It seems to me as though my natural disposition tends toward questioning, cynicism, and skepticism. I don't relate much with Peter's faith as he jumped out of the boat and walked on water. I think I can relate more with Thomas' skepticism.
I hope you don't think less of me when I say that, even as a pastor, I've sat at my desk and asked myself, "is this all for real?"
It's at times like these that Jesus' words to Thomas from John 20:27 sting:"Do not disbelieve, but believe."
Now, I don't want to make this sound like I'm in a huge period of questioning my faith or anything like that... 'cause I'm not. Sometimes I'm just struck by the unlikelyhood of it all. This is just a struggle within my own personality; a battle within my human nature. Many different people struggle through a lot of different things and my natural skepticism provides me with my own little
battle.One thing that has helped me through these doubtful thoughts has been "Pascal's Wager". Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher from the 1600s. Pascal layed out his "wager" in the Pensées (which was actually assembled after his death).
His wager runs a little like this...
If you live as though (the Christian) God exists:
If God exists, you go to heaven: your gain is infinite.
If God does not exist, you gain nothing and lose nothing.
If you live as though (the Christian) God does not exist:
If God exists, your loss is infinite.
If God does not exist, you gain nothing and lose nothing.
Thus, by Pascal's reasoning, if you're going to risk either belief or unbelief it is more prudent to make the risk of faith. It's not a flawless arguement but I think he's right and many Christian authors have picked up on this rational. CS Lewis makes use of this logic in "Mere Christianity" and it is, to a certain extent, the basis of Daniel Taylor's book, "The Myth of Certainty." Both of these books have had a huge impact on my life.
Does your personality tend more towards belief or unbelief? (more for personal reflection)
Does Pascal's Wager make sense to you?
What is Pascal's most "becoming" feature, his hair or his nose?
Check out my amazing photoshop skills: here.
7 comments:
Hello, I found your blog a few days ago and have been enjoying reading your posts. Your post today interests me a lot because this is also something that I think about. I'm sure many others do, as well.
As for my personal style of belief, it's difficult to place it in either category 100%, but I do relate with Peter more than I do with Thomas. I'm not sure if it was because I grew up Christian, but it hasn't ever been very difficult for me to understand that God can quite literally do anything in any way he pleases.
If things went bad for me, or seemed to be going bad, I'd remember that God has a plan, and that I have absolutely no idea what is good or bad for me in the long run.
I do, however, definitely understand and relate with you when you speak of uncertainty and skepticism. Who doesn't sit there sometimes and wonder, (perhaps involuntarily) "Could all this just be a mind game?" I suppose that the fact that that is very plausible is one reason that there are so many unbelievers. Pascal's Wager definitely makes sense to me (in a sort of way).
If I were an unbeliever, it would make sense to me. It's the safest bet, from that perspective. I'm not so sure that deciding to "join" and become Christian for that reason would change you into one, but I'm sure that it's a step in the right direction.
As a believer, it's not a bet. I know God exists, is gracious and merciful, so therefore, the bet is non-existent. From this perspective, it seems rather strange to try and think of this as a bet.
I look forward to more of your posts! Please keep posting.
I think that his heavy eyelids are what most 'become' him.
P.S. - I find Pascal's reasoning leading up the Wager to be fascinating reading, though. I love this one sentence in an excerpt I'm reading:
"If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is...."
I hadn't had very much more than a passing interest in Pascal before this post, but now I'm finding myself more and more interested in him, so I thank you for this post! I wish you the best in your contemplations - alone and with God.
Thanks for your input, Inki. I think you (and Pascal) are right. If God is truly God then He must be "incomprehensible." I mean, if we can completely comprehend everything about God then He's not much of a God.
Of course, we have the Bible which reveals to us much of who He is...
...but the Bible only gives us all that we NEED to know about God, not ALL THERE IS to know about God.
Good writing Mr. Tim.
Pascal's most becoming feature is his hair, no question.
Have you been reading John Stackhouse's blog lately? It's really interesting stuff--all to do with faith/reason, brains/belief, etc.
My small beef with the wager is that it seems to be solely focused on 'afterlife'. As far as the prudence of the risk of faith--is it really a prudent risk when we look at what the Bible says about the Christian LIFE? For example, if you really do live as though God exists, and then he doesn't--many people would say a whole lot was lost for nothing during the course of life. Not just gain nothing, lose nothing.
Yeah, Mike, I wondered a bit about that too. My only thought in defense of our long-haired, heavy eyelided friend, Blaise, is that in his time period it is quite likely that pretty much everyone lived like 'Christians'; it was the social norm. And so he may not have thought much about how it would affect everyday life.
Now, most people would say that if you live like a Christian and you are wrong then you missed out on a whole bunch of fun.
In fact, as you are probably aluding to, if we truly live like Christ then we are likely going to have a difficult life.
Is it worth the risk?
Think Temporal vs. Eternal
Is it just me or does this argument only work between the "Christian" God and an atheist. It would seem that if God is not real but the way of the Buddha is, then if we live a Christian life we lose Nirvana. (I suppose we would get a second chance in this case but you get my point.)
I have often been in the place you describe, in questioning my faith. In fact I had a Bible School proff that said he threw everything he knew about God out the window every year and started from scratch. (Whether he actually did this I don't know) To me, there are so many other evidences of God. For example, take the banana, just kidding.
Being a pastors kid and going through the phase of making my faith my own, I cannot imagine life without God. Sure there are parts that would seem more fun if I didn't believe but our faith has never been about short term outcomes but always long-lasting ones. Jesus didn't fret about the lack of belief of the Pharisees because he was grooming others to lead the church.
Oh and I like Pascal's eyebrows, very niiiice!
Tim S.
I don't have anything theologically smart to add to this conversation. I just wanted to say that I have used that argument in the past when I'm struggling with my own faith. Except that if God exists we gain infinite love and acceptance, but if God doesn't exist we will continually be seeking that acceptance elsewhere and I don't have the personality for that. For me, if God doesn't love me, and I don't feel like anyone else does, then what's the point of living at all. I may as well just jump off a bridge somewhere.
There is so much to lose if there is no God. I look at all the non-believers lives who are all having "fun" and wasting away to nothing as human beings. There are no lasting relationships anymore, no love, no commitment, just self-gratification. I can't see the upside to not believing in God. (But then again, I'm not a partying type of person.) If all Christians followed God's instruction to love each other, we would be set apart, as we already often are, as being so different from the self-absorbed individuals out there and how then could they not believe in a God that creates such drastic change in a person's life so that they are more loving and caring people. It's about relationship, for me.
Oh, and I think the guy in the picture has rather girly lips, no offense.
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