THE THREE CUPS

On the street one gets a betting game which consists of three cups turned upside down on a small table with a coin under one of the cups. A person takes a bet to see if he can find the coin after the dealer has swiftly and deftly scrambled the cups and the coin hidden underneath one of them. If you guess correctly after he has shuffled the cups for a while, and the coin is indeed under the cup that you have chosen; you win the bet and maybe a few quid. However the dealer knows what he is doing and with his speed and sleight of hand you usually pick the wrong one. The house always wins. The concept of ‘Believer’, ‘Non-Believer’ and ‘Agnostic’ seems to me to be much of the same sort of game. Some people stand firm in their faith and convictions whether they are Religious, Atheist or Agnostic. You will always choose your own option no matter how badly they scramble the cups. But which one actually holds the coin, and the currency of truth and fact; that only the dealer would know. Yet we play along and place our bets in the small hope that we could win the game. My money is on the cup of the ‘Believer’ and I also play in the hope that final outcome of the game will favour my convictions, yet the game goes on and we all play. Play wisely and choose well; the bet is double or nothing whichever way you look at it.