Section 7.    WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE

Pascal, Blaise (1623-62), French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist, is considered one of the great minds in Western intellectual history. He is remembered as the founder of Calculus. Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand on June 19, 1623, and his family settled in Paris in 1629. Under the tutelage of his father, Pascal soon proved himself a mathematical prodigy, and at the age of 16 he formulated one of the basic theorems of projective geometry, known as Pascal's theorem and described in his Essai pour les coniques (Essay on Conics, 1639). In 1642 he invented the first mechanical adding machine. Pascal proved by experimentation in 1648 that the level of the mercury column in a barometer is determined by an increase or decrease in the surrounding atmospheric pressure rather than by a vacuum, as previously believed.

Pascal was one of the most eminent mathematicians and physicists of his day and one of the greatest mystical writers in Christian literature. His religious works are personal in their speculation on matters beyond human understanding. Pascal's writings urging acceptance of the Christian life contain frequent applications of the calculations of probability; he reasoned that the value of eternal happiness is infinite and that although the probability of gaining such happiness by religion may be small it is infinitely greater than by any other course of human conduct or belief.

Pascals Wager

The question that demands to be answered, of course, is this: If our reason is inadequate to find God, even through valid evidences, how does one find God? Says Pascal:

Let us then examine the point and say: "Either God exists, or he does not." But which of the alternatives shall we choose? Reason cannot decide anything. Infinite chaos separates us. At the far end of this infinite distance a coin is being spun which will come down heads or tails. How will you bet? Reason cannot determine how you will choose, nor can reason defend your position of choice.

At this point Pascal challenges us to accept his wager. Simply put, the wager says we should bet on Christianity because the rewards are infinite if it's true, while the losses will be insignificant if it's false. If it's true and you have rejected it, you've lost everything. However, if it's false but you have believed it, at least you've led a good life and you haven't lost anything. Of course, the best outcome is if one believes Christianity to be true and it turns out that it is!

But the unbeliever might say it's better not to choose at all. Not so, says Pascal. You're going to live one way or the other, believing in God or not believing in God; you can't remain in suspended animation. You must choose.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my ever patient wife Glenys and my children Chelsea, Jessica, Jared, Caitlyn and Brittany for allowing me to spend far too much time on the computer putting this all together, I trust this programme will reap Eternal rewards

I love this quote that I came across recently…“To use one persons material is plagiarism, but to use many peoples material is Research.”

The Author would like to kindly acknowledge the significant research and resources of many people and organisations from whom I have drawn from in writing and compiling this document, and in particular the following people many of which were quoted verbatim.

1.  Probe Ministries and in particular it’s founder Jimmy Williams who passed away during the time of writing this document.

2. “Beyond Blind Faith” by Paul Little

3. “Evidence For The Resurrection” by Professor Josh McDowell,

4. Campus crusade for Christ

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