Chapter 3 of Why I Am A Christian

Most mornings I have to wait in line at the 7-11 store
to buy my newspaper while people place their bets
with the California lottery. A woman, anticipating
my impatience as she took an inordinate amount of time
making her choice, turned to me and defended her purchase
of twenty lottery tickets. “I have to have something to look
forward to.”
I knew what she meant. All day long she could daydream
about the millions she might win and the very notion of it
would carry her through the day.
The woman at the store was not putting all of her money
on the proverbial line, but many are putting far more than
money on the line.
The Big Gamble
There is indeed an even bigger gamble than the lottery.
Many are gambling that the grave is the end, the absolute
end of life. My guess is that this is the most common, albeit
unnamed, gamble of them all. The cessation of all life at the
termination of the biological functions of the organism –
this is the great hope of the godless. Nearly everyone who is
committed to atheistic evolutionary schemes is hoping for
this and counting on it. These people also reject any form
of reincarnation taught by Hinduism or Buddhism. (I have
observed, however, that they do not oppose Eastern religious
ideas with as much energy as they do traditional Christian
doctrines about the after-life.)
The “life ends at death” theory is powerful because of the
abundance of evidence that seems to support it. And I admit
there is plenty of information about the theory of random
occurrences flowing from the physical sciences that seems to
negate the necessity of a creator God. Evolutionary theories
and hypotheses are being confirmed, apparently, regularly.
These new discoveries seem to promise that any objections
to evolutionary theories will be met and disabled at some
point or another. There is no question that the doctrine of
life as a random event that ends at death is attractive and
powerful.
Where is the Proof?
No one committed to a life ends at death doctrine can be
absolutely sure of the truth of it. It is an article of faith and
nothing more. It is a gamble with monstrously high stakes –
nothing less than eternity.
Suppose the theories that account for life postulated by
agnostics and atheists are absolutely correct. Who is to say
there is not a God who started it all? Even if the universe
and the earth are as old as the theories suggest, does this do
away with God? Certainly not! And again, if creatures resembling
modern humans date back a million years, does this
mean God did not specially create Adam and Eve? Certainly
not! Science, many contend, can only discover the handiwork
of God. Science is not intended to be a means of judging
whether or not there is a God. Besides, experience teaches
that scientific “truth” has a habit of changing. God, on the
other hand, does not change. It is unwise to wager eternal
life on presumptions founded on scientific theories.
Would a Miracle do?
Jesus told the story of a rich man who died and went to
hell. Lazarus, a beggar who had lain at the rich man’s door,
also died, but he went to heaven. The rich man wanted God
(Abraham in the story) to send Lazarus to his family to warn
them about the terrible place of punishment and anguish.
But Lazarus was not allowed to warn the rich man’s family.
God reminded him that they had the Scriptures, and that
even if someone returned from the dead, they would not
believe (Luke 16:19-31).
It is easy to sympathize with the rich man who thought a
miracle would be persuasive. How many people have sworn:
“If I could just have a sign, if I could just know for sure, then
I would believe.”
If God would only grant miracles, it would make it easier
for all people to believe – or so it would seem. But God’s
way is faith that is placed in Jesus of Nazareth, who died in
our place on the cross and then rose from the dead. Trust,
surrender, love – this is how it works. If God were to reveal
himself through miracles all the time, then he would be just
another fact. We do not have a personal relationship with
facts.
The End of the Story
The woman at the store buying the lottery tickets was
not making an all-or-nothing bet, but so many are wagering
eternity that the grave will be their end. Like the rich man in
the parable Jesus told, they will be shocked to find that they
have lost their bet. But the truth will be discovered only after
the debt has been collected. Hell is a truth learned too late.