Truth and...(5)

Consequences

Is it true that some truths have no experiential consequences? We might answer quickly, "Sure!" But a second thought might lead to hesitation in this pronouncement. When we consider facts of the past, such as Abraham Lincoln's presidency or Christopher Columbus Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we might not see any impact on our daily lives. However, these facts have undoubtedly affected our present-day lives - just not in immediately tangible ways. Perhaps we are related to one of these men, and if it weren't for their exploits, our existance would be in jeopardy.

If one molecule in this universe didn't do as it did, the whole balance would be thrown off. Do you disagree? Tell me about it.

The most important of truths regards Jesus Christ. Did He atone for your sins on the cross? Did He rise from the dead never to die again? Were His teachings true? If so, then there are consequences. If not, then there are consequences.

First, if not... The apostle Paul says, "If Christ be not raised, then we are still in our sins. Christians are to be pitied more than any other man." Second, if so... Then, as Peter declared, "there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Jesus once said (in John 8:24), "If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will die in your sins." That statement is either true of false. And you life depends on it.

Blaise Pascal thought through the matter of truth and consequences in great detail. He concluded thus:

If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is....

..."God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

Do not, then, reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made, not this choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong. The true course is not to wager at all."

Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? 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. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. "That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much." Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and happiness. And this being so, if there were an infinity of chances, of which one only would be for you, you would still be right in wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly, being obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a game in which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain. But 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.