Is Playing Cards a SIN??

I've always heard that the trouble that some have with playing cards isn't necessarily gambling, but has something to do with the face cards (King, Queen and Jack). I've always thought it rather silly, have never taken the time to figure out why, and continued playing Euchre and 500. Euchre anyone? I tried playing Euchre online once, but found it boring. Part of the fun of Euchre is all the old cliches, i.e. "This hand is a foot!", and, "You need to go back to dealer's school", and many other timeless classics. :smilewinkgrin:

 

I have read this or something like it on this board several times. Where does the belief that gaining money without working for it is a sin, come from? I am not saying it is or is not, just asking if there is some evidence for it or if it is just something made up to support a no gambling docrine.

How does this belief not make it so taking Charity is a sin?
Giving charity is causing somebody else to sin?
If I find $10 on the sidewalk is taking it a sin?
What about when kids ask there parents for $20 to do whatever? Sin?

 

We all get a lot of things we have not earned -- the uppermost being God's grace!

It is when what we are seeking is requiring others to lose something which I have a problem with.

The point was brought up about seeking a job and that that would require others not get it if I do. The employer has the right to hire the best suited in his or her opinion. This has nothing to do with 'luck' in terms of gambling. One of the others may well get the job instead of me, which simply means God has another job waiting for me.

With gambling, however, if you lose, that does not mean, in any way, shape, or form, that there is a winning waiting for you later.

 

Buisnesses often compeat for buisness. Does McDonalds sin by seeking buisness causing Carls Jr. to loose buisness?

Does Verison sin by advertising they are better then Sprint?

And again Charity. If a kid seeks $20 from his/her parents they cause the parents to loose $20. If I donate $40 to the homeless, I loose $40. Is that a sin?

 

DeeJay, if you donate so that others may have, that is a lot different than gambling on the desperate hope they will lose!

As far as business competition goes, I think we know that that is a cutthroat business and I am personally getting to the point of not believing ANYTHING I hear in ads! So if that is where they want to spend their money, that's up to them. (NO charge...NO charge....NO charge....)

 

What if I am asking for money? Sin.

Again the example of kids asking for money, sin?

Is it a sin to pick up money found on the street?

Remember I am asking about the belief that, gaining money without working for it is a sin. That seems to be the only argument holding up the anti gambling doctrine. Kids asking for money or anybody asking for charity seems to fit that catigory.

 

only if you are a woman and you are wearing pants and listening to back-masked CCM while sipping wine in moderation while the kids are out at a movie.

 

If luck is all it's about, then you're not "gambling" if a golf buddy you know you can beat want to bet on a match. If you say 'no, there's still a chance you could lose,' then the job interview scenario is gambling, since the one in position of hiring can choose an applicant not the 'best.'

As for "God has another job waiting for me," I think that's baloney. Certainly not everyone who need a job has one, including many who "trust God." If unemployed for a year, some will cop out, but some will still maintain something like "He gave me a year to think about a lot of things." That while having to sell a house, dealing with pressure from a spouse, or more such stuff.

 

Just the luck part can not make it a sin, since the 11 remaining apostles (after Judas) played rock, paper, sissors to see who the replacement would be.

And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Acts 1:26

 

And you never hear about him again, do you? Paul was God's choice.

As far as not getting a job, you may think it is a 'cop out' to say God has something better for you, but as for me, my life is in His hands and I have no doubt that when my own plans fail it is because He has something better in mind. I know He loves me and is in control, and that is enough.

 

You stop just short of saying that the 11 apostles were sinning by choosing him this way.

Is that what you are saying.

 

The first one to plead his cause seems right,
Until his neighbor comes and examines him.
18 Casting lots causes contentions to cease,
And keeps the mighty apart.
19 A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city,
And contentions are like the bars of a castle.
Proverbs 18:17-19

The Bible fails to condem rock, paper, sissors here. It kind of makes it sound like a good way to settle disputes. Am I missunderstanding.

 

It's an excellent way to settle disputes. We do it here in Asia all the time, and you rarely see silly fights among children for who will go first, who gets the biggest piece, etc. (They fight about other things! :tongue3: )

I hadn't been in Japan long when a delivery guy in his small truck and I met in the middle of a single lane road through a rice paddy. He got out of his truck, walked up to me grinning and said, "Jankenpoi?" (Scissors, paper, rock.) I lost and had to back all the way out of the rice paddy!

So luck is not the only factor in gambling, as Alcott points out. It has to be something that will gain money for nothing at someone else's expense.

 

This is a strange way to defend gambling--comparing it with finding money on the street or asking for charity. You aren't really serious in saying that gambling can't be wrong because if it were charity would be wrong too, are you? (Forgive if I am misunderstanding you.)

Gambling in almost all of its forms (discounting the neighbor ladies betting ten cents per round of Mah Jong) involves the love of money, which is a root of all kinds of evil according to the Bible. Now if knocking on someone's door collecting for charity involves the collector lusting after that money, then it is wrong. But otherwise? No way.

 

JofJ

I am trying to find out why gambling is a sin. There have been 2 arguments for the why on this thread. I am trying to examin them seperatly to see if there is consistency.

One was because it involves luck. I am not really buying that because of the rock, paper, sissior verses I posted.

Two was becasue it involves gaining money without working for it. That one is interesting, so I am trying to think of other ways that you can gain money without earning it to see if that is considered sinfull.

I want to seperate the arguments given for why gambling is a sin from gambling it self becasue of the tradition that presuposes that gambling is already a sin.

If you start out with the presuposition that gambling is a sin and this is why. Then the why given should be a sin in other forms seperate from gambling. If it is not then I am thinking that gambling is considered a sin because of religious tradition not becase of scripture.


So I want to know is "gaining money without working for it" a sin in all forms or just gambling. To answer that question I think of all the ways to gain money without working for it and ask if it is a sin.

See what I am trying to do?

 

So if I am understanding you right, gambling is not a sin. But lusting after money is a sin.

So a $.10 game of gambling is not a sin because the money is not the object. So also if my goal it to make money or get rich then gambling is a sin. But if I take the $25 I would have spent at a movie and use it for entertainment at the blackjack table then it is not a sin becasue I never plan on making money just entertainment. I am not lusting after money just useing the money to entertain myself.

So gambling in itself is not a sin. Lust of money is a sin. I would agree with you.

 

In my opinion it depends on the card game. If a man takes food out of the mouths of his family to play poker, or doesn't pay his bills, or can't give to God because of it, then it becomes a sin. Most card games don't involve gambling, and they're just innocent fun and entertainment. I have no idea if gambling is wrong, but I can't afford to take the risk of losing money I need. Many people want to get rich quick, which is why the lotteries are so popular. However, I remember God saying in 1 Thess. 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." If there's doubt about something being right, there's a good chance that is isn't.:godisgood: :godisgood:

 

I could go along with that except for the fact that I can find a Christian that says just about anything you do is wrong. If you eat meat I can find a group that says you are evil. If you hunt, if you wear leather same thing. If you drive a car I will find a group of Christians that say you are a bad steward of the enviroment and are wrong. Watch movies, listen to music of any type, dance. Somebody says all those things are the appearance of evil. Do you read only the KJV, if not then half this board says you are doing wrong. Obviously you have or use a computer, alot of people do evil stuff on a computer so there is an aperance of evil right there.

You tell me what you like to do, I will find a group that says it is evil. So where do you draw the line.

 

You almost have me right! :thumbs: To fine tune your understanding of my point, the physical act of gambling is a sin WHEN AND IF the heart's motive for it is a lust for money. Jesus taught us that it is not what you put into the body that determines what defiles a person but what comes out of his heart (Matt. 15:11). Then He lists some physical acts which are sin (v. 19). So a physical act is a sin because of the motives and lusts of the heart.

 

Hey, I believe you have hit on a principal that will work for all sorts of things, pants, cards, drinking, maybe even using some other Bible translation. Can we put this in a sticky at the top of the forums and stop arguing this stuff over and over?