Deathbed Conversion or Calculated Wager? The Theological Bankruptcy of Modernist “Outreach”
Catholic News Agency portal (January 6, 2026) reports the purported conversion of cartoonist Scott Adams to Christianity following a terminal cancer diagnosis. The article presents this as a positive development while quoting “Fr.” Thomas Petri and Jimmy Akin from post-conciliar structures who endorse Pascal’s Wager as sufficient grounds for salvation. This narrative exemplifies the doctrinal collapse of conciliar sect’s understanding of conversion, faith, and salvation.
The Naturalistic Reduction of Conversion
The article describes Adams’ decision as rooted in pragmatic calculation rather than supernatural faith:
“If it turns out that there’s nothing there, I’ve lost nothing… If it turns out there is something there and the Christian model is the closest to it, I win.”
This reduces conversion to a cost-benefit analysis completely foreign to Catholic soteriology. As Pope Pius IX condemned in Qui pluribus (1846): “Faith is not a blind religious feeling… but a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing”. The Syllabus of Errors (1864) explicitly rejects the notion that “man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation” (Proposition 16).
Post-Conciliar “Clergy” Abandon the Requisites of Salvation
Mr. Petri’s statement that
“I’m fine with that wager… Few people come to God with a perfectly formed faith”
constitutes pastoral malpractice. The Council of Trent (Session 6, Chapter 6) mandates: “For faith, unless hope and charity be added to it, neither unites man perfectly with Christ nor makes him a living member of His body”. Nowhere does the article mention Adams’ need for sacramental confession of his public blasphemies (including his 2023 racist remarks) or reception of valid sacraments.
Omission of Essential Catholic Eschatology
The entire narrative conspicuously avoids mentioning:
- The necessity of baptism (“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” – John 3:5)
- The obligation to reject previous errors and publicly repair scandal
- The distinction between imperfect contrition (attrition) and perfect contrition requiring supernatural charity
Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) emphasizes that salvation requires “the bonds of professed faith, of the sacraments, of ecclesiastical government, and of communion” – all conspicuously absent from this “conversion” account.
The Heresy of Universal Salvific Will
Mr. Akin’s claim that
“God has many ways of drawing people to himself”
echoes the condemned proposition of Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium (16). Compare this to Pope Boniface VIII’s infallible declaration in Unam Sanctam (1302): “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff”. The article’s silence on Adams’ need to renounce his New Age writings (God’s Debris) and embrace Catholic dogma reveals its theological bankruptcy.
Pascal’s Wager as Theological Reductionism
The presentation of Blaise Pascal’s argument as sufficient for conversion constitutes gross doctrinal negligence. While Pascal himself remained Catholic, his wager was never proposed as substitute for fides formata (formed faith). The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that salvific faith requires intellectual assent to revealed truths AND trust in God’s promises AND obedience to His commandments. The article reduces Christianity to spiritual insurance policy – precisely the “natural religion” condemned in Pius IX’s Qui pluribus.
Symptom of Conciliar Apostasy
This reporting exemplifies how post-conciliar structures have abandoned the Church’s missionary imperative. Contrast these tepid statements with St. Pius X’s Acerbo Nimis (1905): “The Church’s first need is unity in faith and government… The chief means of bringing this about is religious instruction.” Where is the call for Adams to reject his former errors? Where is the warning about particular judgment? The silence screams apostasy.
This deathbed “conversion” narrative – stripped of dogma, sacraments, and ecclesial unity – reveals the conciliar sect’s complete capitulation to naturalism. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas (1925), Christ must reign “not only in private families, but also in the courts and assemblies of kings, in the customs of peoples, and in all public and private laws”. By reducing conversion to psychological comfort, modernist enablers perpetuate the very apostasy that damns souls.
Source:
Facing impending death, renowned cartoonist announces intent to convert (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 06.01.2026