I’ve heard it said that belief in God is much like a bet. If you bet wrong and your belief is groundless; you nevertheless have been better off because you have lived your life positively and hopefully believing in a loving God. If you bet right and he does exist, you have all eternity to reap the reward. Today when the last of the 33 Chilean miners was rescued, I thought of this bet, especially the first part. Trapped beneath 2,000 feet of rock for 69 days, there are many places you don’t want your mind to go for your own safety and health as well as your fellow miners. Thinking positively and hopefully is simply requisite to keeping sane and keeping your head on straight. Many of the miners cited their faith in God as a great assist during their ordeal. It can be argued that they were functionally better off because of their belief—even if their belief can be viewed patronizingly by nonbelievers as an opiate of the working class. The deeper wisdom in the face of vast uncertainties is to believe in a loving God. That gives one room to make calm and deliberate choices while fundamentally respecting your own worth and that of your fellows during unfathomable and stressful times. Alternate realities—all readily conceivable—create fundamentally different approaches to life. The better choice is to accept the God advantage and to shun stark spiritual isolation.
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