markemark
Veteran
In his posthumously published work, Pensées ("Thoughts"), Pascal presented this argument using decision theory, a field he helped to pioneer. He reasoned that when faced with the question of God's existence, a person has two choices: to believe in God or not. He then laid out the potential outcomes in a "wager" format:
Pascal concluded that from a purely rational and self-interested perspective, the most logical choice is to believe in God, because the potential gain is infinite and the potential loss is minimal, while the alternative has either a neutral or an infinitely negative outcome.
- If you believe in God and God exists: You gain infinite reward (eternal life in heaven).
- If you do not believe in God and God exists: You face infinite loss (eternal damnation).
- If you believe in God and God does not exist: You lose nothing of real value (a finite amount of earthly pleasures).
- If you do not believe in God and God does not exist: You gain nothing.
Fell free to live a pious life according to the bible. I’ll have an awful lot more fun and we’ll face the same ending. Nothingness.