{"id":12123,"date":"2022-01-04T22:46:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T03:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/?p=12123"},"modified":"2022-06-08T12:18:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T16:18:03","slug":"blaise-pascal-and-the-fiery-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/blaise-pascal-and-the-fiery-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Blaise Pascal and the Fiery Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>Blaise Pascal was born in 17th century France and is renowned as a genius mathematician, physicist, philosopher, inventor, writer, and Christian theologian. Among his many accomplishments was developing the foundation for the theory of probabilities still used today, formulating what is known as Pascal\u2019s principle of pressure, and inventing a mechanical calculator, a forerunner of today\u2019s computer engineering.<\/p>\r\n<p>Pascal was born in an era of significant change, the Age of Enlightenment. Descartes, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and others took center stage in this new movement that emphasized reason, individualism, and skepticism.<\/p>\r\n<p>His mother died while he was very young, and he was raised by his father, \u00c9tienne, who also had an interest in mathematics and science and became a chief tax officer, lawyer, and local judge. His father saw that young Pascal and his siblings excelled in science and mathematics and decided to educate them himself.<\/p>\r\n<h3>A Night of Fire<\/h3>\r\n<p>Pascal\u2019s father slipped and broke his hip on an icy street in the city of Rouen during the winter of 1646. He was treated by the finest doctors in France who were in Rouen at the time, Monsieur Deslandes and Monsieur de la Bouteillerie. Both doctors were followers of the teachings of Jansenism. Declared a heresy by the Catholic Church, Jansenism emphasized original sin, human depravity, predestination, and the necessity for divine grace, instead of good works as being essential to salvation.<\/p>\r\n<p>On November 23, 1654, Pascal experienced an intense vision of the crucifixion. That event confirmed his conversion to Christ, which he recorded on parchment:<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cFrom about half-past ten in the evening until about half-past twelve \u2026 FIRE \u2026 God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and not of the philosophers and savants. Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>He carried this sentiment with him the rest of his life, secretly sewing the piece of parchment into each coat he ever wore. After his death, a servant discovered this scrap that has since become known as the <em>Memorial<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n<h3>A New Life<\/h3>\r\n<p>After his conversion, he felt he began a new life and was actively involved in propagating the doctrine of experiencing God through the heart instead of through reason. Among his most outstanding works in defense of the Christian faith is <em>Les Provinciales<\/em>, a set of essays promoting the return to morality and belief in divine grace.<\/p>\r\n<p>His other notable work, <em>Penses<\/em>, is a collection of his Christian apologetic thoughts. He disputed that only reason and science are necessary to lead people to God. Instead, Pascal promoted that only by personally experiencing Christ can people know God, and that belief comes through the heart by God\u2019s grace. He wrote:<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cDo not be surprised at the sight of simple people who believe without argument. God makes them love him and hate themselves. He inclines their hearts to believe. We shall never believe with a vigorous and unquestioning faith unless God touches our hearts; and we shall believe as soon as he does so.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Pascal died in 1662 after painful convulsions due to grave health issues. His last words were, \u201cMay God never abandon me.\u201d He leaves behind a great legacy in mathematics, physics, science, philosophy, and religion, many of which are still used and referenced today.<\/p>\r\n<hr \/>\r\n<h3><em>Blaise Pascal and the Fiery Night<\/em> Related Articles<\/h3>\r\n<p>==&gt; Also read &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/finding-salvation-by-wd-pitton\/\">Finding Salvation by W.D. Pitton<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p>==&gt; And read &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/bethany-homan-missionary-to-peru\/\">Bethany Homan: Missionary to Peru<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBlaise Pascal and the Fiery Night\u201d tells the story of a 17th-century genius and how a fiery night made him into a great Christian theologian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[654,649,652,651,650,108,653],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blaise Pascal and the Fiery Night - West Park Baptist Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cBlaise Pascal and the Fiery Night\u201d tells the story of a 17th-century genius and how a fiery night made him into a great Christian theologian.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.westpark-baptist-dev.com\/blaise-pascal-and-the-fiery-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blaise Pascal and the Fiery Night - 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