“Let them at least learn what this religion is which they are attacking before attacking it. If this religion boasted that it had a clear sight of God and plain and manifest evidence of his existence, it would be an effective objection to say that there is nothing to be seen in the world which proves him so obviously. But since on the contrary it says that men are in darkness and remote from God, that he has hidden himself from their understanding, that this is the very name which he gives himself in Scripture: Deus absconditus (the hidden God); and, in a word, if it strives equally to establish these two facts: that God has appointed visible signs in the Church so that he shall be recognized by those who genuinely seek him, and that he has none the less hidden them in such a way that he will only be perceived by those who seek him with all their heart, then what advantage can they derive, when, unconcerned to seek the truth as they profess to be, they protest that nothing shows it to them? For the obscurity in which they find themselves, and which they use as an objection against the Church, simply establishes one of the things the Church maintains without affecting the other, and far from proving her teaching false, confirms it.
“In order to really attack the truth [claimed by this religion] they would have to protest that they had made every effort to seek it everywhere, even in what the Church offers by way of instruction, but without any satisfaction. If they talked like that, they would indeed be attacking one of Christianity’s claims. But I hope to show here that no reasonable person could talk like that. I even venture to say that no one has ever done so. We know well enough how people in this frame of mind behave. They think they have made great efforts to learn when they have spent a few hours reading some book of the Bible, and have questioned some ecclesiastic about the truths of the faith. After that they boast that they have sought without success in books and among men. But, in fact, I should say to them what I have often said: such negligence is intolerable. It is not a question here of the trifling interest of some stranger prompting such behavior; it is a question of ourselves and our all.”
Blaise Pascal, Pensées 427 (Krailsheimer trans.)
Commentary by Peter Kreeft in his great book, Christianity for Modern Pagans…
“God’s claim is that ‘you will find me when you seek me with all your heart’ (Jer. 29:13). This claim is not refuted or fairly tested if we do not fulfill our part of the experiment by seeking. Therefore Christianity can never be refuted by one who is indifferent, no matter how intelligent he is; for the claim to be refuted is that only the key of seeking opens the lock of the knowledge of God…
“To care is even more important than to know, for it is the only way to know the most important thing: yourself, your soul, your identity, your purpose, your destiny and your immortality. If we are indifferent instead of seeking, we simply will not find, that is, we will not be saved. Hell is not populated mainly by passionate rebels but by nice, bland, indifferent, respectable people who simply never gave a damn.
“How could anyone act as if it made no difference whether the obscure path through the dark forest of life leads Home or into quicksand; whether the waterslide has a pool at the bottom or rocks? It is insanity to sing, ‘I don’t care’ while walking along such a path.
“The absolute distinction, which will become the distinction between the Heavenly and the Hellish, is not between believers and unbelievers but between seekers and nonseekers; for all unbelievers who seek will eventually become believers who find, according to the very highest authority (Mt 7:7-8). The distinction between believers and seeking unbelievers is only temporary; but the distinction between seeking unbelievers and unseeking unbelievers is eternal.
“The absolute distinction is between unhappy atheists and happy atheists. Unbelievers who are content and happy now will be unhappy eternally, but those who are unhappy and seeking now will be happy eternally (Lk 6:21-26)”