by David R. Heesen, 1984
by David R. Heesen, 1984
[What is Pascal's Wager and what is wrong with it? Click here.]
My son Michael isn't all that crazy about dry cereals. But he keeps reminding me lately to get Donkey Kong cereal. He doesn't even like Donkey Kong cereal. So why does he ask me for Donkey Kong cereal? There are baseball cards in Donkey Kong cereal. That's why Michael asks me for Donkey Kong. When they stop putting baseball cards in Donkey Kong cereal I'm sure he will cease asking me for Donkey Kong cereal.
The baseball cards are the selling point (actually a gimmick in this case). What has this got to do with the Christian life?
The Christian life is the greatest life that man can experience on earth. But is this a selling point for the Gospel? Should we recommend Christ to people simply on the basis of how wonderful it is to "have Jesus in your heart" and that "it pays to serve Jesus"? I think not. But before I explain why from the Bible, let me illustrate some of the ways the Gospel has been presented in recent years.
One that really got my goat was an article in Christian Youth Today, describing a series of evangelistic meetings held at a Baptist church in Springfield, Missouri. The meetings were described as depicting "Christianity at its best--happy, and good looking." When I read this I immediately fired a letter to the editor. It read as follows:
Now, how can we really say this?
Christianity at its best is the Apostle Paul, who said, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" Romans 9:1-3. Is this "happy, good looking, appealing"?
. . .
Christianity at its best is the Christian martyrs burning at the stake for Christ's sake. Is this "happy, good looking, appealing"?
Christianity at its best is the Incarnate Son of God, the man of Sorrows, being driven like a lamb to the slaughter, being spat upon, crowned with thorns, stripped naked, nailed to the cross, and dying in your stead. Is this "happy, good looking, appealing"?
When Paul Harvey quoted Graham on his news program, I fired him a letter. And I've heard another famous Baptist pastor reiterate this same sentiment. When Christians get comfortable and laid back, they forget that the Christian life is a struggle, both inward and outward.
As far as what Christianity "does for our homes and our own families in this life," Jesus has this to say: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" -- Luke 14:26.
A last example: There's a song on the radio which I've heard several times: "But if heaven never was promised to me, neither God's promise to live
eternally, it's been worth just having the Lord in my life.
...If there were never any streets of gold, neither a land where we'll never grow old, it's been worth just having the Lord in my life."
With these sentiments in mind, let's see what the Apostle Paul had to say about the Christian life. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."--1 Corinthians 15:19. "... all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."--2 Timothy 3:12. "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."--Philippians 1:28-29.
What can we conclude from these verses? Simply that Paul told it like it was. If there was no heaven or hell, he certainly wouldn't be wasting his time going around being persecuted, despised, and hated for the Gospel's sake. Looking at the sermons of the early church, I don't hear Peter preaching at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-36): "Listen here, fellows, if you want peace and contentment, abundant life, Christianity at its best, then give your heart to Jesus." No, just the opposite. Nor do I hear Stephen (Acts 7:2-53), nor Paul (Acts 17:22-31, 22:3-21, 26:2-27), nor any of the early preachers using the Christian life as a selling point.
Paul, having just been stoned and left for dead, goes forth "confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."--Acts 14:22.
Now let's look at that peerless evangelist and preacher, the Lord Jesus. Did he use the Christian life as a selling point for the Gospel? Granted, he said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) But this is an isolated passage. The tenor of his message was more in line with Luke 9:23-24: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." Certainly we never hear him, laying eternity aside momentarily, uttering absurdities like, "Even if there were no heaven or hell, your earthly life will be better." No! His whole thrust was, "No sacrifice is too great, no trial too cruel, no hardship too staggering, to be worth missing the eternal salvation of your souls."
The Christian martyrs knew this. What insanity would drive a man, entertaining the notion that there might not be a heaven or a hell, to undergo extreme torture for the cause of a "better life on earth"? The irony of such a deed is striking to say the least. It was the "heavenly vision" which gave the martyrs their courage. "Eternal glory gleams afar, To nerve my faint endeavor; So now to watch, to work, to war; And then to rest forever" was how songwriter James G. Small expressed it.
In this century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a martyr himself, said, "When
Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die." [The Cost of Discipleship]
That's not "come and dine"; that's "come and die.">
Does this sound like an outlandish distortion of the Gospel? The Bible and history will bear it out that it is not.
While Christianity is not mere "pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by" either, Paul says, "even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" What hope is Paul speaking of? A future "redemption of our body." A "hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began"--Titus 1:2. "That blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."--Titus 2:13.
So, if we omit the Christian life as a selling point of the Gospel, and cease using heaven as a carrot to get people to bite, then what do we have left?
Just the Gospel in its purity, that's all! Unlike Donkey Kong cereal, it needs no baseball cards to promote it!
Thomas J. Nettles, in By His Grace and For His Glory, sums it up nicely:
He [Christ] offers no individual blessings apart from receiving him and the reproach the world has for him. He does not offer forgiveness without repentance, nor celestial glory without the straight and narrow road to it, nor wisdom without long hours in the school of Christ, nor the wearing of a crown with the bearing of a cross, nor the enjoyment of God without the denial of self, nor redemption from the penalty of sin without deliverance from its power, enjoyment, and eventually its presence. All who seek to have any blessing Christ gives, apart from Christ himself and all he brings, have not received him as he offers himself.
EMail the author at: David R. Heesen
What is Pascal's Wager?
Pascal's Wager is relevant here. It states:
1. In this game of life, every man must wager, that is, stake his life on the proposition either that Christianity is true or that it is not.
2. Suppose a man chooses for Christianity. If it is true, he gains everything. If it is false, he has lost nothing.
3. Suppose a man chooses against Christianity. If it is true, he loses everything and spends eternity in hell. If it is false, he has gained nothing.
What's wrong with Pascal's Wager? First of all, to choose Christianity simply because it might be true is not a good enough reason to do so.
Second, the premise at the end of #2 is wrong. He hasn't "lost nothing." Ask one of the Christian martyrs if he's lost anything because he's chosen Christianity. He'll reply, perhaps, "Yes! I've lost my home, my family, and alas! I've lost my head!
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