Pascal's Wager
A suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has potentially everything to gain, and certainly nothing to lose.
The two choices a person has are:
Do Not Believe
- Costs: Low.
- Win: (God does not exist): No loss.
- Lose: (God exists): The person loses everything that God has to offer or even worse ... hell.
Believe
- Costs: Significant, but finite.
- Win: (God exists): An 'infinity of an infinitely happy life'.
- Lose: (God does not exist): No loss.
