10.27
Pascal was a French scientist, mathematician, Christian apologist and philosopher who lived from 1623 to 1662. He was a brilliant writer as well and is considered the father of French prose. He was an ardent defender of the scientific method and rightly saw intuitional truths(that is, things that we know are universally true even if we can’t prove them) as a foundation for a proper use of it. He was homeschooled by his father, who was a tax collector in France and developed what has become known as “Pascal’s Theorem” at the age of 16. At 18 he built a mechanical calculator to help his father with work. It only performed addition, but he later improved it and built a total of 50 throughout his life.
Here are some of his most notable scientific works/inventions:
He made many other contributions to the sciences such as rightly theorizing that a vaccum existed above the atmosphere. He made significant progress in mathematical probability theory with his colleague Pierre de Fermat. Philosophically, he’s also well known for what has come to be called Pascal’s Wager. In that vein, he was a deeply committed Christian. What was perhaps to become his most monumental written work, Pensees, was originally titled Defense of the Christian Religion. Here are some good quotes from Pascal:
“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”
“Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.”
“Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.”
“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”
“Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.”
“Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.”
And lest you think he was some sort of deist or something, the following was found written on a piece of cloth sewn inside his clothing after his death:
Memorial
In the year of grace, 1654, On Monday, 23rd of November, Feast of St Clement, Pope and Martyr, and others in the Martyrology, Vigil of St Chrysogonus, Martyr, and others, From about half past ten in the evening until about half past twelve, Fire! God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, (Ex 3:6; Mt 22:32) not of the philosophers and scholars.
Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ. “Thy God and my God.” (Jn 20:17) Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except God. He is to be found only in the ways taught in the Gospel. Greatness of the Human Soul. “Righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee.” (Jn 17:25) Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. I have separated myself from Him. “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.” (Jr 2:13) “My God, wilt Thou leave me?” (Mt 27:46) Let me not be separated from Him eternally. “This is the eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and the one whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ.” (Jn 17:3) Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ
I have separated myself from Him:
I have fled from Him, denied Him, crucified Him. Let me never be separated from Him. We keep hold of Him only by the ways taught in the Gospel. Renunciation, total and sweet. Total submission to Jesus Christ and to my director. Eternally in joy for a day’s training on earth. “I will not forget thy words.” (Ps 119:16) Amen.
