In our society one of the things that disturbs me most is people that profess their faith, yet never have a change of life style after their, so called, salvation experience. It’s as if they have decided this Jesus thing might be true, so it would be a good idea to hedge their bet and believe in Him just in case there really is a hell.
In one of my previous blogs I mentioned an age old argument that centers on the idea of betting that God is real in order to escape the consequences of hell. The gentleman who presented this argument was a French philosopher and mathematician who lived in the seventeenth century named Blaise Pascal. The argument came to be known as Pascal’s Wager or Pascal’s Gambit. The argument runs as follows:
- If you believe in God, and you’re wrong, you lose nothing (assuming that death is the absolute end), whereas if you believe in God, and you’re right, you gain everything (eternal bliss).
- If you do not believe in God, and you’re right you gain nothing (death ends all), whereas if you do not believe in God, and you’re wrong, you lose everything (eternal damnation).
- Therefore, you should believe in God.
The argument almost sounds plausible. Why not cover all of your bases and simply hedge your bet with God? Could it be as simple as saying, “I am not sure whether God, or Jesus Christ, exists or not, but to be on the safe side, I think I will believe in Him because I have nothing to lose”?
If that is the case then we have to throw out the “follow Me” portions of Scripture that the Holy Spirit inspired the writers to give us. Over and over Jesus tells us, in order to be His disciple we must completely change our way of life.
Luke 9:23
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
So, is there any way you can be a believer without being a follower? Can you say, "this looks like a good idea", but not live your life in such a way as to obey His commands? Jesus tells us otherwise.
John 14:15
“If you love Me, Keep My commandments.”
Being a Christian isn’t a wager, it’s a way of life. You place all of your trust in the belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus is the one that can bring you into a right relationship with the Father. Are you betting that Jesus is the way, or do you believe as Peter stated in Acts 4:12:
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
I agree with you on this matter. I believe an equally important question to ask is, Can you actually believe in Jesus without believing in Him? To just hedge a bet is not true belief.
The disciples ran and hid when Jesus was hung on the cross. But after He arose they believed, to the point of death!
I wonder how many people would die for their belief in God today???
Posted by: Greg | 10/04/2011 at 08:20 AM