And while they were all very well spoken and argued there was one writer whose argument clicked.
A man called Pascal logically argued for the existence of God, not by what he could determine of God's nature from the world or from humanity, but from the prospective of there being a wager.
This wager was one that must be answered in life, for it was the only important bet we would ever make in our lives.
Pascal stated that there were two possibilities in this great debate: either God exists or He doesn't.
And due to this we could logically determine what would be in our best interest to believe.
If God does not exist for example, and we do not believe in Him then we have the satisfaction of being right and we have lived a life including finite pleasure (which always end up doing more harm than good). However if we have spent our lives believing in a non-existant God than we lose those finite pleasures (which always end up doing more harm than good) and we are a good person.
But if God does exist and we do believe than while we miss out on those finite pleasures (which always end up doing more harm than good) we gain eternal life and happiness. Our rewards are infinite. But if we don't believe in The Lord of All than we might have experienced some finite pleasures (which always end up doing more harm than good) but we are eternally damned. Our loss is infinite.
And so if you just take those factors in to account believing in God gives you the highest reward with the lowest cost. And your chances are 50/50. Now I am no gambler, but if I was I would take that bet.
Now Pascal's Wager reminds me of one of my favorite passages from my favorite author:
"'One word, Ma'am,' he said... 'One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Supose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."
~The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis.
We are all in need of something more than what this world has to offer, because like the Green Witch's world, ours is hollow, and without Aslan we will keep trying to fill the void with the finite. But instead of living in a incomplete world why would you not strive for the world that is completely perfect?
After all, it is that world, and that Lion, that have the most to offer us.
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