The French Philosopher Blaise Pascal must have been a betting man. I make this observation based on his idea of belief in God's existence being a wager; a wager of eternal reward or eternal damnation. Pascal's Wager stated that it is in a person's best interest to believe in God's existence because belief in God could result in eternal life and happiness and to not believe in God is to run the risk of being condemned for the rest of time. Pascal even created a Decision Matrix to help demonstrate the possible outcomes of the wager you decide to make:
God Exists God doesn't Exist
If we believe eternal reward wasted piety but better people
If we don't believe eternal damnation no reward, no punishment
Pascal stated that you have nothing you loss. If you follow God you will be a virtuous person and you will not participate in activities that could possibly be harmful to you. And, if in the end you find out that there is no God you will know that you still lead a good life and were a better person than you might have been without your faith. Pascal also says that to not believe in God means that you essentially have no hope. You will either die and nothing will happen or you will die and find out that God really did exist and because you did not believe you will be condemned to hell for the rest of eternity.
Pascal's Wager is solely based on logic and is a very mathematical way to view faith. Pascal plays off people's rationality to back this argument. According to Pascal the possible downfalls strongly outweigh the few extra pleasures you might enco ...