Pascal Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is Pascalian anthropology?
- We are vain.
- We are bored.
- Our beliefs are often the result of habit.
- We are annoyed.
- We endlessly distract ourselves from a wretched and moribund (death-bound) state.
- We are miserable.
Why do we believe most things?
We believe most things by custom.
What is a wager? What is Pascal’s Wager?
A wager is a risk with loss and gain.
Pascal’s Wager is to decided whether God is or is not.
If you wager that God exists (and you’re correct):
- Benefit: Eternal beatitude.
- Loss: Nothing.
If you wager that God doesn’t exist (and you’re wrong):
- Benefit: Nothing.
- Loss: Eternal beatitude.
Why can Christians not give a reason for their beliefs?
God is so great and incomprehensible that we cannot know for certain if He is or isn’t thus it is impossible to provide a logical explanation for His existance/Christianity.
Why would one convert to Christianity?
Because they have nothing to lose if they’re wrong in believing that God exists, and all to gain if they’re correct.
How could one convert if they are struggling with accepting God’s existence?
Do what those before them did. Pretend to believe until you actually do.
How can one know if God exists to better make their judgement of the Wager?
What may help them to accept this?
Read the Scriptures, the lift of the saints, etc.
Stop focusing on coming up with proofs for God’s existence, and instead diminish your own passions.
What does Pascal say about curiosity?
Curiosity is vanity, and we only want to know something so that we may be able to talk about it.
How does the Skeptic, Geometer, and Christian fit together?
The Skeptic doubts, the Geometer affirms, and the Christian submits what is true/untrue when moderated to do so.
What does it mean “To go off of a whim”?
To go off of a feeling with no logical connection.
Why do we need Jesus Christ to know God?
Christ, being both Man and God, is the Mediator between the two, and a proof of God’s existence without Him would be ineffective.
What does one need to prove God’s existence?
1) The Scriptures to know our religion by its past, theology, and prophecies.
2) Original Sin to know that we are in need of being saved.
3) Jesus Christ to know that we are redeemed and that His redemption is validated by the prophecies that He fulfilled in the Scriptures.
What is true conversion to love God according to Pascal?
Self-annihilation before God who we have sinned against and has every reason to damn us.
