THE ARTICLE ENTITLED: What the Gambling Industry Won't Tell You, You're
Not Just Losing, You're Being Taken recently ran in The Readers Digest.
I was amazed at one of the first statements made in this article. The
writer stated of game of Keno that the odds of hitting it rich or
hitting the "ten spot" are nine million to one. Dying from a dog bite
is 60 times more likely. "Despite those odds," he added, "a $2 bet
usually pays off at only $50,000 to $200,000." If I understand these
odds, this means that for every eighteen million dollars spent some
$50,000 to $200,000 dollars are paid out, leaving the casino with
seventeen million, eight hundred thousand dollars. Any way you look at
this, only the casino stands to win. As George Washington once stated
of this vice, "It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and
the father of mischief."
While the word "gamble" is not found within God's Word, there are many
Bible principles which teach us that gambling is wrong. There are those
who rise up from time to time and argue for their right to gamble by
saying, "Well, you can't show me in the Bible where it says, ‘thou shalt
not gamble.'" We could very well argue, "Well, you can't show me in the
Bible where it says thou shalt not be a slave owner." The point is, the
principles of New Testament Christianity will always abolish slavery.
In fact, in practically every country where the doctrine of Christ has
been preached, slavery has eventually been abolished. Paul stated, "Let
each esteem other better than themselves" (Philippians 2:3). Certainly
this principle, when followed, will cause anyone who holds slaves to
free them. The very next verse states, "Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others" (2:4). Paul very
clearly let it be known that we are not to be a selfish people, we are
to look out for those around us. In fact he goes on to add "Let this
mind be in you which was also in Jesus Christ." To my knowledge, no one
has ever accused Jesus of being a slave owner or of physically forcing
people to do his will. Instead, we see a savior who was so unselfish
and so loving that he died upon the cross for you and me while we were
still in our sins. The point is, the principles of these verses will
not only abolish slavery, they will also abolish gambling when they are
implemented into our lives. They will turn each of us into willing
servants of those around us, who look not after our own interests but
the interests of others.
As we can see from the statistics of the above quoted article, gambling
also is a violation of good stewardship. Jesus expects us to be good
stewards of the blessings he has bestowed upon us. I wonder how many
people you have known who were killed by a dog bite. I know of those
who have been bitten by dogs, but very seldom do we hear of anyone dying
from such. Yet, this is 60 times more likely to occur than hitting it
rich while playing the game of Keno. I'm sure the same is true across
the board when it comes to gambling as study after study has shown. If
participating in such is good stewardship, then pray, tell me what would
constitute poor stewardship? If throwing two or three dollars into the
state lottery occasionally is a proper use of the money the Lord has
blessed us with, then throwing ten or more into the local dump should
prove to be even more rewarding! Our duty in life is to be like Christ.
Can we even begin to imagine him gambling, and encouraging his followers
to do the same? Gambling is certainly not good stewardship, and thus it
is a violation of God's Holy Will. That, my friends, is "the simple
truth about gambling."
