Gods Existence Blaise Pascal

God’s Existence

Michael Owino

Awriters

God’s Existence: Blaise Pascal

God’s existence has been a topic of contention between scientists and Christians or philosophers and Christians. Blaise Pascal (1623-62) maintains that no debate regarding the existence of God is satisfactory. Instead, he suggests, that belief alone is essential for a devout life. For Pascal, there exists no rational proof for or against God’s existence has ever existed. A person chooses either to believe or to deny the existence of God. Moreover, people believe in God because of emotion and not reason. The philosopher asks people to consider the two alternatives: the existence of God or the non-existence of God. He cites that people do not stand to lose anything if He does not exist. However, if He indeed exists, people stand to lose everything they have if they chose not to believe in Him (Ashton & Westacott, 2006).

Pascal’s two options in the wager have been the subject of discussion for long. By wager, he meant that an individual’s decision can either be correct or incorrect. The pay-off for making the correct wager, according to philosopher, is the best as it includes both an infinite gain and earthly blessings. Even though one believes in God and He does not exist, one does not stand to lose anything. However, people who refuse to make any spiritual commitment risk too much if they are incorrect (Fernandes, 2002). Given the two choices or outcomes, it is better for someone to wager on the existence of God than to bet on atheism. Christianity, as argued here, is a more rational option than atheism, because if a Christian wins, he wins everything, but if he loses, he loses nothing.

References

Ashton, J. & Westacott, M. (2006). The Big Argument: Does God Exist? New Leaf Publishing Group.

Fernandes, P. (2002). No Other Gods. Xulon Press.