have been completely faithful to each other, and neither of us has ever had any other sexual partners.
A hedonist (someone who lives for the pursuit of pleasure) might argue that we are missing out on the excitement of having an affair or two, or that we missed out on a bit of fun by not having sex before we got married. They would argue that our Christian lifestyle has hindered our experience of pleasure. But I disagree.
My observation of the result of pre-marital sex and extra-marital affairs is that the cumulative pain and heartache that they cause far outweighs any transient pleasure they might bring. A sexually promiscuous lifestyle inevitably ends up in broken relationships, broken trust, hurt, increasing emotional detachment, physical complications, sexually transmitted infections which can have life-long serious consequences, increasing selfishness, dehumanising of relationships, loss of true intimacy, and in later life increasing isolation and loneliness.
Our Christian commitment to a faithful marriage actually fosters security, trust, love, intimacy, and physical and emotional health – all of which would be damaged or destroyed if either one of us had an affair.
In the case of people who have led sexually promiscuous lives, I have often noted ongoing negative consequences in their later lives, including trust issues, patterns of ongoing infidelity, guilt, depression, self-esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, as well as persistent health issues from incurable sexually transmitted infections.
The hook-up culture that now pervades our society ends up producing people who are isolated, lonely, emotionally shallow and unable to commit to a functional healthy long-term relationship. The hook-up culture ends up making people MISERABLE and LONELY.
After a lifetime of counselling people and seeing the damage caused by pre-marital and extra-marital sex, I have absolutely no doubt that following God’s commands in this area of life results in the BEST possible life. My wife and I have not lost anything by obeying God in this area of our lives.
The same can be said of any so-called ‘pleasure’ that I might be forsaking in order to follow Christ. In fact, now that I think of it, I can’t really identify any good thing that I am giving up in that sense.
For example, drunkenness and drug use don’t hold any appeal for me, because they, like all other sins that the Bible warns us against, actually lead to LESS pleasure in the long run. They are DESTROYERS of joy and contentment and health.
Similarly, in following Christ, I turn aside from unforgiveness, choosing instead to forgive others. This might seem like I am losing something, giving up the ‘right’ to get even and seek revenge, but it turns out that carrying grudges and seeking revenge would actually hurt me in the long run.
You see, it turns out that the Christian lifestyle results in a much BETTER life, because the things we are called to give up are things that would actually hurt us and make us miserable. So I would alter Pascal’s Wager to read as follows:
- If you worship God but it turns you’re WRONG and he DOESN’T exist, you have lost NOTHING – in fact, you’ve had a better
- But if you reject God and it turns out you’re WRONG and he DOES exist, your eventual loss is INFINITE (an eternity separated from your Creator and from heaven) and this life may have been worse as well.
Of course the latter doesn’t always follow. I’m not saying that everyonewho rejects God has a worse life. That’s certainly not always true. But many do – simply because of the bad choices they end up making when they also reject some of the moral values that come from God.
I also want to point out that Pascal’s Wager is NOT an argument for God’s existence. It is not trying to PROVE God’s existence or give evidence for it. I occasionally have people say to me, “Pascal’s Wager is a poor argument for God’s existence”. But they’ve missed the point. That’s not what Pascal’s Wager is trying to do. It’s simply pointing out the CONSEQUENCES of God’s existence or non-existence. Consequences that are both temporal and potentially eternal. It’s effectively saying, “This is a really big deal, with BIG consequences – so make sure you get it right!”
In fact, Pascal’s Wager ought to motivate us to look very closely at the evidence, because the consequences if we get it wrong are huge. It ought to motivate us to have a long hard look at the kind of evidence that this series has presented and not just dismiss it lightly.
I suspect that the reason why many people don’t bother to examine the evidence is that they don’t WANT there to be a God. They don’t LIKE the idea of there being a God to whom they are accountable. They are very comfortable with their life as it is and they don’t want to think about any possibility of life beyond death.
Blaise Pascal would say to those people, “You are making a bet – but it’s a very dangerous one. Because if you’re wrong – your loss is infinite!”
Can I urge you to consider very seriously the evidence that I’ve presented in this series. And if you do reach the point where you are beginning to suspect that God exists – then turn to him in faith. Pascal is effectively asking the question, “What’s stopping you from placing your faith in God? What have you got to lose?”
The answer is NOTHING. There is actually NOTHING to lose and EVERYTHING to gain.
But what does it mean to place your faith in God? What does that look like? I’ll be explaining that in the final episode of this series. But before then I want address those who remain unconvinced by the evidence; those who remain resolute in their unbelief. The next episode is entitled “10 Impossible Things For Atheism”. If you are determined to continue in your unbelief, you are faced with a huge conundrum. Because there are 10 impossible things that atheism simply cannot explain. Make sure you check that episode out.
For more information on any of these topics, you can check out my books which are available on my website, smartfaith.net, where you can also subscribe to my weekly blog.
Also, keep an eye out for my upcoming series, “Answers” which tackles the most common questions and objections against Christianity.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/winston_churchill_135270