Pascal’s Pensees (278–279)
It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason. This, then, is faith: God felt by
the heart, not by the reason.Faith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of reasoning. Other religions do
not say this of their faith. They only give reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring
them to it.Faith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of reasoning. Other religions
do not say this of their faith. They only gave reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not
bring them to it.
Pascal, in his typical poetic form, reminds us of the manner in which we receive faith in the living God. It is easy for a brilliant mathematician and philosopher to say that I came to faith, but Blaise realizes how futile such a declaration would be. He realizes that he had “been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). Blaise surely remembers his famous conversion experience where his horses feel over, left him in the roadway, and he heard the voice of God. He accounted the experience by tying a piece of parchment inside his coat to remind him of the event.
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars…Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy…‘This is life eternal that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ…May I not fall from him forever…I will not forget your word. Amen.”
Blaise realized that his conversion was truly the gift of God. No amount of reasoning or contemplation could bring him to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Right after his conversion he left his study of the natural sciences to study Christian philosophy. His Pensees, or “thoughts” in French, were to be a book; but he unfortunately died before extrapolating on the ideas. I plan on doing a continual series on various sayings throughout this great work.
John Piper did a sermon entitled “Quest for Joy” that is his “Christian Hedonism manifesto” where he mentions the conversion of Pascal and Pascal’s contribution to his own thought. You can listen to it online.