I once got into an argument with a fellow about God - you know the sort of thing - ‘Does God exist or doesn’t he? Can Jesus Christ save us or can’t he?’
Well this fellow said ‘he does and he can’ and of course I said ‘he doesn’t and he can’t.’
After I’d started to shout at him a bit, another man came over to where we were sitting.
‘Excuse me’ he said, very politely,
‘Can you help me?’
Well, he looked a bit worried I must say.
‘I’m a gambler and I’ve got a problem’ he said.
So we both nodded and he sat down on the seat we offered him.
‘You see there’s a new game at the casino’ he went on - quite upset he was - ‘There’s this green square and then there’s another square - a red one.’
We both nodded again.
‘Well you put all your money on whichever one you want to of course, and,’ - he seemed a bit confused - ‘and if you put it on the green square you stand to win all the money in the bank - everything the casino’s got in fact - but if you don’t, you don’t lose anything.’
‘What, nothing?’ we said.
‘That’s right, nothing’ he said.
‘Now, about the red square’ the man went on, ‘if you put your money on the red square and you win, they don’t give you anything, but if you lose, they take every penny you’ve got!’
‘Well?’ we both said together, ‘What’s your problem?’
‘My problem is,’ the man said, ‘I don’t know which square to put my money on!’
Well, I ask you! Of course we both yelled at him,
‘The green one, you idiot! - It’s a win-all/lose-nothing situation but the red square’s a win-nothing/lose-all situation!’ The man smiled a little. I really think he was a bit stupid.
‘Oh thank you very much,’ he said, ‘You’re quite sure about it?’
‘Of course we’re sure!’ we both said.
The man thanked us again. Then he paid for our drinks and got up to go. Just before he went he turned and said,
‘Oh, by the way, I couldn’t help over-hearing what you were talking about just now.’
Well he was right about that - he’d had to have been deaf not to have heard us.
‘Either God exists or he doesn’t exist,’ he continued, ‘either Jesus Christ can save us or he can’t: that’s right isn’t it?’
We both said it was. After all he obviously wasn’t too bright and we didn’t want to upset him, especially as he’d just paid for our drinks.
Anyway he went on,
‘Well, suppose you bet - with your life as the stake of course - that God does exist and that Jesus Christ can save you and give you everlasting life, and you’re right: you stand to win everything. If you’re wrong and he doesn’t exist you lose nothing.’
We both looked at him then, but he didn’t seem to notice.
‘On the other hand,’ he continued, ‘if you bet - with your life as the stake of course - that he doesn’t exist and that Jesus Christ can’t save you, and you’re right: then you win nothing. But if you’re wrong, and he does exist: you lose everything and go to hell.’
And then he went out.
Makes you think doesn’t it? I must say it made me think. They say the man who thought that up was a great mathematician - one of the greatest who ever lived in fact - Pascal, I think he was called.
But don’t worry, I haven’t changed my mind! Nobody’s going to convince me I’m stupid - not even a mathematician!
I’m just not a gambling man you see!
Copyright © David Lawrie 1998.
This article “A Gambling Man” may be freely copied & distributed provided that this Copyright notice and permission is included, and that there is no alteration either to this notice or to the text of the article itself.
