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172 How Can We Know the Christian Scriptures Are True?
the road of faith as if you believed, and you will soon have eyes to see
the certainty of it all.
I will tell you that . . . at each step you take on this road, you will
see so great certainty of gain, so much nothingness in what you risk,
that you will at last recognize that you have wagered for something
certain and infinite, for which you have given nothing.
I would like to think that Pascal means: Pursue the miracle of new birth
by immersing yourself in the word of God through which the miracle
of sight and certainty comes (1 Pet. 1:23). But I am afraid that is not
what he means. His Roman Catholic sacramentalism laid out a different
path. He counsels the seeker: Follow those who have acted “as if they
believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will
naturally make you believe.”
I think that is not good counsel. But the wager, in its true complexity,
is a wise and sobering challenge. The challenge is not to seek faith
through holy water and masses. The challenge is to realize that infinite
things are at stake. Saving faith is essential, and it is not a wager. Rather,
it is an entering through the door of Christ, irresistibly drawn by the
convincing and compelling foretaste of the enthralling beauty of God
in the gospel.
Pascal’s Wager applies not only to faith in God but also to faith in the
word of God. Venturing on the Bible, with no good ground for doing so,
is no honor to the Scriptures. God’s word is not esteemed if one believes
it by the toss of a coin. Indeed, such “belief,” as we have seen, would
not be a belief of any value. It would be like a man’s choosing which of
two women to marry by tossing a coin. The chosen one would know she
was not chosen because of any good reasons. The faith in God’s word
that honors God has foundations. We have seen its divine glory. We have
seen “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” And we cannot turn
away to another. In this way, Christ and his word are honored.
Unnamable Experiences and Serious Doubts
However, this does not mean that there are no doubts along the way.
Nor does it mean that the conscious experiences of all who embrace the
Bible as God’s word are the same. One may come to a well-grounded