French philosopher Blaise Pascal wagered “that one would be wise to believe in God, since in the end the believer would lose nothing, unbelievers everything, if proved wrong.” Assuming that the God he was talking about is the God of the Bible I argue the opposite. If one leads a life based on a certain belief and that belief goes counter to the way one might otherwise lead his or her life, it could be a wasted life.

What if the purpose of life were pleasure? What if a successful life were measured in sexual intercourse? Picture the Pope arriving at the Pearly Gates expecting to be welcomed warmly but St. Peter says, “Man, you really messed up.”

Pope: What!? I led an exemplary life. I helped people. I was their moral leader. I guided millions of people to do right.

St. Peter: Yeah, you did some good things but you failed sexually.

Pope (hangs his head sheepishly): Oh, God, I didn’t masturbate that much. Forgive me.

St. Peter: I’m not God.

Pope: Sorry.

St. Peter: You misused your God-given body.

Pope: I’m sorry. I fought it all the time but it felt so good and I was weak.

St. Peter: It felt good? Where did that feeling come from?

Pope: The devil?

St. Peter: Did the devil give you your body?

Pope: No.

St. Peter: No. God gave you your body with all the senses. God gave you your erections. You denied yourself one of the greatest features of your God-given body. What did you think when, at the height of your pleasure you gasped, “Oh God”? Did you think this was blasphemy? Did it never occur to you that this was when you were closest to God, closest to paradise? You can come on in if you want to but I suggest you take another life and try again.

This is just a whimsical tale to illustrate a different point of view. Where did the notion come from that celibacy was a good idea? Certainly not from thinking that our bodies were God-given. Who would want to take away pleasures of the flesh? Certainly not the giver of those pleasures.

We are all different so I don’t want to suggest that someone who does not get pleasure from sex should seek it out against his or her senses. If I am to believe the religious people who wonder what keeps nonbelievers from committing crimes, then I most emphatically say that those people should hold onto their belief that they will go to hell if they don’t follow the Bible. We are all different so I cannot say that anyone else has a moral compass built into their being. Personally I would not consider a sexual pleasure other than with a consenting adult or onanisticly. Anyone who does not have those moral constraints built into their psyche or soul should, by all means, hang onto whatever moral rule or law or commandment keeps them from violating another.

If our belief causes us to live out life in a way different than we otherwise would, then Pascal is in error when he says we have nothing to lose by believing.