randalevan's blog

A few last quotes from Pascal and Kreeft

I just finished Kreeft's book and wanted to write-up a few quotes that I thought were good.  Here goes:

"Here is a test whether you really love God.  Have you done or avoided or given up a single thing today solely because you believed that God wanted you to?" (Page 234.)

Three Choices

I have been reading Peter Kreeft's book Christianity for Modern Pagans for some time now and I'm really enjoying it.  It's basically Kreeft's take on Pascal's Pensées.  Let me quote Pascal's pensée #154: "Choices.  Our life in the world must vary according to these different assumptions:

1. (if it is certain that we shall always be here)....

2. (if it is certain whether we shall always be here or not).

3. (if it is certain that we shall not always be here, but if we are sure of being here for a long time)....

4. if it is certain that we shall not be here for long, and uncertain whether we shall be here even one hour.

This last assumption is ours."

Data: we are unhappy

"If we had no idea of happiness, we would not feel unhappy, for we would have no standard with which to measure our present state and call it lacking.  Only Christian "abnormalism", only the Fall, explains these two primal truths: that we are unhappy and ignorant, and that we long to be happy and certain.