Preview

Why Is Pascal's Wager Prove The Existence Of God?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
735 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Is Pascal's Wager Prove The Existence Of God?
The wager itself is not an argument made to prove the existence of God, choosing to believe in God, or choosing to not believe in any god, does not prove or disprove the existence of God. According to the French philosopher, Gabriel Marcel, neither the existence nor the non-existence of God can be proven, and neither is one more rationale than the other, yet both are a result of faith. Deciding whether or not to devote your life to a deity, is an important decision, one that should not be made lightly. Pascal’s wager should not be the be-end-all of your quest to seek the right god, or the right faith, but should be a jumping point, would God accept your ‘belief’ if your faith was only what you thought to be the ‘best decision’? Do atheist go to heaven? Are there bad repercussions to believing in God? Is faith a choice? I believe Pascal’s argument was not made to determine the existence of God, but …show more content…
Instead you must ask for forgiveness of your sins: Romans 10:9 (NKJV) “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Pascal’s Wager works best on Christianity out of all religions, because this is really all that is required. Considering it in these terms, it almost makes sense, you ask for forgiveness from God, and continue your life in whatever way you want and technically, you have gained for yourself a spot in heaven. But this also brings up problems that many Christians wrestle with, what counts as genuine faith? If you ask forgiveness from God, but live your whole life in sin, can you really be saved? Is faith a matter of choosing? As an apologist himself, I do not believe that Pascal meant for the Wager to be used as a support for his religion, but used it as an example that demonstrated how math and logic can not be used to verify or establish

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Swindal offers four models for the interaction of faith and reason. One of these models is particularly of interest here: the incompatibilist model. This model suggests, “…one can hold faith as transrational, inasmuch as it is higher than reason.” A second tier of this model is that faith can be irrational; hence, it is “not subject to rational evaluation at all” (Swindal, n.d., n.pag). The rationale behind having faith in God is that it binds together the common, or universal values and moral codes that are present in all cultures (Rachels, 1971, p. 621-22). Having said this, though, many who do have faith in God do not think that it requires any reasoning or any proof at all (Clark, n.d., n.pag.). In his discussion, though, Clark refers to…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In his article “The Ethics of Belief (Clifford, 1877) W.K. Clifford sought to argue that “it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence” (as cited on p190). The aim of this essay is to establish whether indeed this view offered by Clifford, when considering religious faith, is convincing. In order to do this I will consider the arguments that Clifford put forward, including that which to believe anything based upon insufficient evidence always does harm and so is wrong. Such a statement is in direct opposition to those religious believers who regard their blind faith as a virtue and for whom evidence is something that is unnecessary in order to believe. Along with discussing Clifford I will detail the responses given by James who disagreed with Clifford and in response attacked his views within his own paper “The Will to Believe”. James believed instead that it is more important to achieve truth than to avoid error. Both men, in my opinion, offer strong and persuasive arguments however I do not believe that either stands without criticism, therefore throughout I will offer my own views on the foundations of their arguments, which I hope will establish, that although many of Clifford’s points are valid in particular and specific circumstances they do not offer, as proposed, a convincing view of religious faith.…

    • 1810 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pascal’s Wager was a groundbreaking theory posed by the French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist Blaise Pascal. Pascal, who is said to be the father of modern probability, felt that that religion should be approached as a gamble. It was one of the first efforts to incorporate the concept of infinity. The wager stated that, even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, one should wager as though God exists, because living accordingly, has essentially nothing to lose and experiences can only be beneficial. Pascal’s Wager consists of three arguments. The first is the argument from super dominance. Pascal wrote: “God is, or He is not. But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.” In this quote, Pascal is implying that there is a possibility God exists, if one assumes God exists and he indeed does, then one has gained everything, perhaps heaven. However, if God does not exist then one has lost nothing. The Bible would merely be a mistake and He would not exist, along with Heaven or the like. Regardless, it is best to take the gamble because there is nothing to lose, according to Pascal. Pascal’s next argument was the argument from expectation. He supported this argument when he wrote: “Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you only had to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and…

    • 2458 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Argumentative Essay on “The Ethics of Belief” PHIL 2641 Online – Section 001 February 13, 2008…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pascal’s Wager is his attempt to justify the belief in God purely on appeal to possible personal gains. His argument is that it makes sense to believe in the God that is believed in by Christianity, therefore it makes sense for us to do so. Pascal believes that belief in God is the rational action to take, even if there is no evidence of God existing. In his work he finds various reasons to believe in God that are beneficial even if he/she does not exist. He also believes it is irrational to not believe in God. If you are an atheist you ultimately are missing out on the possibility of eternal happiness, because if there is no God you will not lose anything, but you will lose everything if there is a God.…

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In his arguments, Pascal attempts to illustrate the attractiveness of Christianity by describing the human condition as one of inconstancy, boredom, and anxiety when we are distant from God. In a situation without God, humans are caught in a state of uncertainty, with no stable foundation upon which a meaningful and joyous life can be founded. We are inconstant in that we find it difficult to commit ourselves to a certain issue, only partially devoting our time and thought. Since God is the ultimate ontological good that humanity seeks, without God we are left restless and dissatisfied. Thus, we quickly become bored with our present existence, forever seeking diversions and vain pleasures that might fill the void within us. However, we are ever restless and unhappy until God completes us. As a result, the more inconstancy and boredom we feel, the more anxious we get in trying to obtain some sort of satisfaction in…

    • 3555 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pascal’s Wager does not provide has some challenges in its reasoning and is not a convincing argument for one to believe in God, but it can be applicable to a catered category of people. Pascal’s Wagers main issue is that it is not an epistemic argument. Before just dismissing Pascal’s Wager as not an epistemic argument, one must understand what an epistemic argument is. An epistemic argument is an argument that must be rational, reasonable and justified in order to be believed. For instance, if one believes in God because one experienced a miracle and then claims the miracle experienced, like an apple falling from a tree into one’s hand is a sign from God, one’s argument pointing to the miracle as evidence is not applying an epistemic argument.…

    • 1959 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Does Clifford present a persuasive viewpoint of religious faith? In his article “The Ethics of Belief (Clifford, 1877) W.K. Clifford sought to claim that it is inappropriate always, in all places, and for anyone, to believe anything upon unsatisfactory evidence. The goal of this paper is to determine whether indeed this opinion offered by Clifford, when considering religious faith, is persuasive. To successfully do this, I will weigh up the arguments that Clifford put forward, including that of disbelieving anything based upon scarce evidence, it always does damage and therefore is wrong. Such an assertion is in direct conflict to those pious believers who consider their blind faith as a goodness and for whom proof is something that is needless…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This brings me to my final point. We are saved from our sins by faith. When we hear the gospel, we must have faith and believe that the word is true. Then must trust in the Lord our God, fully. The final act involves repentance. This does not just merely mean to feel sorry for what we have done. We have to actually have a “change of mind” and turn from our wicked…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pascal s Wager

    • 1065 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pascal lays out multiple outcomes that come with the belief in God. He also gives the outcomes of not believing in God so one may see the results in comparison to each other. He argues that by believing in God, if He does in fact exist, the rewards are infinite. In other words, by believing in God, there is an infinite amount of gain possible if He exists, but if he does not exist, there is only a finite amount of loss. Here, by comparison, the infinite amount of gain outweighs the finite amount of loss possible. Likewise, not believing in God’s existence will result in no gain or a finite loss if He turns out to exist. However, not believing and God not existing will result in only a finite gain. He finally explains that believing in God has a higher utility than not believing in God, and one should do that which has the higher expected utility.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first piece of evidence I will be using to determine if there is an existence of God is the cosmological argument. The cosmological argument was famously publicised by St Thomas Aquinas and tries to prove the existence of God with three points, which are motion, causality and contingency: Motion, everything that moves must be moved by something else as nothing can move itself. There cannot be infinite regression…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pascal Wager's Argument

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The existence of God has always been a commonly asked question in the world today. Since there is no scientifically proven answer, arguments have been accumulated over time. One being the Pascal Wager’s argument. This theory states that either God exists or God does not exist, you can either wager for God or wager against God. This belief advocates the belief in God rather than providing evidence. Does Pascal's Wager commit the fallacy of appealing to consequences?…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the argument for the existence of God based on religious experience. (18) 2. ‘The argument merely indicates the probability of God and this is of little value to a religious believer.’ Discuss. (12)…

    • 2406 Words
    • 69 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They say I say

    • 3556 Words
    • 9 Pages

    You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument then you put in your oar. Someone answers, you answer him another comes to your defense another aligns himself against you. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.…

    • 3556 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mathematics is a very important subject. The effect of Mathematics in our daily struggles in life is very evident. Everything involves Mathematics that is why Mathematics is very important on the part of the students to study. Over the years, schools have always been concerned with the development of effective learning experience for the learners. It is generally accepted that the quality of education students get largely dependent upon the quality of instruction they are given. There is then a necessity to use better teaching strategies in all levels of learning especially in Mathematics.…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays