Well good evening everyone and welcome to my sixty sixth episode. In the previous episode, we talked about a biblical perspective on suffering and grief. I made the case that there is no single solution for grieving which can be prescribed universally, but that there are wrong ways that should be universally avoided. Tonight, I want to talk about Pascal’s wager and why seeing the world that way misses the mark. But first, I want to thank everyone who has rated and reviewed this podcast – as well as shared it on social media. When it comes to the podcast, there are two major ways you can support it and both ways are equally valuable. The first way is direct support, which means becoming a subscriber on Patreon. There are multiple tiers of support available on Patreon so you can choose which level is comfortable for you. I chose to work with Patreon because they are one of the biggest names in creator-support platforms. Their platform is clean and easy to use, and best of all it is secure. I am familiar with their history of censoring conservative speakers on their platform – but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt for my content. Okay, the second way to support this podcast is indirectly. This means rating the podcast and writing a review on the audio platform that you use to listen to it – or on YouTube. Indirect support also includes sharing the podcast on social media and telling your friends about it. If you have found this work valuable, there’s a high probability that someone else you know will benefit from it as well.
Okay, let’s get into today’s topic. Pascal’s wager is an idea that was articulated by the 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. The idea is: if you choose to believe in God, and you’re right, then you get to enjoy an eternity in heaven. If you choose to believe in God, and you’re wrong, then nothing happens. If you refuse to believe in God, and you’re right, then nothing happens. But if you refuse to believe in God, and you’re wrong, then you suffer an eternity in hell. So, Pascal’s wager says you might as well choose to believe in God just in case God actually does exist. It’s worth noting that Blaise Pascal framed this argument in support of the Christian God – this was not a generalized deistic claim.
I find Pascal’s wager to be a problematic way of thinking. In essence, Pascal’s wager appeals to each person’s fear of eternity in hellfire. That is the first problem. The Christian worldview is founded on love for God and love for your neighbor – not on fear of being sent to hell. Unfortunately, this fire insurance faith is a lot more common than it should be. For many, many Christians, the extent of their relationship with Jesus is making the right noises about God and showing up to church on Sunday – that’s it. What’s worse, these Christians have a tendency to condemn others who express their faith differently than they do. Jesus himself warned us against this type of behavior when he challenged the Pharisees for being religious on the outside but corrupt in their hearts.
But the problems with Pascal’s wager do not stop there. Thinking about your relationship with God as a means of escaping hell completely overlooks the power of belief in this life. The power of belief is a really big deal. If you want to know more about that, MHB 55 is the episode where I discuss it. You are alive at this moment. You didn’t choose to be alive – but here you are. You exist in a reality where one mistake or one wrong move can destroy your future. You exist in a reality where even if you worship correctly, make good decisions, and avoid sinful behavior you could still be crushed by arbitrary suffering like an accident, a cancer diagnosis or being the victim of evil. Pascal’s wager, or relating to God as if He’s someone you’ll only encounter when you die completely fails to address this reality. It completely fails to acknowledge the possibility of you descending into something like hell while you’re still alive.
I want you to think about someone you know who has been hit hard with a tragedy that was no fault of his own. Someone who despite this tragedy was able to keep his head up and walk through the suffering and overcome it. Also, think about someone you know who has made huge sacrifices for the benefit of others – yet who didn’t feel ripped off or as if he took a loss. Think about someone you know who decided to forgo the pleasures of the moment so that she could accomplish something meaningful to herself and others. You can even think about someone who was born into a terrible situation with the deck stacked against her – yet who managed to put herself together despite her circumstances and create a better future for her own children. These are examples of men and women who leave the world better than they found it. These are examples of men and women who advance the kingdom of God here in this life.
Now, flip all of that around. Think about someone you know who has experienced a tragic event that was not fair to him. But this person clings to the fact that it was unfair and uses that as an excuse to deceive and manipulate the world around him. He even deceives himself into thinking that leveraging his will onto others is justified because he is the true victim. Think about someone you know who will do or say anything to avoid taking up responsibility. Someone who knows all about the various forms of charity and social safety nets meant for people in dire need – and who abuses them for their own gain. This person deceives himself into thinking he’s earned the right to abuse these programs. Since he knows how to game the system, he must be too intelligent for hard work. Why not take advantage of others? Next, think about someone you know who was born into a broken home by no fault of her own. The toxic dysfunction she grew up in has wrecked her sense of self-worth. So, when she establishes her own home, she channels most of her energy into resentment against her husband – cutting him down and emasculating him. She also ignores her kids. After all, she was ignored as a child and so why not make her own family feel as worthless as she feels? These are examples of men and women who leave the world worse than they found it. These are examples of men and women who spend the gift of life willfully turning their suffering into pockets of hell for themselves and others.
The only difference between these two groups of people is belief. The people who produced hell in their lives and the lives of others believed something about themselves and others that simply was not true. Belief is bedrock. Belief changes everything. But what does that have to do with Pascal’s wager? I want to be clear here. Salvation – or going to heaven when you die – is a free gift of God given to everyone who invests their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way. Salvation was even given to the thief on the cross who died next to Jesus. The thief did not spend his life advancing the kingdom of God – he probably did the exact opposite. But we must remember, the thief was hanging from a cross when he decided to allow Christ into his heart. He had to be crucified before he accepted it. He had to hit rock bottom before he was willing to step down from the throne of his own heart. I said in the previous episode that the day is coming when you, too, will have to bear your cross of suffering. You will hit rock bottom. But rock bottom isn’t hell. Hell is worse than rock bottom. Maybe your suffering was unavoidable and rock bottom came upon you and stole your happiness – but you have the freedom and the power to turn that suffering into hell. Pascal’s wager never accounts for that. Salvation is a free gift we should be eternally thankful for – but until we receive it we still have to live in this world. And if you aren’t careful you can make decisions that turn your temporary suffering into something that feels like hell and lasts forever.
I think it’s safe to say that pretty much everyone wants to avoid that for their own life. Why, then, is there so many people who go sideways like this? The number one contributor is pride. Pride deceives you into thinking that you’ve experienced enough of the world to have it all figured out. Pride lies to you and tells you that you can get away with manipulating reality and manipulating others for your gain. Pride convinces you that your value originates with yourself and so if the world is unfair to you – revenge is in order. Pride is what motivates you to accuse God of being in the wrong and absolve yourself of responsibility. Metaphorically speaking, the proud jump off of buildings to prove that they can break the law of gravity – but instead they break themselves and prove the law of gravity. Then from their broken position they accuse the law of gravity of being evil, instead of remembering that they themselves made the decision to jump.
If you want to avoid producing hell in your life, the first step is changing pride into humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less often. Humility tells you that you must pay attention because there’s many things you need to know that you do not yet know. Humility allows you to see that you are not bigger than reality and that if you try to manipulate the world and others – reality is going snap back. Humility allows you to see that what value you have is given to you by God and so even in your hardest moments, life is a gift and thankfulness is in order. Humility is what motivates you to work for something greater than yourself and to respond to Jesus by picking up your own cross and stumbling uphill toward the city of God – even when there is no light at the end of the tunnel and you have to move forward on faith. The humble watch with broken hearts when they see the proud making the jump and attempting rebellion against the law of gravity. The humble step down into where the proud have fallen to try to love them and help them back up on their feet. And the humble forgive the proud when they see genuine repentance.
Salvation and Pascal’s wager would be like a get-out-of-jail-free card if love didn’t cost so much in this life. In this world, choosing to love is also choosing to be crucified with all the suffering that attends it. It’s easy to be at the bedside of a dying person who you do not love. It’s easy to manipulate and abuse family and friends who you do not love. It’s easy to pursue destruction at the cost of others and throw away a life that you do not love. It’s easy to establish permanent residence in your own misery when you refuse to believe how God could love someone like you.
Life is not about making a bet that God exists by saying the right things about Him and going to church on Sundays. Life is not about doing your best to achieve happiness every other day of the week. Happiness is a grace of God – it comes and goes like the wind – and like the wind, you can’t control it. So stop chasing it. Life is about having enough meaning to get you out of bed on your worst days. Nietzsche said that a man with a why can endure any how. Meaning is inextricably linked to responsibility. Loving God and loving your neighbor is a terrifying responsibility because it means that what you do here matters. What you do here changes the course of your life and the lives of others. It is a massive responsibility but it is also a well of meaning that will never run dry. Jesus said that your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Yes, Christian, forgiveness and salvation are free. But love costs you everything. Love makes you vulnerable. Love is voluntarily accepting the suffering because you choose to believe that it is worth it. It is having the faith to hope that after all things are finished, your love will remain. Love is Jesus Christ voluntarily going to the cross because He chose to believe that loving you was worth it.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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