Over the years, the two friends enjoyed their discussions about religion,
philosophy and science.
Their goal was to find greater meaning and purpose in life and its essence.
Today, they decided to reason together about Pascal’s Wager -
a concept where the consequences of our beliefs and actions could be a game changer.
Here was the main point that Pascal proposed from his thoughts:
that mankind would benefit more by believing in God than not.
If the existence of God is not known and cannot be established,
it still would be best to believe in Him and keep His commandments.
Because in the end if God’s existence proves to be true,
a believer would likely be rewarded for all the good they would do.
On the other hand, if the existence of God was perchance a fairy tale,
all people would die and likely go to neither heaven nor hell.
It seemed to them that all humanity hung on this very notion,
that there is value in doing good in order to achieve mortal benefits and eternal salvation.
Most societies and nations have relied upon this common set of principles:
that living under standards, rules and laws is a blessing for all peoples.
Without a set of rules for all to follow, the world would be in greater chaos.
Civility, order, democracy and courtesy would all be lost.
The two comrades concluded that all mankind benefited from standards of morality -
the ten commandments and other teachings of divinity serving as
models of human propriety.
They decided that if there is a God in heaven,
in the end He would righteously apply mercy, grace and justice upon His children.
They likewise agreed that the world would be a better place at least temporally
if all people performed good works for others continually.
December 2022
Ether 12: 4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
Mosiah 4: 9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
From Wikipedia:
Pascals Wager is a philosophical argument presented by the seventeenth-century
French philosopher, theologian, mathematician, and physicist, Blaise Pascal (1623–1662).
One of Pascal’s most famous works was the Pensées (“Thoughts”), which was published posthumously in 1670. It is in this work that we find what is known as Pascal’s Wager.
It posits that human beings wager with their lives that God either exists or does not.
Pascal argues that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God.
If God does not exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas if God does exist, he stands to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (an eternity in Hell). [2]
To further explain: according to Pascal, one cannot come to the knowledge of God’s existence through reason alone, so the wise thing to do is to live your life as if God does exist because such a life has everything to gain and nothing to lose. If we live as though God exists, and He does indeed exist, we have gained heaven. If He doesn’t exist, we have lost nothing. If, on the other hand, we live as though God does not exist
and He really does exist, we have gained hell and punishment and have lost heaven and bliss. If one weighs the options, clearly the rational choice to live as if God exists is the better of the possible choices.
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