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Author Graham Tomlin talks about his new biography of Blaise Pascal and Pascal’s impact on the 17th century and later (podcast and transcript). - TGC
“Science is a powerful way to gain knowledge about the natural world but it has limits and is provisional.”
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Lessons from Blaise Pascal - Reasons to Believe
400 years ago, philosopher Blaise Pascal was one of the first to grapple with the role of faith in an age of science and reason
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“Whatever one’s religious beliefs, Pascal teaches that all individuals have to make a choice between faith in some reality beyond themselves or a life without belief. But a life without belief is also a choice, and in Pascal’s view, a bad bet.” - The Conversation
Problems with Pascal’s Famous Wager
Most who study Christian Apologetics have heard of Blaise Pascal; others note a problem with Pascal’s Famous wager.
The wager
According to Got Questions,
The gist of the Wager is that, according to Pascal, one cannot come to the knowledge of God’s existence through reason alone, so the wise thing to do is to live your life as if God does exist because such a life has everything to gain and nothing to lose. If we live as though God exists, and He does indeed exist, we have gained heaven.
Can We Ridicule Our Enemies and Love Them? Rules for Christian Mockery
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“my colleague Shane Morris had a fascinating discussion on the Colson Center’s Upstream podcast … about Christian mockery, using the writings of 17th-century mathematician and Christian apologist, Blaise Pascal.” - Breakpoint
Pascal on Persuasion
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“Pascal was a pioneer in the psychology of persuasion. …Lead people to the answer, but let them discover it on their own. ‘People are generally better persuaded by reasons they have themselves discovered than by those from the minds of others.’” - Breakpoint
Blaise Pascal on Our Inability to Sit in a Quiet Room Alone
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“I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber. A man who has enough to live on, if he knew how to stay with pleasure at home, would not leave it to go to sea or to besiege a town….
