All men need the gods. Homer, 800 BC

A certain portion of mankind do not believe at all in the existence of the gods. Plato 400 BC

Later, when Blaise Pascal tried to get it all down on paper, he wrote in bursts, capturing flashes of what he thought he had seen in the vision - a vision that, by empirical standards, could only be called fantastical. There was no doubt in Pascal's mind, though, that it had happened, and happened in time and space, in a way his mathematically trained brain conceived of things as happening. Pascal remembered the exact time - between the hours of half past 10 and half past midnight on Monday, Nov. 23, 1654. Jesus appeared to him; God was real; the Christian story true: "Certainty, Certainty, heartfelt joy and peace. God of Jesus Christ. My God and your God." In a collection of writings found after his death, published as "Pensees", Pascal blended his two passions, mathematics and faith, to lay out what has come to be known as the Pascal's Wager.

It is rather simple: it is smarter to bet that God exists, and to believe in Him, because if it turns out that He is real, you win everything; if He is not real, you lose nothing. So why not take the leap of faith today?

Categories: life [t]

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