Gambling

Are you thinking about driving over to Lousiana for some blackjack? I hear that Lake Charles is the place to go, but if you live in the metroplex I think most of those people go to Bossier City.

Be sure to look at the house rules for the blackjack dealer. It's best if the house stands on all 17's. If the house shows a 7 or lower and you have a 12 or lower, then you should hit. Remember never to double a 20 and always double an 11.

 

In moderation, yes.

 

Yes.

 

Anything you place above God in your life, is idolatry--be it alcohol (in moderation, of course), gambling, money, etc.

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (Exodus 20:1-5)

 

I really have a bad feeling about gambling, although I sit on the fence of *is it right or wrong*. It bothers me because I don't see it as doing anything good with what God has given me, it bothers me because it has destroyed so many lives...and most of all it bothers me because my daddy used to have a fit about anything to do with gambling...except I *was* allowed to play the pick up the ducks (plastic, floating in the water) game at the fair..hehehe...for some reason that was OK with my daddy.

 

We have a lot of indian casinos in our area. People have been known to leave their babies in their cars for hours while they gamble. Some lost their kids when they were caught by casino security.

The second issue I have with gambling is that it is a negative influence on other people.

Don't think for a minute that non-Christians don't watch you carefully to see if there really is something to that Christian life of yours. By going out to bars, or gambling, they assume that you are just another hypocrite and believe it or not they will judge your more harshly than just an ordinary non-saved Joe on the street.

 

Can we gamble? We are free to do as we wish. Should we gamble? Absolutely, positively not and this is why: Gambling promotes greed. Greed is defined as "An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth." Sound very Christ-like to you? Me neither. I know I'm gonna get pounded for this but this was once a weakness of mine and I know where it can lead.

 

I used to frequent the boats in LA. You are exposed to so much more than gambling. There's the clothing or lack there of by casino waitresses. There's the pornographic images on the gambling machines. There's the drunkeness and it's free! You are where you are and who your with and what your doing. My opinion.

 

non-Baptists' posts will be deleted from Baptists only forums. Please follow BB rules.
DHK

[ December 29, 2005, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: DHK ]

 

pssss,, hey you, this area of the board is for baptists only,

 

Yes. However, like anything else, abuse of it is a sin. It's my personal opinion that gambling is easier to abuse than other potentially abusable actions. But in and of itself, no gambling is not a sin.

Good point on greed, but using that litmus test, we'd have to refrain from entering giveaways, contests, drawings, etc. I do, though, acknowlege that greed should be avoided by the christian, regardless of the activity.

It does not. It says that the love of money is a root of evil. Money, in and of itself, is neither evil, nor a root of evil.

 

All I can say is "Remember whose child you are
and whose name you bear".

 

There is a passage in Proverbs that says it is wrong to gamble, but I can't find it. I have searched at Bible Gateway and used a thesaurus to try to find other words for gamble and can't figure it out. It obviously doesn't use the word "gamble." Does anyone know what I am talking about?

 

If you can find that passage, feel free to post it. If it does indeed expressly forbid gambling, then we should all be in agreement to refrain from it. But, to be honest, I've never heard of any such passage or express ban in scripture, but I'm always objectively open to newly found scriptural wisdom.

 

Doesn't the love of money promote the deviant aspect that exhibits itself by gambling? Certainly does. Should Christians gamble? Should Christians promote their love of money? Should Christrians excercise and feed their desire to have that which is DECLARED to be the ROOT of ALL EVIL??

And then we have the "scholars" "looking" for exact verbage that speaks against gambling.

 

Okay...I'm speed-reading the book of Proverbs...

Salamander, I appreciate your kindness and speaking the truth in love about my sincere desire to know what God's Word has to say about the subject.