I have
recently been taking an introduction to philosophy class offered online by MIT[1]. The first unit of the
class looks at the arguments for and against the existence of God, and
addresses what is known as Pascal's Wager. Pascal reasoned that it was in the
best interest of men to believe in God because if you believe and God is real,
you go to eternal heaven, but if you don't believe and God is real you go to
hell. If God is real you have everything to gain and nothing to lose in
believing and nothing to gain and everything to lose by not believing. If God
is not real, you have lost nothing for believing.
Now, I
see many flaws in Pascal's wager. But the argument the course eventually
presents is that a man cannot will to believe. The instructor says that we
cannot turn believing on and off like a light switch. I find this remark
intriguing on several levels:
It
answers to the Bible truth that no man comes to God except that he is drawn by
the Holy Spirit.
Faith
is not a life choice. It is a calling of God. It is not revealed by flesh and
blood but by the Heavenly Father
It
also speaks to the work of the soul winner.
The
word faith carries with it the idea of persuasion. A person believes in Christ
because he is persuaded by another who already believes in Christ. Paul
"so spake" that a great number came to believe or to be persuaded.
But that persuasion must be something different than the transmission of facts
and evidences; what the philosophers call epistemology. It is from the heart to
the heart. Rather, the Bible teaches, it is from faith to faith. That is why
the Bible is not a book of mere facts and proof. A man who looked at
epistemological evidence and became persuaded would only be persuaded
academically. God's target is not the head. It is the seat of faith for which
He shoots, what the Bible refers to as our bowels.
The
soul winner must never allow himself to be trapped into a discussion targeted
at the head. Even if he wins the persuasion he will have accomplished nothing.
It's why philosophers love to analyze the argument of Pascal's wager but never
really consider whether God is it not. The soul winner must learn to target his
whole conversation on his faith and transfer that to the faith of
another.
Marvin McKenzie
In the field
