I often speak with people who are intrigued by the message of the Bible. They’re interested in the life that Jesus offers, but they’ll say, “I just don’t have the faith to believe.” As we talk about the evidence for the resurrection, the evidence of changed lives, and the testimony of the eyewitnesses, some are convinced, while others still say, “They need more faith.” For that person, the proposal of a 400-year-old French philosopher is worth considering.

Pascal’s wager is a famous idea that employs game theory to help people to think through the implications of countering the offer of Jesus’ good news with a response like, “I just don’t have the faith to believe.” The wager asks a person to think through their response to Jesus as they would a bet or any other important decision. He lays out a cost-benefit analysis for people to consider.

What if it’s not true?

If God doesn’t exist and Jesus’ offer of salvation isn’t real, what’s at stake? Obviously, if it’s not true and you don’t believe, there’s nothing lost. If you do believe, however, there are both pros and cons. In believing that there’s a God who loves you and who has forgiven your sins, you’ll have lived your life with a sense of assurance and relief. In believing that through faith in Jesus you receive eternal life, you’ll have lived with purpose and hope. In believing that as a child of God, you become connected in fellowship with the family of God, you’ll have developed positive, supportive relationships with others. And in following a Saviour who gave His life out of love for us, you’ll have been encouraged in a life of love for others that brings meaning and purpose. Obviously, if God doesn’t really exist, and your faith was built on a lie, there are some downsides. The life after death that you were anticipating won’t materialize. If it turns out that the atheist vision of your passing is true, presumably you won’t be conscious to experience the disappointment, but you’ll miss out on heaven and all of its fulfillment just the same. Additionally, you’ll have “missed out” on some things that God deems sin that you might have otherwise enjoyed if it wasn’t for your faith. Pascal, along with many other Christians, would testify that this loss is no loss at all. Sin is in fact what we could all do with less of. Still, each person needs to weigh the potential gains and losses and decide how they score the net impact of having believed in something that ultimately wasn’t true.

What if it’s true?

But what if it is true? If God exists and Jesus’ offer of salvation is real, what’s at stake for the person who doesn’t believe. According to the Bible, to refuse to believe in God is to reject any hope of His mercy or forgiveness. Hebrews 11:6, for example says, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Not only will you have separated yourself from God’s help in this life, but you will pay for your sins for all eternity in the next. Hebrews 9:27 says, “Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” For the person who believes in God and puts their full trust in Jesus Christ, what they gain is just as great as what the person who has rejected God has lost. On top of the benefits they enjoy in this life that I already mentioned above, they will experience an eternity free from sickness, pain, or death. They’ll know this world as it was originally designed to be, without sin or decay, loss or sadness.

Pascal summed up these scenarios like this: “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.” I suspect that some people will count the potential losses and gains somewhat differently than Pascal. What I believe he does show, however, is that if the gospel isn’t true, there are finite gains for the unbeliever and finite losses for the believer, but if it is true, there are infinite gains for the believer and infinite losses for the unbeliever. It also shows that both trusting in Jesus and rejecting Him are acts of faith. And in fact, rejecting Him requires more faith because there is so much at stake if you’re wrong.

Do you have enough faith to reject God? If you don’t have the faith to bet your eternity on it if you’re wrong, Pascal would urge you to believe in Jesus. “It’s your safest bet.” I would keep pointing you to the evidence that God has given and the Scriptures that testify to who He is. But I’d also say, everything is at stake in your decision and rejecting truth that has compelled billions of people over thousands of years requires a level of faith that I personally can no long muster.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). Don’t miss the life that He came to offer you.

In awe of Him,

Paul