St.Paul converted to believe in Jesus on the road to Damascus. He saw in his vision Jesus asking him, "Saul, why do you persecute me?" A miracle like this seems to happen to some, but not to me yet. Anyway, miracle does not occur at a man's will. So I even read about the Pascal wager, which I am going to talk about. As we all know, Pascal was a mathematician, physists, and philosopher in the 17th century when the skepticism of God was prevalent. But a few knows that he turned a theologian and believer in God in his later years. Though he could not prove scientifically the existence of God, he argued that people believe in God for varing reasons. He thought that, if people believe in God, there must be God. His argument sounded weak for the existence of God, but he claimed that it is strong. In his spirit, I made up a story.
We have to start by a betting strategy. Do you buy a lottery ticket? I do every once in a while to make my insipid day excited even though with a vain hope. Here is the exciting story of an unsual lottery case. There are only two lottery tickets left unsold for which one million dollars is at stake. One of the two is worth one million. All you have to do to win is to buy one for one buck. Probably you are tempted to buy both for two bucks. Then you are sure to have one million, because one of the two is worth one million. But you are allowed only one. Then, would you buy just one? Will you save one buck, or will you wager for the fortune. If you say that one buck in your hand is worth more than one million in uncertainty, I will raise the stake to ten millions. you woud succumb to the temptation and decide to bet on the uncertainty. Though we want certainty, taking uncertainty is our way of life.
Believing God is like buying the lottery ticket to him who is agnostic, low minded, and a happiness chaser because of his ignorance of God. He starts calculation to figure out his belief. He knew that eternal joy in Heaven be warranted, if he believe in God and God indeed exist. If he do not believe in God and God really exist, he will be condemned to Hell forever. If he believe in God and God do not exist, he would lose very little. Whatever he invest for God is finite and whatever he would get beyond life is infinite reward or infinite curse. So, Pascal wager be profitable and everyone believe in God. Pascal was a smart mathematician indeed. My daughter one day told me that she would not deny God either lest she should be embarrassed, if it turns out after life that God exists. She is seemingly to take care of her life both now and beyond altogether.
If you think you are not just agnostic or low minded, please lead on. Have you ever thought that even a high minded man is to believe in God? The Pascal wager works, if happiness is replaced by justice, as follows: He is a fair person believing in justice. Justice requires love, hope, faith, obedience, and worship. But justice exists only if God exists in reality. Alas, he can not prove that God exists. But he recalls that his life has been long and arduous. He knows that, without faith, hope, and love, he would not have reached here today. So justice is real, so God is real. Therefore he believes in God.
But there are mediocre people who hate to think. Pascal takes care of them. For him who is neither low minded, nor high minded, a practical problem arises. He does not mind believing in God, because God is grace and will bring all good things to us. But his passion is irresistible. His passion is fame, richness, power, and sex. God is an obstacle and stumbling block to his passion. Oh man, nobody but himself can tame his (or her) wild passion. Even the Pascal wager does not work for him, let alone Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. There is only one solution. He is to behave as if he believed in God and loved his neighbors. He is to make friends with those who already believe in God. His passion would wane as an illusion does. His belief will loom in the horizon.
What about the atheist? He is a helpless doubter. I have a longtime friend who said he did not believe in God. He knew that I am in capable of proving God. He made a fun of me believing in God. So one day I asked him, " Are you sure that there is no God?' He did not answer immediately. Fifty some years has passed since then. Not long ago, I made a call to have a friendly chichat with him. During the talk, he confessed that my old question haunted him all those years and that he rather decided to believe in God.
This was a mundane story about men and women poor in spirit wandering around and groping for God. Now listen to a heavenly word. St. Paul, who was an apostate of the Jews, tent maker, the Apostle of the Gentiles for Jesus, cried, " Whosoever believes in God shall not be ashamed." (August 22, 2012, KYP)
