There was more to it, though. As I remember it, my professor
said that if there was any uncertainty, he liked the outcome he faced if he was
wrong better than the outcome unbelievers face if they are wrong. We couldn’t
argue with that logic.
I learned just yesterday that this argument for faith has a
name: prudential apologetics (Phillips 347). Essentially, the person trying to
convince an unbeliever to believe argues that it’s prudent to believe because
they have a lot less to lose by believing than they risk by refusing to
believe. This is also known as Pascal’s Wager, named for Blaise Pascal, a
French philosopher and mathematician of the 17th century.
My professor wasn’t using this argument to convince ministry
students to believe. He was illustrating why faith is called faith. God
gives us all the evidence we need to belief, but He doesn’t give absolute
proof. He wants us to live by faith. Faith means building a relationship with
Him, getting to know Him a little bit better every day through prayer and Bible
study, and learning to live His way, knowing that His way is the best way.
Even Pascal realized, however, that his wager was only a
starting point for faith (Pascal’s Wager (Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy)). This qualification is what I was thinking about yesterday
when I read about prudential apologetics and remembered my professor’s metaphors.
Deciding to believe because you don’t want to risk the
consequences if you’re wrong is not enough. It is not the same as trusting in
Christ for your salvation. But it is a start because realizing that you may be
wrong about Jesus is enough to motivate you to dig more deeply into what you
and others believe. It’s enough to challenge you to consider the lives of
believers who clearly have gone out on a limb with all their eggs in one basket
and ask yourself, “Why would someone put themselves in this precarious
position? What do they know that maybe I need to know, too?”
·
Why would Rachel Scott answer yes and take a
bullet when a fellow student put a gun to her head and asked her if she believed
in Jesus? (You can read the story in Rachel’s Tears by Beth Nimmo and
Darrell Scott.)
·
Why would Corrie ten Boom and her family hide
God’s people in their clock shop instead of barring the door to avoid being
arrested and taken to a concentration camp? (You can read this story in The
Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.)
·
Why would the apostle Paul leave a comfortable
and prestigious life to endure shipwrecks, beatings, arrests, imprisonment, and
martyrdom? (You can read this story in the Bible’s book of Acts, starting with
chapter 9.)
·
Why do the Christians you know personally make
some of the daily sacrifices they do—financially, socially, culturally? Why do
they claim that an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ is worth more than
anything they might be tempted to exalt in His place?
If you don’t know the answers, investigate. Ask the God whom you aren’t sure you believe in to help you find truth. Read His Word, the
Bible. Talk with His people. Visit a church. Seek until you find the answer.
You won’t regret it. I promise you.
The view from the trees is lovely. There’s no wager involved
once you’ve climbed.
Bibliography
New
International Version. Bible Gateway, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209-28&version=NIV.
Nimmo, Beth, and
Darrell Scott. Rachel’s Tears. 10th Anniversary, Tommy Nelson, 2009.
Pascal’s Wager
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). 11 Sept. 2022,
plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPascal's%20Wager%E2%80%9D%20is%20the%20name,steps%20to%20believe%2C%20in%20God.
Phillips, W. Gary.
"An Introduction to Apologetics." The Portable Seminary: A
Master’s Level Overview in One Volume, edited by David Horton, Bethany
House Publishers, 2006, 340-348.
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