Eighteen Inches: Pascal's Wager and the Goodness of God

Repentance and faith aren’t just an act of the intellect; they’re an act of the will. Someone may run out of intellectual arguments against Christianity yet refuse to accept the gospel. As one pastor said, if Christianity is in your head but not your heart, you’ll miss heaven by just eighteen inches! As an apologist, what do you do next?

One useful (and overlooked) art is dialogue. Asking key questions is just as crucial as crafting arguments. Gently ask your friend what keeps them from committing to belief in God. Simply blaming stubbornness or pride isn’t helpful; it’s redundant, since asserting that someone refuses to believe because they are acting stubborn is equivalent to saying that they refuse to believe because they refuse.

One excuse may be that sin is fun and giving up everything they enjoy to obey commands and do boring “church-y” work isn’t worth it. I’ll admit that I’ve seen Christians with this attitude, too.

Not only is it illogical, it reveals a distorted view of God. Its illogic is that those seeking happiness should care more about an eternal, infinite happiness or suffering than about the temporary. In 1660, Blaise Pascal wrote an argument now known as Pascal’s Wager:

“Let us then examine this point, and say, "God is, or He is not." … A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager?... you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.” (Blaise Pascal, Pensees, section 1, paragraghs 233-241) 

In contrast, if you live like the God of the Bible does not exist, you may gain limited pleasure if He doesn't, but you may also suffer infinite pain in Hell if He does. Note that this only works for those who are already intellectually accepting of the gospel. Don't use it to be a super-villain to those who reject the possibility out of hand. 

The belief that earthly pleasure is a reason to reject the gospel also reveals a false view of God.  Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount that 

“[E]veryone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:8-11) 

God is a generous father, not a grumpy kill-joy looking to steal our fun. God help us to recognize that good pleasure is the kind that doesn’t lead to emptiness and self-destruction. Moreover, great pleasure is knowing God Himself. If that doesn’t seem exciting, you have no idea what you’re missing! 

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8)