A Wager in the Spirit of Pascal

 I would like to posit a sort of "Pascal's Wager." 

     For those who don't know, Pascal's Wager was initially proposed by Blaise Pascal, a French Philosopher who made the proposition that if a person believes in God and does what He wants and it turns out that God doesn't exist, the worst that can happen is that he is remembered for living an upright and virtuous life as a good man. But if a person refuses to believe in God and do what He wants and it turns out that He does exist, then the worst that can happen is that this person will spend eternity in hellfire.

     So, in the spirit of Pascal's Wager, I would like to posit something similar. If one believes that the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, has little to do with justification if anything, that is, the forgiveness of one's sins (Penal Substitutionary Atonement), and everything to do with the union with, submission to, and cooperation with the Spirit of Christ, manifesting Jesus Christ through that person, and it turns out that it was about believing in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins all along, what is the worst that can happen? The person's sins are still forgiven because He believed in Jesus Christ, and he is remembered as a Christlike man. 

     But if a person believes in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins only (Penal Substitutionary Atonement), and then attempts to be a "righteous" man by keeping commandments (something which Scripture is explicit about being impossible), refusing to believe he can turn control of himself over to the Spirit of Christ and teaching others it's only about forgiveness and trying to keep commandments, and it turn out that that's not what it's all about at all, but it's about submission to and cooperation with the Spirit of Christ, then what's the worst that can happen? The person lives under the enslavement of his own sinful flesh, continuously subject to his own fear, anger, and bodily cravings, and unable to do what God wants because as Paul wrote, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Worse than this, as Jesus said, "The one who doesn't make his home in Me dries up, is tossed out like a branch, and they collect them for the furnace to be burned." And even worse than this, he teaches others to be like himself.

     So, this is my proposed "Pascal's Wager" to those who believe the most important effect of His death, burial, and resurrection is the forgiveness of their sins. I would think the desired path would be obvious.