Good day.
Love, peace and blessings be with us all.
A delicate, precocious child, Pascal suffered all his life
from violent headaches ( a post-mortem found his skull had not
formed properly). Because of this his wealthy father kept him from
his books; so the young Blaise worked out Pythagoras` theorem
on his own! He was to become one of the foremost mathematicians
of his time. While still in his teens he made discoveries in geometry
and calculus; by using dice he worked out the theory of probability;
he designed the first mechanical computer (today there is a
computer language named after him). In physics he advanced the
knowledge of the vacuum and discovered `Pascal`s Law`, the
principle of hydraulics. He is also said to have planned the first
public omnibus system!
Together with his sister, Blaise joined the Jansenists, a
reform movement within the French Catholic church, and wrote
his Provincial Letters in defence of their doctrines, which had caused
much controversy. In 1654 he went through a `second conversion`
in which he was overwhelmed for two hours by `certainty, joy and
peace`. After his death his account of this experience was found
stitched into the coat he always wore. Also found among his papers
were twent-seven bundles of loose sheets arranged under general
headings. These were his notes for a major book defending the
Christian faith against the growing rationalism of his day. They
were published as Pensees (Thoughts) and become classic of
Christian thinking.
_______________________________ THE WAGER _____________________
`Either God exists, or he does not.` But which side shall we take? Reason cannot decide for us one way or the other; we are separated by an infinate distance, where either heads or tails will turn up. Which will you gamble on? . . .
Let us weigh the gain and the loss in betting that God exists . . . If you win, you win everything; if you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate, then: gamble on his existence . . .
You want to come to faith, but you do not know the way. You would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and you ask for remedies. Learn from those who were once bound and gagged like you, and who now stake all that they possess. These are the people who know the road you wish to follow; they are cured of the disease of which you wish to be cured. Follow the way by which they set out: by acting as though they already believed . . .
Now what harm will come to you if you follow this course? You will be faithful, honest, humble, grateful, generous, a sincere friend, truthful. Certainly you will not enjoy those poisonous pleasures, ambition and luxury. But will you not have others? I tell you that you will gain in this life, and that at every step you take along this road you will see so great an assurance of gain, and so little in what you risk, that you will finally realize you have gambled on something certain and infinite, which has cost you nothing.
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Blaise Pascal
___________________________ THE CHRISTIAN GOD _______________________
The God of Christians is not a God who is simply the author of geometrical truths, or of the order of the elements; that is the view of pagans and Epicureans. He is not merely a God who exercises his providence over the lives and fortunes of men, to bestow on those who worship him a long and happy life.
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians is a God of love and comfort, a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom he possesses, a God who makes them conscious of their inward wretchedness, and his infinite mercy; who unites himself to their inmost soul, who fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, who renders them incapable of any other end than himself.
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My dear brothers and sisters, I do hope that any of you whom are like me, seekers after the way and the truth, will find todays blog helpful. I pray for you, others and myself, that we may realize that we are are all part of the `One Body`!
Peace and love to you and all beings. Your brother Peter.
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