Pascals Wager

Pascals Wager

Blaise Pascal was a famous French mathematician, philosopher, and Christian apologist in the mid-1600s.   Many considered Pascal a mathematical prodigy even though he only lived to be 39 years of age.   Pascal had done many remarkable studies in his lifetime, but one of his most well-known studies was in the theology field.   His study was known as ‘Pascal’s Wager’ and concentrated on the existence of God.
Pascal was born on June 19, 1623 in Clermont in Auvergne (Marthaler et al. 10:   910).   His father, Etienne, was a government official who was very passionate about mathematical learning (Craig 241).   Etienne was most likely the main reason Blaise had an interest in math as well as the other subjects connected to it because of the fact that Etienne had privately educated his son (McGrath 422).   As a child, Pascal was deprived of having a mother to care for him.   He also had two sisters, Gilberte and Jacqueline, who also had the loss of growing up with a mother (Marthaler et al. 10:   910).   When Pascal turned eight years old, his family moved to Paris, France.   Pascal was then introduced into the philosophical and religious world when he attended the mathematical academy of Father Marin Mersenne (Craig 242).   By 1646, Pascal moved to Rouen with his father, where he met several disciples of Jean du Vergier, Abbé of Saint Cyran and became a convert (Marthaler et al. 10:   911).   In 1654, his sister Jacqueline overheard Blaise becoming a convert for the second time.   After this second conversion, Pascal became linked with theologians and recluses of Port-Royal (Marthaler et al. 10:   911).   This is when Pascal made his impact on the Christianity world.   Pascal decided to start the rough draft of the Pensées, which is a defense of the Christian religion (Marthaler et al. 10:   911).   Within Pascal’s Pensées, his wager is located and still studied to this day.
Pascal’s Wager is a subjective approach of proving God’s existence.   His wager challenges the...