Pascals Wager?

Question

what excatly is thaat? im a christain and i have never heard of it...

Answer 1

Although this is not a weather related question I will provide you with the answer. Pascal argued that it is a better "bet" to believe that God exists, because the expected value of believing that God exists is always greater than the expected value resulting from non-belief. This has come to be called "Pascal's Wager" and may be found in his book "Pensees", a wonderful read which I have here in front of me on my bookshelf. It is considered a Christian classic. Pensees by the way is French for thoughts. You may find his book published by Penguin Classics at any good bookstore. The problem for the Christian with Pascal's wager is that many of us do not believe that we come to faith in God through our own reason but by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Pascal himself said "The heart has its reason that reason knows not of" which makes me think he didn't really believe his own "wager". So much for theology on this important weather category.

Answer 2

If God exists but you do not believe, you will lose much when you die (heaven)

If God exists and you do believe, you will gain much when you die (heaven)

If God doesn't exist, and you do not believe, you will have lost nothing.

If God doesn't exist and you do believe, you will have only lost your time spent worshipping a false god.

Therefore, the consequences of not believing are neutral at best or tragic at worst (losing heaven) while the consequences of believing are gaining heaven at best versus wasting time on earth while you are here.

This idea I believe is being asked in the weather question because some have compared it to global warming as such:

If global warming exists but you do not believe, you will lose much (the environment)

If global warming exists and you do believe, you will gain much when you save environment.

If global warming doesn't exist, and you do not believe, you will have lost nothing.

If global warming doesn't exist and you do believe, you will have lost time and resources fighting against something that doesn't exist.


To me, the difference is the cost and who is paying for it . If I believe in God and he is not real, then I have made a choice to waste my own time.

If someone believes in Global warming and it doesn't exist, then who has to pay for the resources and costs associated with this waste?

Finally, if God is real, the consequences are diametrically opposed, either pure bliss in eternal heaven or eternal damnation in hell.

Global warming is not so well defined. Even if it is occuring, we don't know to what extent, if any, it will dramatically affect our lives.