Is there any biblical basis for encouraging non-believers to consider embracing Christianity with the hopeful anticipation that, if it proves to be true, they may experience the promised reward of an afterlife characterized by eternal bliss in Heaven and avoid the infinite loss of an eternity in Hell?
Yes, there is abundant Scriptural support for a need to assist non-believers to convert to Christianity that includes appeal to such arguments.
Pascal's wager is a rational utilitarian argument favoring belief in and obedience to God.
It includes the following attributes:
- An initial non-believing or uncertain stance
- Incentive of eternal reward for faithfulness
- Incentive of eternal punishment for unbelief or infidelity
- The rational argument that finite inconvenience or pleasure is eclipsed by infinite rewards or penalties, no matter how improbable one thinks Christianity to be (unless deemed infinitely improbable)
To find Scriptural support for Pascal's wager, we look for teachings and examples that align with or explicitly rely on these attributes.
Non-belief and uncertainty
In addressing the matter of belief, we first recognize that there are degrees of uncertainty.
Is there anyone who has absolutely zero belief or capacity for belief in Christianity? Such a person, if he exists, is not eligible for Pascal's wager. We admit that, in order for Pascal's wager to be applicable to someone, he must at least admit the possibility of Christianity being true, otherwise the discounted future reward, even when infinite, would carry no weight (infinity times zero is zero). The ask of Pascal's wager is therefore not fundamentally the conversion from complete zero of belief to a saving belief, but rather, it is essentially to exert more action and sacrificial devotion towards a belief than one assigns to the intellectual probability of the belief being true, on account of the importance consequent from the belief if true. This is ultimately consonant with the definition of faith:
Now faith is the substance/assurance of things hoped for, the evidence/conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1, KJV/ESV)
By definition, a person who is exercising faith does not already see the culmination of his desire. Rather, uncertainty is inherent in the exercise of faith, and he holds out hope in the thing being true, taking as evidence that which is as yet uncertain.
We find this kind of faith in the plea of the father asking the Lord to cast out a tormenting spirit from his son:
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. (Mark 9:23)
Therefore some amount of faith can coexist with a near-paralyzing amount of unbelief. When we choose to exercise our faith in Jesus Christ, we are choosing to give priority or preference to the things which point to Christ, rather than to the things which don't. This is consistent with Pascal's wager, which invites us to emphasize belief and action consistent with the teachings of Christ, notwithstanding our uncertainty. This is an active rather than a passive view of faith. God does not judge us by what we lack, but rather, by what we do with what we have.
Eternal Rewards
The Bible is filled with references to the Lord and His servants promising eternal rewards on condition of faithfulness.
The Lord likens the Kingdom of Heaven to:
- Laborers in a vineyard working for a penny (Matthew 20:1-16)
- A tree planted from a tiny seed that grew (Matthew 13:31-32)
- Treasure hid in a field which a man found and then bought after he sold all that he had, and a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-46)
The Beatitudes given in the Sermon on the Mount are in this vein. The Lord promises to those who assimilate His attributes that they will:
- Inherit the kingdom of heaven
- Be comforted
- Inherit the Earth
- Be filled
- Obtain mercy
- See God
- Be called the children of God
- Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, having great reward in heaven
(Matthew 5:1-12)
The writer of Hebrews reports that some did not accept release from torture and death, "that they might gain a better resurrection" (Hebrews 11:35).
The Lord's invitation to the rich young ruler takes exactly the form conveyed in the parables of a quid pro quo of finite possessions or actions in exchange for eternal life and wealth:
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (Matthew 19:21)
Eternal Punishment
The Bible is full of warnings, examples and teachings that the wicked will suffer unspeakable torments if they do wickedly and do not repent, including the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31), the preaching of Jonah to the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:4), the judgments of the Cities of Galilee (Matthew 11:20-24), the plagues of Egypt, the warnings of Isaiah and Jeremiah and many, many other passages.
In parables, the Lord warned about consequences of rebellion against God:
- A Householder destroying wicked husbandmen who did not deliver the fruit of the vineyard, and who rejected and killed His messengers (Matthew 21:33-44)
- A King who made a marriage feast for His Son, and bade all to come, but few came, and He punished those who rejected His invitation (Matthew 22:2-14)
Therefore God uses threats of destruction, including death, famine, overthrow and enslavement in addition to the judgments of the wicked in eternity and their sufferings as incentives to entice unbelieving people to repent.
Trading finite inconvenience for infinite rewards
In the above examples, possibilities including both threats and promised rewards are held out to those whose uncertainty is manifested in a lack of commitment, vocalized belief, or trust in God as shown in their actions. The threats have permanent consequences of death and suffering, and the rewards are also permanent. The changes one needs to make are in the now and during this short mortal lifetime. All of God's teachings encourage and incentivize us to do what is right -- a temporary inconvenience -- in exchange for infinite promised blessings.
Is acting on such a possibility or even probability an act of faith?
Yes!
In the case of punishments, it is faith because the punishment, while real, is not yet seen. Scoffers may easily disregard warnings, including of temporal destruction, dismissing it all as delusion and militating against the prophets, as many have done, and yet their sufferings are assured if they do not repent. Taking hold of this assurance and repenting, as the hitherto unbelieving people of Nineveh did, is an act of real and saving faith in response to a "wager" of cost.
In the case of rewards, it is also faith because, for example in the case of the disciples who gave their lives as martyrs, they did not see or experience the fullness of their blessings in advance of being willing to sacrifice even their own lives in exchange for those blessings.
In summary
Pascal's wager is an invitation to have faith, or to exercise more faith than one currently has, in view of eternal realities (of which one is at least initially uncertain) relative to finite inconvenience.
Some would argue that because Pascal's wager does not appeal exclusively to pure altruism but instead invokes incentives of punishment and reward, it cannot result in saving faith. The examples given in Scripture, while they teach the importance of altruism, contradict this exclusion of benefit to self. Our initial motivations do not determine our final destiny; our choice to exercise faith and repentance, our trajectory of choices and how we treat inspired invitations, do. The incentives outline in Pascal's wager, their permanence relative to the finiteness of mortal experience, and the use of such arguments in addressing uncertainty or unbelief, find their basis and abound in Scripture.
While quid pro quo utilitarian arguments are not the only reasons advanced in Scripture for faithfulness, it is exceedingly common to see such contrasts and arguments of finite sacrifice in exchange for infinite rewards and avoidance of infinite punishment, including to the unbelieving and those who struggle to muster the faith to act on prophetic invitations.
