Gambling Sin or not?

Gambling is a sin

  • yes

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • no

    Votes: 4 50.0%
  • don't know/unsure

    Votes: 1 12.5%

  • Total voters
    8

atpollard

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If people were concerned about the portion that goes to "good causes" then they could give directly to good causes.

The trouble with your argument here is that it lacks consistency. Do you go to work? Why, when it means focusing on yourself and the world for your provision? Shouldn't you be trusting in God to provide for you rather than placing your trust in a worldly employer?

I hope you don't lock your front door when you go to bed at night. You should be trusting in God for your protection, rather than the world, right?
“He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must buy Lottery Tickets to hit the jackpot and be rich beyond common avarice.” - Ephesians 4:28

Ephesians 4:28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

Yeah, I guess you are right. Working and buying Lottery Tickets are practically the same thing ... Geez, what was I thinking? ;)
 

tango

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“He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must buy Lottery Tickets to hit the jackpot and be rich beyond common avarice.” - Ephesians 4:28

Ephesians 4:28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

Yeah, I guess you are right. Working and buying Lottery Tickets are practically the same thing ... Geez, what was I thinking? ;)

Of course, and just like it doesn't say in Scripture anywhere, "thou shalt not play the lottery". :)

My point is that people are quick to use concepts like "we should trust God" when it bolsters the point they are trying to make but conveniently not when it doesn't suit. Like the idea that plying the lottery is showing a trust in money rather than in God, looking to "the world" rather than God to provide, but going out to work somehow isn't looking for "the world" to provide.

Since you brought up the issue of "so he will have something to share with one who has need", if the purpose of working is to have something to share how much better is it to come into a huge fortune thanks to a lottery ticket? Just think how much you'd have to share with those who have needs if you won the Powerball.
 

NewCreation435

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Of course, and just like it doesn't say in Scripture anywhere, "thou shalt not play the lottery". :)

My point is that people are quick to use concepts like "we should trust God" when it bolsters the point they are trying to make but conveniently not when it doesn't suit. Like the idea that plying the lottery is showing a trust in money rather than in God, looking to "the world" rather than God to provide, but going out to work somehow isn't looking for "the world" to provide.

Since you brought up the issue of "so he will have something to share with one who has need", if the purpose of working is to have something to share how much better is it to come into a huge fortune thanks to a lottery ticket? Just think how much you'd have to share with those who have needs if you won the Powerball.

And just think of the long line of people who will be asking for a hand out.
Maybe that's why most people who win the lottery end up losing it all.
 

MennoSota

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I suspect that is the exception rather than the rule.

Let me offer something that most people would view as far more harmless than a casino as an example. Let’s talk about someone who buys a LOTTO ticket every week. Not ten tickets or even $100 worth of tickets like someone who might have a problem, just one ticket ... “because you have to be in it to win it!”

So tell me, why are they buying a Lottery Ticket?
A. They really care about the $0.50 of every $1 that goes to education.
B. They really want to hit the jackpot and win millions of dollars.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that 99.999% are motivated by “B”. So here are a couple question for you:

Does playing the lottery focus on GOD for your provision, or focus on the world for your provision?
Does playing the lottery feed the old man or the new man? The flesh or the Spirit?
Of course this can be applied to nearly every decision we make. It can apply to the investment strategies we make with the stock market. How often does a person choose their portfolio by what may generate the highest revenue regardless of the moral character of the company producing those dividends?
I do consider the lottery as a tax one chooses to give to government with the slight potential that there may be a significant refund. But, God is Sovereign. He chooses how to supply my needs and via whatever means he wills.
 

tango

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And just think of the long line of people who will be asking for a hand out.
Maybe that's why most people who win the lottery end up losing it all.

I think the reason people lose it all is because they don't know the difference between income and capital. They get an amount of money, immediately think "I am rich" and start living the way they think a rich person lives.

$5,000,000 is the kind of money most people think makes them extremely rich. And it does make you very rich, if you're smart with it. But by the time you've paid off $200,000 mortgages for a couple of dozen family and friends you're down to the last $200,000 and suddenly you don't even have enough for an Italian supercar.

The other thing people are very prone to forget is that initial purchase is just part of the cost of the "rich lifestyle". If you buy that $500,000 Ferrari you've got yourself an awesome car but don't be thinking you can maintain it for the same kind of money that used to keep your Ford Focus on the road. It drinks gas, servicing is more frequent and more expensive and insurance will probably cost quite a lot too. The huge mansion you always wanted comes with much higher property taxes, heating and cooling costs, maintenance and insurance costs and so on.

One way to look at things is to take a lump sum and consider it as an annual income for life. If you take that $5,000,000 from before and figure that statistically you've got maybe 50 years left to live, that means you've effectively got $100,000 you can draw down from it every year without running out. Chances are for most of us that's more than enough to replace our salary, which means we can quit our job and do what we want rather than what pays the bills. Did you always want to spend more time serving at church? Now you can. Wish you could have helped take the kids on that adventure weekend? Now you don't have to worry about getting up for work on Monday morning. Want to help that single mother you know who does her best but really struggles? Chances are with $100,000/year without even getting out of bed you can spare some cash to help her with her bills. That older person who is desperately lonely? You've got the time and money to take them somewhere for the day, even if it is just a visit to the park or the seaside and a stop at the cafe afterwards.

Got particular skills that would be hugely useful to the church or to non-profits you support? Great - you don't need to sell to the highest bidder now, you can focus your skills in places they will do wider good rather than earn enough to pay the bills. Maybe you can be a web designer for the local churches, or help with the administration of the shelter for domestic abuse victims, or landscape the gardens at the hospice for terminally ill children. No matter if they can't pay, you can do it for love rather than for money.

Of course you could just buy yourself a mansion and a Ferrari and stick a metaphorical two fingers up at the world. But there's so much good you could do if you won a stack of cash on the lottery. It's just another way we can set ourselves apart from "the world".
 

NewCreation435

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I think the reason people lose it all is because they don't know the difference between income and capital. They get an amount of money, immediately think "I am rich" and start living the way they think a rich person lives.

$5,000,000 is the kind of money most people think makes them extremely rich. And it does make you very rich, if you're smart with it. But by the time you've paid off $200,000 mortgages for a couple of dozen family and friends you're down to the last $200,000 and suddenly you don't even have enough for an Italian supercar.

The other thing people are very prone to forget is that initial purchase is just part of the cost of the "rich lifestyle". If you buy that $500,000 Ferrari you've got yourself an awesome car but don't be thinking you can maintain it for the same kind of money that used to keep your Ford Focus on the road. It drinks gas, servicing is more frequent and more expensive and insurance will probably cost quite a lot too. The huge mansion you always wanted comes with much higher property taxes, heating and cooling costs, maintenance and insurance costs and so on.

One way to look at things is to take a lump sum and consider it as an annual income for life. If you take that $5,000,000 from before and figure that statistically you've got maybe 50 years left to live, that means you've effectively got $100,000 you can draw down from it every year without running out. Chances are for most of us that's more than enough to replace our salary, which means we can quit our job and do what we want rather than what pays the bills. Did you always want to spend more time serving at church? Now you can. Wish you could have helped take the kids on that adventure weekend? Now you don't have to worry about getting up for work on Monday morning. Want to help that single mother you know who does her best but really struggles? Chances are with $100,000/year without even getting out of bed you can spare some cash to help her with her bills. That older person who is desperately lonely? You've got the time and money to take them somewhere for the day, even if it is just a visit to the park or the seaside and a stop at the cafe afterwards.

Got particular skills that would be hugely useful to the church or to non-profits you support? Great - you don't need to sell to the highest bidder now, you can focus your skills in places they will do wider good rather than earn enough to pay the bills. Maybe you can be a web designer for the local churches, or help with the administration of the shelter for domestic abuse victims, or landscape the gardens at the hospice for terminally ill children. No matter if they can't pay, you can do it for love rather than for money.

Of course you could just buy yourself a mansion and a Ferrari and stick a metaphorical two fingers up at the world. But there's so much good you could do if you won a stack of cash on the lottery. It's just another way we can set ourselves apart from "the world".

That kinda goes back to what I am saying about stewardship. If you did win a lot of money, then you become responsible for how you chose to use it. a lot of good can be done with it, but chances are if you don't do good stewardship with a little then your not going to with much more
 

tango

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That kinda goes back to what I am saying about stewardship. If you did win a lot of money, then you become responsible for how you chose to use it. a lot of good can be done with it, but chances are if you don't do good stewardship with a little then your not going to with much more

To a large extent I'd agree with you, but would just note there's a big difference between being very financially reserved out of necessity and being very financially reserved out of selfishness.

It may be that the person who talks about how they would just love to help but can't afford it would just find another excuse if they were to come into a huge fortune. It may equally be that they would see that this really was an opportunity to do what they always wanted to do, and get busy doing it.
 

MennoSota

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Someone sort of mentioned it earlier, but the sin is not in the gamble, but in the idol we make in acquiring money. Jesus told us we cannot serve both God and money. When we allow the acquisition of money to take precedence over our love for God, who gives and takes away, we are living in sin.
 

tango

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Someone sort of mentioned it earlier, but the sin is not in the gamble, but in the idol we make in acquiring money. Jesus told us we cannot serve both God and money. When we allow the acquisition of money to take precedence over our love for God, who gives and takes away, we are living in sin.

Bingo

(no pun intended :) )
 
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