Gambling on God
I have had a terrible week. It is now Friday, and I feel as if I have accomplished almost none of the things I set out to do last Sunday afternoon. My Lenten observance has not exactly been a resounding success, and my general disposition has been less than attractive to my wife and children. Perhaps I can console myself by pretending I am merely feeling the season.
When I get down, though, my thoughts will often turn to what it is I believe about God.
Teaching the philosophy of religion at a college means that I get to regularly engage with the various proofs for the existence of God - including the moral, ontological, teleological, and the cosmological - yet as convincing as I find these collective arguments, and as objectively helpful as they may be on a rational level, they do very little by way of strengthening my faith. Often, I am left feeling drained after a day explaining Aristotle’s ‘first cause’, Leibniz’s ’sufficient cause’, or recounting Swinburne’s ‘card-shuffling machine’ analogy. The most rational argument in favour of believing does nothing for me when I start with my mental and spiritual malaise.
So it was that, last night, as I lay upon my bed, turning these things over in my mind, I realised just how much I depend on the idea that belief is, quite simply, the best course of action to keep me going. I confess, I do not always believe in God. A particular weakness for me is to play with the idea that existence is all chance, and morality convention, and that everything is ultimately meaningless. Now fortunately, daily availing myself of the Church’s ministry is habitual enough that when I do not believe, the Church does for me. And then I consider my situation, accept Pascal’s Wager, and get on with things.
For those of you who do not know what is that Pascal had to say about belief in God, it is essentially this:
A person has one of two choices: either a) he believes in God, or b) he does not believe in God.
If the person chooses to believe in God, there are two possible outcomes: either a) God, in fact, exists and so the believer will go to heaven (representing an infinite gain), or b) God does not, in fact, exist and so the believer loses the investment of his belief (representing a finite loss).
If, however, that person chooses to disbelieve in God, there are a further two possibilities: that a) God does, in fact, exist and so the nonbeliever goes to hell (in which case, his loss is infinite), or b) God does not, in fact, exist and the nonbeliever is right it not having invested in belief (in which case, his gain would be finite).
What we are forced to conclude from this wager, is that it is illogical we should not believe in God, for in not believing, we have everything to lose and nothing to gain; whereas in believing, we have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
At my most pathetic, when I can do little believing for myself, I put my money on God. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, I prefer everything.
March 3, 2007 at 9:12 am
Regarding intellectual approaches to the question of God’s existence, have you read ‘The Basis of Belief’ by Dom Illtyd Trethowan (1961, New York: Hawthorn Books). I happened to come across this book in 1972 and it quite changed the way I thought about the matter. Trethowan’s approach owes nothing to Aristotle or the other luminaries mentioned in your piece. I think his line of argument can fairly be called a “slow-burner”. That is to say, one may read quite a way into his book before one starts to get the point. He does not provide a ‘knock-down’ argument for the existence of God. He would probably say such an argument is unavailable in principle. At the same time, one can have intellectual certainty of God’s existence. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it?
March 3, 2007 at 10:19 am
I shall keep my eyes open for the book. Thanks.
March 31, 2007 at 5:49 am
Hmm…perhaps Jesus had a good point when he said you must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. Little children trust Abba and hold his hand, with filial trust.
Even though I haven’t always observed or practiced my faith, I never denied it.
Prayer can lead you to transfiguration, getting soaked in God’s love; after this, there is no room for doubt. Add some miracles, and yes I’ve had and witnessed miracles, and a merely intellectual approach seems empty and dry as dust.
You can have your set of propositions. I choose LOVE!
March 31, 2007 at 5:52 am
Also, Pascal’s Wager doesn’t resonate with nonbelievers as much as you think. They think the finite losses aren’t worth it: financial contributions, perceived freedom, embracing apparently good things that the church calls sinful, etc. People are very oriented to living for today and for self indulgence…maybe they’ll buy the “fire insurance” on their deathbeds, when there’s nothing more to lose, and the wager doesn’t have a price. Pray that these souls do not die an unprovided death.