So I'm trying to take Pascal's Wager...but which 'God' do I choose? Which God was he talking about?

Answer 1

Be reasonable.
Choose the only God who has clearly demonstrated Himself to be God throughout the course of human history.

Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible
by Hugh Ross, Ph.D.
Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 102000 (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)!

God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people's attention. Satan does, too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance.

The acid test for identifying a prophet of God is recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. According to this Bible passage (and others), God's prophets, as distinct from Satan's spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions. There is no room for error.

As economy does not permit an explanation of all the Biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled, what follows in a discussion of a few that exemplify the high degree of specificity, the range of projection, and/or the "supernature" of the predicted events. Readers are encouraged to select others, as well, and to carefully examine their historicity.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) Some time before 500 B.C. the prophet Daniel proclaimed that Israel's long-awaited Messiah would begin his public ministry 483 years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-26). He further predicted that the Messiah would be "cut off," killed, and that this event would take place prior to a second destruction of Jerusalem. Abundant documentation shows that these prophecies were perfectly fulfilled in the life (and crucifixion) of Jesus Christ. The decree regarding the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by Persia's King Artaxerxes to the Hebrew priest Ezra in 458 B.C., 483 years later the ministry of Jesus Christ began in Galilee. (Remember that due to calendar changes, the date for the start of Christ's ministry is set by most historians at about 26 A.D. Also note that from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. is just one year.) Jesus' crucifixion occurred only a few years later, and about four decades later, in 70 A.D. came the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)*


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(2) In approximately 700 B.C. the prophet Micah named the tiny village of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel's Messiah (Micah 5:2). The fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of Christ is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in history.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 105.)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(3) In the fifth century B.C. a prophet named Zechariah declared that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave—thirty pieces of silver, according to Jewish law-and also that this money would be used to buy a burial ground for Jerusalem's poor foreigners (Zechariah 11:12-13). Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that the money went to purchase a "potter's field," used—just as predicted—for the burial of poor aliens (Matthew 27:3-10).

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1011.)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(4) Some 400 years before crucifixion was invented, both Israel's King David and the prophet Zechariah described the Messiah's death in words that perfectly depict that mode of execution. Further, they said that the body would be pierced and that none of the bones would be broken, contrary to customary procedure in cases of crucifixion (Psalm 22 and 34:20; Zechariah 12:10). Again, historians and New Testament writers confirm the fulfillment: Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross, and his extraordinarily quick death eliminated the need for the usual breaking of bones. A spear was thrust into his side to verify that he was, indeed, dead.

(Probability of chance fulfillment = 1 in 1013.)

for the complete list go to:

http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/prophecy.shtml

Answer 2

Choosing in referrence to yourself or Pascal's Wager?

Answer 3

God is a proper name. what you would call the God you worship. So by that definition anyone you chose, because since Paschal was an attributive monist (all things relate back to one divine) any god you choose was just an extension of the one God he was giving the title to.

Answer 4

Well, if you believe the wager, you'd have to go with believing in all gods, right? Pretty time consuming! =) If you tried to pray before meals, you'd eat once a week.

......*lightbulb* HEY!! New diet plan! Pascal's Diet! I think it will be a big, big hit. =)

Answer 5

I think Pascal was quite 'tongue in cheek.'

His 'God' seems very like the 'when in Rome' sort of thing.

Getting in good with whatever 'God' that keeps your society from burning you at the stake, dropping bombs on you, or lynching you is the salient point of his wager, in my opinion.

Answer 6

The only god that matters is the God that created you. Your Creator is the only being that can give meaning and purpose to your life. Seek your Creator.

Answer 7

That's one of the fatal flaws in the 'wager;' the fact that Pascal assumed that either it was God (the name of the Christian god) or nothing--he didn't even consider the possibility of any other gods existing.

He obviously was talking about the Christian god (the only god whose name is (boringly) "God").

Answer 8

He was specifically referring to the Christian God in regards to the Salvation and Condemnation that the Bible speaks of regarding faith.

This may apply to other gods/beliefs but many religions require some form of sanctification (good works/merit) to benefit one in the afterlife.

Answer 9

Why is it all the others insist you should investigate all the other gods when only the God of the Bible has proven Himself in human history?
The truth is, they don't want to know the truth if this is the truth.

Answer 10

He was talking about the christian god apparently.

Answer 11

There is only one God!