Hi Steve and everyone else who reads this,
My small group members have brought this question up repeatedly about whether the Bible has anything to say against gambling (casino/lottery).
I can't seem to find any verses that deal directly with this issue of gambling (Casting lots for Jesus' clothes doesn't count). Indirectly, I have used passages about "the love of money" and "God versus Mammon".
Out of curiosity, does anyone know of any Bible verses/passages?
Gambling
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_Benjamin Ho
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2004 8:16 am
- Location: Singapore
Hi Ben,
I have never found any passages of scripture dealing with gambling directly. I think there are related biblical principles, however, that could easily guide the believer in this matter:
1) As you mentioned, "the love of money" (which is the root of all evil) is the principal motive for gambling. One might suggest that the same could be said for working at a job. However, one may work at a job more out of a "need for money" than a "love of money." Some have jobs that will make them rich, and others have jobs that will never make them rich. It cannot be said that the motivation for working is primarily to get rich. Where and when this is the motivation for working, it is a motive that is dangerous and wrong. So far as I can tell, large-scale gambling is always motivated by a desire to get rich.
2) There is the principal of justice. Many Christians claim that they want to get rich only so that they can help the poor or support the Gospel. This may be their true motive, and it may not be evil. However, not all means of getting rich are equally just. In honest employment, you perform a service or a product that is a fair exchange for the pay your receive. No one loses. You get the money you need, and your client gets the goods of services of an equivalent value. Gambling, on the other hand, makes a few winners rich at the expense of many losers. The winner does not deserve the winnings any more than do the losers. There is no justice observed in that economy.
3) There is the matter of stewardship. While a steward may justly use his money in ways to bring an increase for his master, he must use wisdom so as to pursue the most profitable investments and to avoid foolish losses. Gambling involves many losses and few gains. It is not a wise practice for increasing the Lord's revenues. The person who called the State lotteries "A tax on stupidity" hit the nail on the head.
4) Paul said, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of anything" (1 Cor. 6:12). There can be little doubt that a person who enjoys gambling takes as great a risk as does one who uses drugs, alcohol or pornography, of becoming "addicted" or in bondage to the practice. It is hard, when you have lost $20 in the slot machine, to resist the tremptation of putting in one more coin, with the hopes of recovering your losses. Once you actually win something, it becomes even harder to resist the temptation to continue.
There are some who are strong enough to spend only $5 a week on the lottery, which they may feel is a harmless loss, since they spend more than that on coffee. Or they may be able to limit their losses at a casino to some predetermined amount, beyond which they will not go. However, many find that, once they have started, they come under the power of the thing and cannot make themselves quit when they reasonably would have thought they should. Why start in the first place?
There is also the fact that ever dollar spent (or lost) at a casino is supporting a whole culture that is contrary to Christianity. Normally, in addition to making weak people poorer, the casino establishment is also in the business of promoting prostitution, drunkenness, covetousness and general ungodliness. Some Christians have principles as to what businesses they will support and which they will not. Some will not by products made in China because that country persecutes Christianity and uses prisoner labor to manufacture the products. Others will avoid a certain telephone long-distance company because they support abortion. Certainly a case can be made for not supporting a business whose only aim is to promote greed, lust and drunkenness.
These are my thoughts about this subject. If a person buys a lottery ticket every day (I have never bought one), I suppose that he is committing no sin any more than if he buys a candy bar every day. No one has any right to judge another's spending habits, but the one doing the spending should consult his conscience to see whether any given use of his money is consistent with the principles of Christ to which he wishes to conform. Christ will reckon with his stewards when He returns. Those who waste God's money or spend it wrongly do not need my criticism. They have worse problems to be concerned about.
I have never found any passages of scripture dealing with gambling directly. I think there are related biblical principles, however, that could easily guide the believer in this matter:
1) As you mentioned, "the love of money" (which is the root of all evil) is the principal motive for gambling. One might suggest that the same could be said for working at a job. However, one may work at a job more out of a "need for money" than a "love of money." Some have jobs that will make them rich, and others have jobs that will never make them rich. It cannot be said that the motivation for working is primarily to get rich. Where and when this is the motivation for working, it is a motive that is dangerous and wrong. So far as I can tell, large-scale gambling is always motivated by a desire to get rich.
2) There is the principal of justice. Many Christians claim that they want to get rich only so that they can help the poor or support the Gospel. This may be their true motive, and it may not be evil. However, not all means of getting rich are equally just. In honest employment, you perform a service or a product that is a fair exchange for the pay your receive. No one loses. You get the money you need, and your client gets the goods of services of an equivalent value. Gambling, on the other hand, makes a few winners rich at the expense of many losers. The winner does not deserve the winnings any more than do the losers. There is no justice observed in that economy.
3) There is the matter of stewardship. While a steward may justly use his money in ways to bring an increase for his master, he must use wisdom so as to pursue the most profitable investments and to avoid foolish losses. Gambling involves many losses and few gains. It is not a wise practice for increasing the Lord's revenues. The person who called the State lotteries "A tax on stupidity" hit the nail on the head.
4) Paul said, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of anything" (1 Cor. 6:12). There can be little doubt that a person who enjoys gambling takes as great a risk as does one who uses drugs, alcohol or pornography, of becoming "addicted" or in bondage to the practice. It is hard, when you have lost $20 in the slot machine, to resist the tremptation of putting in one more coin, with the hopes of recovering your losses. Once you actually win something, it becomes even harder to resist the temptation to continue.
There are some who are strong enough to spend only $5 a week on the lottery, which they may feel is a harmless loss, since they spend more than that on coffee. Or they may be able to limit their losses at a casino to some predetermined amount, beyond which they will not go. However, many find that, once they have started, they come under the power of the thing and cannot make themselves quit when they reasonably would have thought they should. Why start in the first place?
There is also the fact that ever dollar spent (or lost) at a casino is supporting a whole culture that is contrary to Christianity. Normally, in addition to making weak people poorer, the casino establishment is also in the business of promoting prostitution, drunkenness, covetousness and general ungodliness. Some Christians have principles as to what businesses they will support and which they will not. Some will not by products made in China because that country persecutes Christianity and uses prisoner labor to manufacture the products. Others will avoid a certain telephone long-distance company because they support abortion. Certainly a case can be made for not supporting a business whose only aim is to promote greed, lust and drunkenness.
These are my thoughts about this subject. If a person buys a lottery ticket every day (I have never bought one), I suppose that he is committing no sin any more than if he buys a candy bar every day. No one has any right to judge another's spending habits, but the one doing the spending should consult his conscience to see whether any given use of his money is consistent with the principles of Christ to which he wishes to conform. Christ will reckon with his stewards when He returns. Those who waste God's money or spend it wrongly do not need my criticism. They have worse problems to be concerned about.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
In Jesus,
Steve
Steve