The Wager, part 3 ...What have you got to lose?

Pascal's
Pensées
Week 5 - August 14, 2014


How is your reading going? 

Today I'm wrapping up our discussion of The Wager, Pense #233.

Here's a rough summary of the four outcomes of the wager:

1. Risk believing in God, and it turns out that God exists = you win the bet, and you gain an infinite good (eternal life)
2. Risk believing in God, and it turns out that God doesn't exist = you lose the bet, but you haven't lost that much.
3. Risk not believing in God, and it turns out that God doesn't exist = you win the bet, but the winnings are not of ultimate value. 
4. Risk not believing in God, and it turns out that God does exist = you lose the bet, and your loss is infinite (eternity in hell).

Pascal uses mathematical logic to convince people to believe in God without rational proof of God's existence.

Then he goes on to give advice on what to do after you risk believing.  Pascal's prescription?  Act like a believer, and you'll become one.  Do Christian things - like worship, sacraments, prayer, bible reading - and you'll eventually live the life of a believer.  This sounds a lot like "fake it 'til you make it."  Peter Gilbert pointed out that this philosophy has some merit, according to social psychologist Amy Cuddy in this TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are


Pense #233
Penguin, p. 123 (Section 2, II.418)
Classic, p. 68

"But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite.  It is all divided; wherever the infinite is and there is not an infinity of chances of loss against that of gain, there is no time to hesitate, you must give all. And thus when one is forced to play he must renounce reason to preserve his life, rather than risk it for infinite gain, as likely to happen as the loss of nothingness...

At least learn your inability to believe, since reason brings you to this, and yet you cannot believe.  Endeavour then to convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abatement of your passions.  You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it.  Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions.  These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured.  Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc.  Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness. -- 'But this is what I am afraid of.' -- And why? What have you to lose?"


Reflection Questions:
Feel free to use the comments link below to post your thoughtful responses

• Do the terms and outcomes of the wager make sense to you?  What questions about believing in God persist even after Pascal's presentation?

• Take some time to do your own cost/benefit analysis of believing in God or living the Christian life, listing both what you gain and what you give up.  How do the costs stack up versus the benefits? 

• What do you think of Pascal's advice for skeptics to just do the acts of the Christian faith even if they don't fully believe?  How have you seen the "fake it 'til you make it" factor work in the life of discipleship (yours & others' lives)?

The Wager, part 2

Pascal's
Pensées
Week 4 - August 7, 2014


How is your reading going?  This week we'll continue the discussion of the Wager, Pense #233.

Why does Pascal introduce a wager, a bet, a "heads or tails" proposition?  Because "reason can decide nothing here."  Because of the truth claims about God as infinite being, Pascal concedes that human reason cannot comprehend the question "Does God exist?"

If reason cannot help, perhaps mathematical reason can.  Pascal begins to take us on a journey of the mind that doesn't prove God's existence, but nevertheless bring rational skeptics to have faith that God does exist.

Pense #233
Penguin, p. 121 (Section 2, II.418)
Classic, p. 66

"Let us then examine this point, and say, "God is, or He is not."  But to which side shall we incline?  Reason can decide nothing here.  There is an infinite chaos which separated us.  A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up.  What will you wager?  According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

Do not then reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know nothing about it.  'No, but I blame them for having made, not this choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong.  The true course is not to wager at all.'

Yes; but you must wager.  It is not optional.  You are embarked. Which will you choose then?"


Reflection Questions:
Feel free to use the comments link below to post your thoughtful responses

• How important is "reason" to your way of thinking and living?  How comfortable are you with what seems "unreasonable?"

• What do you think of Pascal's setting aside of reason as a possible defense of either the proposition that God is or is not?  Does it make sense to you?  Will it make sense to skeptics you know? 

• Do you have much experience with games of chance?  Considering how the church has often condemned gambling, what do you think of Pascal's move to defend the faith by this means?

The Wager, part 1

Pascal's
Pensées
Week 3 - July 31, 2014


How is your reading going?  Have you read pense #233 yet, the one that features "The Wager?"  Over the next few weeks I'll be focusing on this one topic, since it's far and away the most famous of the entire collection.

We start with the set up before the discussion of the wager.

Have you ever tried to prove to someone that there is a God?  Someone might have revealed to us that they don't believe, or asked us about our reason for believing.  Perhaps we've tried to prove God's existence for ourselves during an episode of doubt.  If you've tried, you've probably failed at some level.  It's not your fault.  It's that the very nature of the God we believe in is beyond human understanding.  If God was fully explainable, God wouldn't be God!  That puts us in a conundrum when we try to state our reasons for believing.

Before he introduces us to the wager, Pascal makes the point that believers are being entirely reasonable in not being able to prove that God exists.  If you haven't noticed by now, as a mathematician Pascal is really into logic.  He uses logic to defend why Christians can't prove the existence of God.  Think of it as a formula:

God is incomprehensible
+
Christians not being able to give a fully comprehensible explanation of God
=
This makes total sense!

The bottom line is this: if we could convince people of God's existence with demonstrable proofs, then the God we believe in would not exist.  There is inherent mystery in the Christian belief in God (as in other religions, I might add).  This fact drives some people crazy.  While we should use this fact to excuse us from giving a reasonable explanation for our faith, our reasonable explanations should always include the truth that ultimately we can't fully explain God.

Pense #233
Penguin, p. 121 (Section 2, II.418)
Classic, p. 66

"Let us now speak according to natural lights. 

If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us.  We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is.  This being so, who will dare to undertake the decision of the question? Not we, who have no affinity to Him.

Who then will blame Christians for not being able to give a reason for their belief, since they profess a religion for which they cannon give a reason?  They declare, in expounding it to the world, that it is a foolishness, and then you complain that they do not prove it!  If they proved it, they would not keep their word; it is in lacking proofs, that they are not lacking in sense."


Reflection Questions:
Feel free to use the comments link below to post your thoughtful responses

• What's your experience of trying to "defend the faith?"

• What do you think skeptics are looking for in their questioning?  Do you think they'll ever find what they're looking for? 

• How do you experience the "incomprehensibility" of God?  Does it bring you anxiety, comfort, or both?

• What spiritual practices help you reflect upon the mysteries of a God who is beyond human comprehension?

Diversion...Why does contentment elude us?

Pascal's
Pensées
Week 2 - July 24, 2014


How is your reading going?  Do you ever find yourself distracted by other activities?  Perhaps you are dabbling in diversion.

Life in our society is full of diversions: shopping, hobbies, internet surfing, sports, television and movie viewing, reading, hanging out with friends, Facebook, home improvement projects, physical exercise...and the list goes on.  During the summer we hope to get some rest, and yet we tend to fill our free time with all the activities we want to do but can't the rest of the year because of our work schedule or the weather.  Sometimes we sense the weight of these diversions weighing us down, or distracting us from spending time with our thoughts - thinking through some of our own pensees.

Can Pascal shed any light of wisdom on our predicament?  Pascal sees diversion as something very much at the heart of the human condition - in his view, even international warfare springs from this source!  Helpful for those of us living in the year 2014 is the insight that diversion was just as much a core motivating factor of human behavior in Pascal's day as in ours.  Some of the diversions are different, but many Pascal describes in his day are still the same, including gambling, sport hunting, adventure travel, & career ambition.


Pense #139
Penguin, p. 37 (VIII.136)
Classic, p. 39

"Diversion.

...I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.

...I have sought to discover the reason of it, I have found that there is one very real reason, namely, the natural poverty of our feeble and mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we think of it closely.

...They have a secret instinct which impels them to seek amusement and occupation abroad, and which arises from the sense of their constant unhappiness.

...But will you say what object has he in all this? The pleasure of bragging tomorrow among his friends that has played better than another.

...However full of sadness a man may be, he will soon be discontented and wretched, if he be not diverted and occupied by some passion or pursuit which prevents weariness from overcoming him."



Reflection Questions:
Feel free to use the comments link below to post your thoughtful responses

• Why do you think we find it so difficult to "stay quietly in our own chamber?"

• What is your experience of avoiding solitude, deep thoughtfulness, or prayer?  

• How might this thought connect with the Christian life?  Consider what the Apostle Paul writes about in Philippians regarding contentment and God's provision (see below).  In what ways might you explore a deeper, abiding sense of contentedness based on God's provision? 

• Pascal mentioned that our human condition is so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we think of it closely. How might the Heidelberg Catechism give us hope? (Hint: Read Question 1 and its corresponding answer, below)

Philippians 4:10-13 ... CONTENTMENT
¹⁰ I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:19-20 ... GOD PROVIDES
¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q. 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

A. That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Making sense of so many diverse thoughts...

Pascal's Pensees
Week 1 - July 17, 2014


How is your reading going?  Have you started?  Have you gotten bogged down in detail already?  Reading Pensees is not easy.  Pascal's thoughts are presented without context; it is a rare look into a brilliant man's notepad.  With some of his thoughts, we can see why he's thinking them. But with others, we can only guess what was really on his mind at the time.  Each thought is fairly simple, yet we do not readily see it's meaning as a part of a whole.  We trust that it will all make sense, that by reading them we'll develop a perspective on Pascal's thinking. 

There's one thought of Pascal's that helpfully illustrates the challenge of perspective and the contrast between unity and diversity of thought.


Pense #115
Penguin, p. 18 (III.65)
Classic, p. 36

"Diversity. Theology is a science, but at the same time how many sciences?  A man is a substance, but if you dissect him, what is he? Head, heart, stomach, veins, each vein, each bit of vein, blood, each humour of blood?

A town or landscape from afar off is a town and a landscape, but as one approaches it becomes houses, trees, tiles, leaves, grass, ants, ants' legs, and so on ad infinitum. All that is comprehended in the word landscape.'"


Reflection Questions:

• How does this thought about diversity apply to Pascal's collection of diverse thoughts?  Does it give you perspective for reading them (perspective that might make reading Pascal more enjoyable or simply possible)?

• How might this thought connect with the Christian life?  What connections to do you see with the way the one church is described as a body with many diverse members/parts in Romans 12 (v 3-8) or 1 Corinthians 12?

Welcome to the Pascal Reading Group!

Pensées

By Blaise Pascal

 

The title is the French word for “thoughts,” pronounced pon-say.

Recently, I’ve had numerous conversations with people who are looking for what Pascal provides: a passionate and persuasive defense of the Christian faith that emerges from a scientific worldview and makes sense to those struggling to make rational sense of Christianity.  For believers, a great growth opportunity that will deepen our sharing of the gospel.  For those yet unconvinced, a worthwhile read of a not-to-be-missed classic.  I’ll be reading Pascal’s Pensées this summer…join me!”
 

Choose your version

There are two radically different ways that Pascal's many "thoughts" are arranged in published books: 

1. In numbered order.  Older versions, E-books and the PDF version available from CCEL (see below) feature the pensees in numerical order, 1-914, organized into 14 sections.
2. Grouped by topic.  The newer published version, including the Penguin Classics (1995) version favored by Dr. Peter Gilbert, follow this pattern.  The numbers of the original pensees are included on the right hand column in parentheses.

I have decided to read the old version on my Kindle.  Others of you may want to follow Peter Gilbert's guide and read the Penguin Classics version.  Because we'll be reading the Pensees in very different orders based on our choice of text, I've decided not to provide a reading schedule with page numbers. 

We'll monitor our reading progress with by percentage.  There are seven weeks, and each week we'll want to cover at least 15% of the book we're reading...that way we'll finish by the end of August.

Here's the schedule:

Each week begins on Thursday, when I'll publish a new post on the blog

July 10-16            15%

July 17-23            30%

July 24-30            45%

July 31-Aug 6      60%

Aug 7-13              75%

Aug 14-20            90%

Aug 21-27           100%

 Here are the links to the free digital versions of the Pensees, also available on Amazon or through the public library:

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pascal/pensees.html
http://www.ccel.org/

 

THINK … and record your thoughts in a journal or on this blog

In a journal, record your own thoughts and reflections as you read.  I'll be posting a weekly thought to respond to in the comments section of this blog...this is how we'll discuss with each other!

When I post the weekly thought/question, I'll focus on one particular pense.

 

CONSULT A TOUR GUIDE … Read Dr. Peter Gilbert’s book

Dr. Peter Gilbert, who was an F3 speaker at North Creek on June 25^th, is the author of the book Pascal’s God-shaped Vacuum: A Guided Tour of The Pensées (2012).  He holds a PhD in Biostatistics and works on developing a preventative AIDS vaccine.  As an agnostic college student, reading Pascal’s writings led him to seek God.  Today he helps others consider Pascal’s defense of the Christian faith.