Christian Folly: Pascal’s Wager

Posted by TruthRevolution

What is Pascal’s Wager? It’s a common philosophy, but is it the best way to approach salvation?

[audio:http://www.truthrevolution.tv/show/TS-0040.mp3]

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:

Dave: One common reason to believe in God goes like this:

Jeff: If you do believe in God and you’re right…

Dave: You’ll get rewarded! Now, if you believe in God, and your wrong…

Jeff: Nothing happens. You just lived a good life.

Dave: On the other side – if you don’t believe in God and you’re right…

Jeff: Nothing happens. But if you don’t believe in God and you’re wrong…

Dave: UH OH! There’s hell to pay. So you’d be wise to just go ahead and believe.

Jeff: This is called Pascal’s wager.

Dave: Unfortunately, it’s not a good proof for God’s existence.

Jeff: No, at best it should help people think through the seriousness of unbelief.

Dave: One problem with it is that if we just choose to believe to hedge our bets,
God will likely not fall for our scheme.

Jeff: That’s right, he’s not a fool. He won’t be tricked by our pretending to
believe “just in case he’s for real.”

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