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Gambling and the Christian Originally
written by Rev. John E. Ashbrook
Recently I bought some groceries at the neighborhood store. I gave the girl a bill somewhat larger than my purchase. With a smile on her face she asked me, "Would you like your change in lottery tickets, Sir?" The question jolted me into the realization that gambling has moved from the cigar-smoking bookie in the back room to the smiling neighbor girl in the supermarket. Gambling has put on a happy face and gone legitimate. The page 1 of the newspapers shows us the picture of the newest lottery millionaire and page 4 gives the winning numbers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. Our state itself advertises on the radio to convince us that we would be helping ourselves and doing noble things for education if we played the lottery.
Gambling Is Against the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments are eternal, moral commands. They are not merely Jewish law, but an expression of the holy character of God. The eighth Commandment says, "Thou shalt not steal" (Exodus 20:15 ). That Commandment is God’s law about private property. It recognizes our right to possess it and the other man’s obligation to keep his hands off it. There are only two methods by which we can acquire the property of others honestly: (1) We can acquire it by a free gift. A man may choose to give you some of his property. That is legitimate. (2) We can acquire it by trading an equivalent. If you desire a man’s property, and he is willing to sell it, you can obtain it by giving him his price, by trading something of equivalent value, or by giving an equivalent amount of your labor. Those are the two legitimate ways to obtain the property of another. What makes
a man a cheater? It is when he connives to obtain the property of another without
giving an equivalent value for it. What makes a man a swindler? It is when he
schemes to borrow the property of another without giving any equivalent value
for it. What makes a man a thief? It is when he takes property without leaving
an equivalent for it. The Tenth Commandment says: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17) To covet is to desire the property of others. A man sits down with the cards; a man rolls the dice; a man pulls the handle on a slot machine; a man buys a lottery ticket. Why? He covets the property of others. You may want to answer that by saying that a man knows he, himself, may lose, so he does not go into a game to win the property of others. But, no gambler ever intends to lose. He expects to so manage his skill and his luck that he will get the property of others without losing his own. Hebrews 13:5 says, "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have;" Simple obedience will keep you from gambling. Yes, gambling is contrary to the Ten Commandments. Gambling Is Contrary to Christian Doctrine The Bible is not against a man having riches. However, it does have a lot to say about how he gets them. Jeremiah 17:11 says: "As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool." Jeremiah was evidently a farm boy, for a farm boy frequently comes across a pheasant or quail nest where eggs have failed to hatch. The surroundings testify to the long vigil of the bird, but no chicks were produced. Jeremiah used that illustration to make the point that the man who gets riches "not by right", (without giving equivalent value) is like that foolish bird. He will leave his eggs in the nest behind him without ever getting the good of them. Likewise,
Proverbs 13:11 says that "Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one
who gathers by labor increases it." Gambling is an unsubstantial way of
earning a living. Wealth gained in such a way is diminished because God cannot
bless it. The legitimate way to increase wealth is by labor. You corrupt the
character of a person when you teach him that gambling is a legitimate way to
increase his wealth. GAMBLING AND YOUR CHARACTER Since gambling is a vain way of getting riches, it corrupts the character of both the winner and the loser. The winner can take no real pride in taking another man’s money. He has to feel somewhat guilty. (This is one of the lures of the lottery. A man is far enough removed from the nameless losers that he does not feel his guilt.) The winner develops an attitude that he can win whenever he needs to. Time will prove him wrong. The loser suffers immediate loss. To cushion that loss he develops an attitude of undervaluing money. He says, "Easy come, easy go!" Unfortunately, his wife will find the flaw in his attitude when she seeks to buy food for the children. Gambling is contrary to the Biblical teaching of wealth. Gambling Is Contrary to the Biblical Teaching of Stewardship One of our familiar hymns on giving says: "We give Thee but Thine own, What e’er the gift may be; All that we have is Thine alone. A trust, O Lord, from Thee." The hymn is true. It is expressing the Biblical idea of stewardship the Lord gives us. Before God, we are not owners, but stewards. God will require an account of our stewardship.
Suppose for a moment that your church has $10,000 in a building fund and needs $100,000. Your pastor stands up in prayer meeting and says, "In the light of our building fund need we have invested $4,000 in Ohio lottery tickets. We have asked Elder Thompson to take $3,000 to the racetrack next Friday and make some propitious investments on the daily double. Our Treasurer, Mr. Barnes, was good at poker before he was saved. We have entrusted him with the remaining $3,000 to invest in a poker game with some wealthy players. Now, we ask you all to pray for the good success of our plans so that we can soon have our new building." Could you pray for such ventures? No. You would be shocked. You would say, "We elected you men to be good stewards of the Lord’s money. You can’t be good stewards and gamble with it. How about your stewardship? Do you see the obvious application? Every Christian is a steward of the money the Lord has given him. Can you be a good steward of the Lord’s money and gamble with it? You are a steward of what the Lord has given you just as real as the Elders and the church Treasurer are stewards of the church funds. They are the stewards of what you have officially given to the Lord. You are the steward of the rest. "Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished." Gambling won’t help your piety, your testimony, your love for the Lord, or your prayer life. The odds are that it won’t even help your bankroll. Gambling is contrary to the Biblical teaching of stewardship. I would
like to make three practical applications. The Encyclopedia Americana, 1948 edition, under "Gambling" says: "At other times, governments, tempted by the facilities of sharing in the dishonest gain, have openly and shamelessly encouraged gambling by licensing gaming houses, or instituting lotteries under their own authority." In the same encyclopedia, in the article on "Lottery", one reads: "But although they provide a real mode of replenishing the public treasury, they have always been found to exert mischievous influence upon the people. The poor are invited by them rather than the rich. They are diverted from persistent labor and patient thrift by the hope of sudden and splendid gains. .."In 1833 a society was formed in Pennsylvania which advocated their suppression. In July 1934 the society issued an address to the public setting forth its objects and views. It was the educative work of this society that first called public attention to the evils inherent in lottery systems, and it has been followed by legislative action. Lotteries are now prohibited in all the States and Territories of the United States; in Massachusetts raffling is forbidden by express statute." I have emphasized the part of the sentence which jumped off the page at me. That was written in 1948. What progress government has made since that time in exerting "a mischievous influence upon the people"! The government that conducts a lottery, corrupts its people. SECOND:
Think about the church and gambling. You are familiar with the sight of the
beautiful automobile on the front lawn of the church with the raffle sign on
top. You have seen the tremendous crowds parked at the Bingo den (church) on
Friday night. The fact that churches have stooped to the Devil’s method will never make that method right. THIRD:
Think about your children and gambling. Satan loves to reach our children. As
a boy I used to walk to Jimmie’s Drug Store, just two blocks from my home, to
invest my money in candy. I used to buy penny candy – caramel with a white center.
But, some of them had pink centers. When you got one of those, you won a 5-cent
candy bar free. I bought a lot of penny candy gambling for a 5-cent
bar. The next step was to start buying chances on the punch board. About that
time my father caught on to where my money went and squelched my gambling career.
At that time I thought he was making a big issue of a little thing. Now I can
say, "Praise God, he did." Parents, make no mistake about it. The Devil wants
to get your kids involved in gambling. You will have to watch everything from
playing marbles for keeps to looking for pink centers. Will Your Children Play Cards?
Should children be allowed to play any games with cards? Some Christian parents have said a resounding, "No," here. I have no objection with that. In our own home, we were allowed to play such games as Old Maid, Flinch and Pit. We followed that same procedure with our own children. We explained to the children the difference in the cards. Had I ever heard of anyone winning $50 in a game of Old Maid, I would have gotten rid of it, too. The lure of obtaining something for nothing is bound deep in the sinful nature of our children. You can’t ignore it. You must teach the truth about it. Yes, gambling has put on the happy face. The smiling winners beam from the front pages of our papers. Luck is touted as a fair lady who frequents the race track, the game table and Las Vegas. Billboards beckon people to "Play the Lottery." The smiling neighbor girl in the grocery offers your change in chances. The Christian
needs only to know one thing. Gambling is wrong, despite the happy smiles. It
is contrary to the Ten Commandments. It is contrary to the Biblical teaching
of wealth. It is contrary to the Biblical teaching of stewardship. You cannot
bless the Lord and gamble. The Greatest Gamble of All Before I end these lines I want to say a word about the greatest gamble of all. There are many who will read and agree with these lines about gambling who are still participating in the greatest gamble of all. They are gambling that all will be right with their soul in the end. They trust to blind chance that God will overlook their sin and that somehow, with a supreme stroke of luck, they will be allowed to enter heaven. Friend, don’t gamble with the matter of eternal salvation. God has said in His Word: "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:11 & 12) That is
God’s agreement with a lost world. God has provided us with a Savior who must
be accepted. The man who bets against the odds occasionally wins. But, the man
who bets against God’s Word is an eternal loser. We, at Good News Bible Church, encourage you to print any of these Bible studies on our website for your own personal Bible study, or to use in a group Bible study. But just as salvation is a FREE gift, offered to us through the work of Jesus Christ, these Bible studies are a FREE gift and are not to be sold for any reason. If you have questions or comments, or you would like any other information concerning this or any other Bible studies we have available, please contact us using the information below. www.gnbcbible.com |