Answering Pascal's Wager

Pascal's Wager (aka Pascal's Gambit) is an interesting tidbit of thought for the beautifully elaborate human mind. In a nutshell, the proposition is that with humanity's inability to determine, via reason alone, what "God" is, or even if he exists, then it would be reasonable to wager on his existence.

The reasoning behind it is if, at the end of life one finds "God" does indeed exist, he has bet on the correct answer, and therefore gets to enjoy eternity. In the course of said person's lifetime, they've lived a life of biblically moral virtues and get to enter heaven.

If they're wrong, they take the same dirt nap as everyone else and hurt noone else in the process. If a person wagers on the side of non-existence of "God," to discover he, in fact does exist, the gambler suffers an eternity in hell for his choice, regardless of whatever other virtues they may have extolled in their lifetime. In addition, all of us must place our bets. We must choose. There is no option out.

This argument comes up frequently in various religious debates and other discussions. And to many people, it comes across as a valid argument, with its appeal to the fear of eternal damnation after our all-too-inevitable deaths. But with only the slightest bit of objective analysis , Pascal's wager flies apart at the seams. The flaws are many. I'm going to answer three.

Flaws in Pascal's Wager number one: Is he certain he has the right "God?" It needs to be clarified that Pascal was no idiot, even by modern standards. Not only was the French physician a child prodigy, he is also famous for the invention of the mechanical calculator. He also contributed to modern economics, projective geometry, social science and probability theory.

But Pascal was a member of the Christian faith due mainly to the region of the world he was born in. Had he been born in one of the Arab countries, the odds are good he would have made the same argument for Islam and Allah, instead of Catholicism and Christ. Let's pretend that he is 100 percent correct in the assumption of the existence of "God."

Can any of us be at all certain he was following the right "God?" Perhaps the Earth has suffered so many lightning strikes because so many have turned their backs on Zeus?

Of the thousands of now-dead gods known of in human history, how can he be certain he was following the right one - or even the correct interpretation of the right book? How can anyone? Every follower of every religion believes everyone else is doomed. So, for Pascal's wager to be at all valid, he must be betting on the correct "God," or he's doomed anyway.

Flaws in Pascal's Wager number two: The evidence we now know of defies the myths of all religious dogma. Pascal was a defender of the scientific method. Had he been born in a more advanced time, he would have been made aware of at least some of the vast body of evidence, which invalidates all creation myths known to man. The book of Genesis itself, would have been seen as the collection of fables we now know it to be.

A scientific mind like his would have asked the same questions now asked today. (i.e., If the world is only 6,000 to 12,000 years old, where does petroleum come from? If all of humanity comes from one strain of genetic code, why is there so much diversity? If the Bible's stories are at all true, how did humanity go from just the survivors of Noah to the establishment of the Nation of Egypt in under approximately 700 years?) Knowing what we know now, Pascal would have understood we can be good without "God."

Flaws in Pascal's Wager number three: There most certainly is a price to believe. This particular flaw is the most difficult for me to express. It's not because I do not understand the flaw, but because I understand it all too well. I live with this flaw every single day of my life and have for far too long.

This flaw has affected me personally. Although it will hurt to re-live this one more time and share with you possibly millions of strangers here, it is worth every moment. Perhaps I can help someone else avoid the curse of false belief themselves.

In my youth and before my young brain had developed the ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy, I was - like so many billions of others - indoctrinated into believing that every word of the Bible was true. I want to point out that these circumstances were no more the "fault" of any of my loved ones, than it was the fault of whomever had indoctrinated them.

Those preachers, my own family, concerned strangers all told me there were certain rules which must be followed or I was damned to an eternity in hell. I didn't want to go to hell, yet - like so many billions of others - I was all too human.

Just like you, dear reader, I knew anger, lust, laziness, rebelliousness and every other point of human nature that's contraindicated by the dogma of all churches. I also, for some silly reason, believed myself "saved" by the telepathic messaging of a request for forgiveness to the Jesus who was not there. I hated myself for the so-called crime of being a human.

I never once dared to ask "God" why I was so "evil" for being exactly the way he had made me - in His image. I only knew I was somehow born "wrong" and "evil" for something a fictional Adam and Eve were supposed to have done thousands of years before I was ever born.

Not only did I hate myself, I hated everyone else. In my desire to avoid hell, I saw every other person around me as "sinful," for either not being just like me, or for not "believing" just like me. My "God" just happened to revile everything and everyone my ignorant, deluded mind did too. How convenient of "God" to have my exact same world-view.

I disdained my own parents for not living within God's law, in spite of my own failure to do so as well. I despised my own family for not seeing "God's Truth." (Fortunately, Dad and I worked out our mutual forgiveness before he died. As for Mom, since Dad was nowhere around last Father's Day, I called her. I'm even finding peace with my siblings.)

I rejected every single attempt at friendship ever offered to me, by sinner and saved alike, because they got between me and those pearly gates. I eschewed every single chance at being loved, as a result of the threat of eternal burning agony and torture at the hands of demons.

To describe the loneliness, the undeserved guilt, the sadness inflicted on me by the lying tongues of preachers and god's other sycophants would be impossible. I remained alone.

That mythical "God" in my head was my only companion, and all he had for me was contempt. He also utterly failed at ever answering even one of my constant prayers for just one friend who had my same impossibly-high levels of self-revulsion. Many tried to befriend me. Many tried to love me. But I shoved them away in an attempt to please my imaginary sky fairy master.

I also can't count how many nights I lay there in bed as a kid - then as a young adult - pleading with "God" to not sentence me to hell. I pondered over how I would cope with the knowledge that every other single person I knew was going to fry until the end of all time. The mere thought was far beyond comprehension in its terror.

These self-contradictory, self-flagellating and abusive thought patterns carried over into my adulthood. Not only was I alone in life, beyond one failed marriage to a wonderful woman, who tried more than any other before to care for me, I also discarded every employment opportunity I ever knew.

I purposefully sabotaged every chance at a future believing that Jesus was coming back. I grew up into a pre-wasted life, and even subjected myself to the silly rantings of cult after cult, thanks to my belief in "God." I have only recently escaped the self-torture.

Do I blame "God?" No. He's never been there, to bear any fault. I do, however, resent so many who inflicted religion on the mind of such a young child at the time. Gone now, are the days of superstition, fear, dogma, self-hatred and viciousness.

These days, I live for the sake of what little time I have left and I can only hope those I've hurt will see fit to forgive my hurtful words and actions. I've actually even come to understand what love really means, as well as forgiveness.

The knowledge I have now, of the tragedy of wasting time, could fill a library of books. Occasionally, the pain of my regrets is almost debilitating, but that is now my problem and mine alone. For all that I am worth, I'll have no more of those.

So, when Blaise Pascal claimed there is no cost in being a believer, on the off-chance a person might avoid damnation at the end of their days, he erred. I'd like to think he was simply ignorant, rather than malicious.

But now, dear reader, if you should attempt to use Pascal's Wager as a point of argument to defend religion, you know better. To tell someone (especially the young and innocent) such a blatant falsehood, it can no longer be chalked up to ignorance on your part - but malice indeed - and I will be your adversary.

Sources:
Embedded, and personal experience.
More from a friend - LANGUAGE WARNING! (Don't try saying you weren't warned.)