Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Pascal's Wager

Pascal's Wager is a thought provoking argument for Christianity. I'm not sure it is even an argument for Christianity, but considering Christianity carefully.

The argument is basically the question "what is the cost if I am wrong?" Being wrong about Christianity (i.e. rejecting it and being wrong) carries a very high cost: an eternal separation from God.

For a position like atheism being wrong about atheism (basically believing in the Christian God for example) has relatively negligible cost. The cost is that a lot of people will consider you an inferior intellect for believing in God.

Pascal's wager does not even seem to be an argument for Christianity, rather a suggestion that we consider it very carefully.

Being wrong about Christianity is akin to being wrong whether the road we are about to drive down dead ends in a hundred foot drop. It is a call to carefully look at the claims of Jesus to see if they are true.

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