Comments on: Pascal http://www.exicarus.com/2007/07/09/pascal/ living Ephesians 2:1-4 in Lexington KY Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:40:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Chad http://www.exicarus.com/2007/07/09/pascal/#comment-77 Chad Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:57:34 +0000 http://www.exicarus.com/2007/07/09/pascal/#comment-77 I haven't read it but Kreeft has a book out that argues that Pascal is actually the best apologist for the denizens of Postmodernity. It is an edited presentation of Pensees with his own thoughts on the usefulness of Pascal today. I haven’t read it but Kreeft has a book out that argues that Pascal is actually the best apologist for the denizens of Postmodernity. It is an edited presentation of Pensees with his own thoughts on the usefulness of Pascal today.

]]> By: Ben F http://www.exicarus.com/2007/07/09/pascal/#comment-63 Ben F Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:24:42 +0000 http://www.exicarus.com/2007/07/09/pascal/#comment-63 Pascal's Wager is all too often derided by a large group of people I like to call "nominal atheists." These are people that are pseudo-students of philosophy (mostly thanks to Dawkins and Hitchens) who propogate what they have heard without actually studying for themselves. It is sad, because they take his wager as his argument for belief in God, which obviously and as you and Pascal himself point out, is not its purpose. I think the criticism you focused on can also apply to the trend in modern evangelism (and something Ben touched on in his sermon) of people coming to Christianity seeking a reward of some sort, and evangelical Christians playing into their desire, even exploiting it, by hawking eternal life in heaven like a magical elixir (ie the "fire insurance" you mentioned). This is, I think, just as dangerous for us as it is for them, as that honest desire to see people come to Christ can cause us to make compromises that don't have an unbelievers best interests at heart. There is much from the story of the rich, young ruler modern evangelicalism should apply to itself, most notably Christ's attitude in the exchange. Pascal’s Wager is all too often derided by a large group of people I like to call “nominal atheists.” These are people that are pseudo-students of philosophy (mostly thanks to Dawkins and Hitchens) who propogate what they have heard without actually studying for themselves. It is sad, because they take his wager as his argument for belief in God, which obviously and as you and Pascal himself point out, is not its purpose.

I think the criticism you focused on can also apply to the trend in modern evangelism (and something Ben touched on in his sermon) of people coming to Christianity seeking a reward of some sort, and evangelical Christians playing into their desire, even exploiting it, by hawking eternal life in heaven like a magical elixir (ie the “fire insurance” you mentioned). This is, I think, just as dangerous for us as it is for them, as that honest desire to see people come to Christ can cause us to make compromises that don’t have an unbelievers best interests at heart. There is much from the story of the rich, young ruler modern evangelicalism should apply to itself, most notably Christ’s attitude in the exchange.

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