If you take Pascal’s wager and it turns out to have been a good one

New, from the Interpreter Foundation:

Come, Follow Me — Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 14, March 30-April 12: Easter (from Jonn Claybaugh)

Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 14: “He Shall Rise … with Healing in His Wings”: Easter

Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen were the discussants for the Interpreter Radio Roundtable for Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 14, “He Shall Rise … with Healing in His Wings,” which is keyed for Easter.  This roundtable was extracted from the 8 March 2020 broadcast of Interpreter Radio, with all commercial and other breaks excised. The complete show may be heard at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-march-8-2020/.

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Here are some notes from Michael Rota, Taking Pascal’s Wager: Faith, Evidence and the Abundant Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016), 33-34, on the benefits to be gained from taking Pascal’s wager if theism or Christianity — he hasn’t yet sought to distinguish precisely between them, and (we shall see!) perhaps will not — turns out to be true.  For sake of verbal economy, Dr. Rota labels as WC the conjoint proposition You take the  wager and Christianity is true:

1.  One will have “maximized one’s chance at eternal life.”  (33)
2.  Since God presumably hopes that we will choose him and, thereby, accept his offer of eternal life, “by seeking closeness with God, you will bring joy to God and all others who are with God in heaven.”  (33)
3. One will have shown gratitude to God, for his grace and his generous offer of eternal life and other blessings.  This is perhaps something quite like (2) above, but it’s viewed this time not from God’s perspective but from the perspective of the human person involved.  For gratitude is a virtue, and the cultivation of virtue is a good thing.
4. “Fourth, it’s very plausible to think that you are more likely to benefit from divine aid for moral and spiritual growth if you seek a relationship with God than if you don’t.  No doubt God would not leave you without grace if you didn’t seek him, but it’s reasonable to think that if you’re more open to God’s assistance in your life, then you’ll end up resisting less when God sends help your way.”  (33)
5. “Fifth, you are more likely to be aware of God’s love during this earthly life.  If Christianity is true, a close relationship with God can begin now.”  (34)
6. “Sixth, if Christianity is true and you’ve attempted to follow a Christian way of life, you’re more likely to be a help to others in their journey to God.  Since the ultimate good for human beings will largely depend on their relationship with God, we can include in outcome WC the idea that you’ll be more likely to help others in the most important way possible.”  (34, italics in the original)

These six propositions are neatly summarized in a simple chart on page 34, which also alludes to “this-worldly costs and benefits of WN [You take the  wager and Christianity is not true]” without yet enumerating them.

“The six goods just mentioned are all goods specific to outcome WC; they are goods that won’t also be present if Christianity is false, and thus are goods that won’t be included in outcome WN.”  (34)