What do Christians in general think of Pascal's wager?

Answer 1

UGH, I don't know. I wish they'd stop, though.

Answer 2

The Wager is described by Pascal in the Pensées this way:

God is, or He is not. But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up… Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.

In his Wager, Pascal provides an analytical process for a person to evaluate options in regarding belief in God. As Pascal sets it out, the options are two: believe or not believe. There is no third possibility.

Therefore, we are faced with the following possibilities:

You believe in God.
If God exists, you go to heaven: your gain is infinite.
If God does not exist, your loss (the investment in your mistaken belief) is finite and therefore negligible.
You do not believe in God.
If God exists, you go to hell: your loss is infinite and your gain is zero.
If God does not exist, your gain is finite and therefore negligible.
With these possibilities, and the principles of statistics, Pascal hoped to have demonstrated that the only prudent course of action is to believe in God. It is a simple application of game theory (to which Pascal had made important contributions).
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I think it is not as important as God's Word.

Answer 3

I wish my answer were NOTHING. Unfortunately, learning about it is a side effect of hanging out here.

I think it's superstitious nonsense. I'm a big believer in better-safe-than-sorry, but as others wiser than me have pointed out, you can't force yourself to believe.

So it's crap.

OOPS! I did it again. I focused on the "Pascal's wager" portion of your question and ignored the fact that it's addressed to christians. Not that THAT would stop me, but you wanted to know what christians think and you've mostly gotten atheist answers. Sorry about that!

Answer 4

My apologies, but I always feel compelled to point out that Pascal's wager depends upon a false dichotomy: namely that their is either ONE VERSION of God or you're wrong. So which brand of God is the right one? There are so many Christian branches with their own ideas of what God or Jesus really meant, so WTF? NOW WHAT?? Apparently Pascal was oblivious to anything other than the catholic church.

Answer 5

when i was christian it was an interesting way to look at things, not saying i agreed with it at all. it turned christianity into a form of "after-life" insurance. makes you believe "just in case".
and i cant imagine an all powerful god wanting worshippers based solely on the fact that they are only believing incase he existed. lol.

Answer 6

It's weak. There are better reasons for becoming a Christian. And I doubt God would think much of someone who was just taking out 'fire insurance'.

Answer 7

Judging by the 40 times a day they post some variant of it, they think it's a compelling argument. They're wrong.

Answer 8

I'd probably be an atheist without it. Be a Pascalian Christian Protestant. Low cost, (promise of) great benefits.

Answer 9

Afterlife insurance
for me the cost is too high
for any "perceived" benefit

Answer 10

It's a good enough reason to start but it's not going to get you there.

Answer 11

Most around here seem to think it is a logical argument.