Thursday, May 04, 2006
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12 comments:
I was once in a church tried to get quite a poker group going. Real money in small amounts.
I participated once so no one would feel condemned. I don't think I sinned, but nothing profitable for the church came out of that "bonding" experience. I don't believe any relationships were helpfully strengthened. Nothing terrible happened as a result of gambling, but I don't care if I never do it again.
What my mom does, going to Reno and spending all day nursing $40 and often making more than she loses, does not sound like a sin to me either. Would that there were something in her life she felt was more fun and that was actually profitable, but it is probably more profitable than watching 13 more hours of TV.
I guess I would probably say that light gambling is better than heavy TV.
As for me, I'd rather have a poke with a sharp stick. I don't think it's fun to hang money out there. God did not give it to me to throw away.
"Is gambling a sin?" The Bible doesn't explicitly say. Does it appeal to our carnal nature? Without doubt. Does someone have to loose for me to win? Yes. Then I doubt that Jesus would gamble and I probably shouldn't either.
Here's another question- is the stock market basically a form of gambling?
I don't play poker for money. But I tell you, I trust in my skill at 7 Card Stud more than I trust my skill in picking stocks.
My husband went on a mission trip to Russia with our former church. Buck (my man)announced on a logging road to nowhere, "I'll give a dollar to the one closest to the amount of time it takes to get to our destination. He wrote down everyone's guesses but our pastor proclaimed in all seriousness, "I am a Christian. I don't gamble, smoke, or drink." Guess that means Buck is on the road to hell for handing out that dollar...
well ... :)
Is gambling destructive to relatiionships? communities? families?
If yes, then yes.
Of course, a larger discussion is on the definition of sin.
Absolutely Maybe
I would tend agree with Rev. Roberts that something is "sinful" when it becomes destructive to relationships. So, in the case of gambling, putting money in for a raffle or playing poker with some friends isn't all that bad. It's when it becomes an addiction and you end up spending your car payment/rent/grocery money gambling or you are constantly away from your family because of it. That's when it would be considered a "sin."
I agree with the part about if it is destructive to relationships. I have always put it this way. Most things taken in moderation are not sinful. It's when we go overboard. I believe drinking a beer is not sinful. I believe eating is not sinful. But overdrinking and overeating are both sins. They're called drunkeness and gluttony. Wouldn't the same apply to gambling?
Greg,
But what makes over-anything sinful? Just that it is "bad"? That sounds quite legalistic.
When I look at all the lists of "sins" in teh Bible I see one common thread. All those wrong-doings cause harm to relationships. They breakdown the integrity of the community. This is the larger discussion on sin we should be having.
My parents like to go to the casinos a couple times a year. They set aside a certain amount of money for it, and they won't go beyond that. I don't think that's a sin; unprofitable, maybe, but then a lot of things are unprofitable.
Several of my coworkers like to buy lottery tickets. The higher the prize, the more tickets they buy. This may or may not be a sin; maybe it depends on the person. Some of them take it to an extreme, and spend a lot of time talking about what they will do "when" they win. That's not a healthy attitude to cultivate. I don't know if it is necessarily destructive of relationships, but if nothing else, it sounds like trusting in mammon and not in God.
I don't see a lot of difference between day trading and gambling.
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