How do we make decisions? We may not come right and out and say so, but, we play the odds. The bigger the decision, the more carefully we play the odds.
Once we understand the possibility of having an immortal soul, we may conclude: “Where my immortal soul spends eternity, in joy or pain, is the most important decision I can make.”
So, we play the odds. “I need to choose a religion that will maximize the chances of my immortal soul living in joy, not pain, forever.” That’s a variation of Pascal’s Wager. Catholic Fundamentalism builds on that and asks: “Of all the religious leaders, do any have the credibility of having been predicted by specific prophecies?”
Scholars say that over 300 Old Testament prophecies refer to the coming of Jesus. Consider a Prophecy from 700 years Before Christ, Micah 5:2. “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Judah: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.”
The odds: There were about a hundred thousand villages and towns in the Roman Empire. Jewish traders and settlers moved throughout, so The Messiah could have been born of Judeans in any of those settlements. The chances were about one in a hundred thousand that He would be born in tiny Bethlehem in little Judea near the edge of the Empire.
The odds get better. There were Twelve Hebrew Tribes. The Messiah was prophesied to come from one of them, Judah. Genesis 49:10, written about 1,400 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” Chances of Jesus being from The Tribe of Judah? One in 12. Since that was the largest Tribe, the odds may have been one in 8.
The odds change with Jeremiah 23:5, written 600 years before Jesus was born: “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” If there were a hundred thousand in the Tribe of Judah, maybe a thousand could have been descended in the house of King David. Odds? 1 in 100.
What are the odds that Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah and House of David was The Messiah? Combine 1 in 100,000, 1 in 8 and 1 in 100.
Everyone smart enough to do so should play these odds! 1 in 80,000,000. Seems worse than merely foolish not to believe. And obey. And, be in The Only Church Jesus Founded!
Then, figure the odds of one in a hundred thousand that, out of 60,000,000 in Rome’s territories, that Jesus would be killed by crucifixion, lifted up before men with no bones broken.
That makes the odds that we should believe in Jesus and The Only Church He Founded a quadrillion to one! Odd that many will risk money on a lottery at 275,000,000 odds against winning and will not bet their souls when the odds are a quadrillion to one of saving their immortal soul by obeying teachings of The Only Church Jesus Founded.
It is worse than unintelligent to refuse to be Catholic!
