"British scientist Stephen Hawking has branded heaven a "fairy story" for people afraid of the dark, in his latest dismissal of the concepts underpinning the world's religions."
Whenever I see statements like the one made by Mr. Hawking above, I think of Pascal's Wager.
I did not accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior because of Pascal's Wager, but Pascal's Wager certainly did make me take a closer look at the evidence.
Whenever I see statements like the one made by Mr. Hawking above, I think of Pascal's Wager.
I did not accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior because of Pascal's Wager, but Pascal's Wager certainly did make me take a closer look at the evidence.
If you are not familiar with it, here is a look at the famous French philosopher and mathematician's Wager:
1) "God is, or He is not"
2) A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up.
3) According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.
4) You must wager. It is not optional.
5) Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.
6) Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) 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. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.
1) "God is, or He is not"
2) A Game is being played... where heads or tails will turn up.
3) According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.
4) You must wager. It is not optional.
5) Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.
6) Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. (...) 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. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain.
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