Win Or Lose

This morning over coffee at the local donut shoppe I got into a discussion with an atheist. After listening to his rhetoric about religion being a heathen rite, and that no sane, intelligent person would believe in God, I just had to speak up.

I first told him that, as a rule, believing in a greater power was a sign of intellect, and I proceeded to explain why. But the real blow to him came when I made one final statement:

"If there is no God, neither of us loses anything because of our beliefs. But if there is a God, I win, and you lose. There is no possible way an atheist can win - the best he can hope for is to not lose. And there is no possible way a believer can lose - the worst that could happen is that he does not win. Given a choice between a 50% chance of winning or a 100% chance of not winning, most intelligent, sane people would opt for the chance of winning."

Poor fellow choked on his donut and left without saying another word.

It is such a great feeling to know you simply cannot lose. And I feel pity for that fellow who simply cannot win, because he lives in a world that has no hope.

I turned to the man next to me, and showed him my thumb - how complex it was, and what it helps us to accomplish. I said, "Billions of independent cells act together to make me what I am, and work together flawlessly. Toss in instincts, emotions, intelligence and everything that makes us who we are and I cannot fathom that such a thing could happen by accident."

It rained in the afternoon, and one of the brightest rainbows I have ever seen hung in the sky. And I felt comfortable in my beliefs.