Pascal's Wager

Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1663) when he wrote "Pensees" (Thoughts). This argument is commonly used by Christians to non-believers to encourage the non-believers to change their beliefs. This 'wager' is used to non-believers. They say that if you will wage that there is no god but in the end there is, then you will suffer eternal damnation. But when you'll wage that there is a God and in the end there is no God then nothing will happen to you. Draw. If one will see these two options, you will notice that you will lose more if you will wage that there is no God and in the end there is than you will wage that there is a god and in the end there isn't.

So if you will weigh both options it is better to wage that there is a God rather than to wage there is no God right?

Well, not really.

When Blaise Pascal thought of this wager on 17th century, he only considered two options. Catholicism and atheism. But in reality we all know that there are also other options, there are also other religion and gods. This means that we do not know who is the real God. Who should one worship? This is the problem of Pascal's Wager. There are different religion and concept of god in every culture in this world. Each of these religion have their own commandments, teachings, heaven, hell, etc. Almost each of these has a commandment that if one will worship the wrong god, he/she will suffer eternal damnation.

Now what if (you as a Christian), in the end of your life (a few moments after you were killed) you realize that you were wrong all your life. That you worshiped the wrong god. What if the god you worshiped all your life is not the real god. What if the real god is Allah, or Zeus, or Baal, and not Jesus/God? Then you will suffer eternal damnation (eternal hell) right? Remember that in every holy book, there is a commandment that tells you or its believers that once you'll worship other gods, you will be punished. Just like what is written in the Bible/Quran.

All in all, this means that one's beliefs in religion, doctrines, and god is not really an assurance of Heaven and Hell (ofcourse).