Article - The Christian & Gambling [Part 3]
Eli Bunch was a normal, every day person until he stepped into the life of gambling. It started with just a thirty dollar win. Then, he won 3,000 dollars with only a twenty dollar investment. After this win, things went downhill for Eli & his wife Jody. At the end of three years of gambling, Eli & his wife were in the red over 250,000 dollars. Eventually, Eli lost a good job at a prominent business company, his total retirement and his wife separated from him (Seattle Post, Feb. 2004). If you think Eli is just a sad story that could never happen to you, you’re wrong. Eli started as just a twenty dollar, every once in a blue moon gambler. He ended up a financially bankrupt man with a broken life. We must realize the terrible affect that gambling is having on our societies and on our families in America. Let us again notice a couple of biblical reason why gambling is wrong.
Gambling violates the way a Christian can make money or receive goods. To understand this point, one must first realize that everything he does in life must be authorized by the Bible. Paul said, “Whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Colossians 3:17). When we do something in the name of another, we are doing it by their authority (Acts 4:7). Thus, anything a Christian does must be found in the word of God. In the Bible, there are only three ways a person can make money or receive goods. First, a person is authorized to make money by working for it (2 Thes. 3:10). Next, one may sell land or other goods and receive money for them (Acts 4:34; 5:1ff). Finally, one may trade food or other products for money or goods (Genesis 34:10; 42:34). The question now arises. Where does gambling fit into these three ways? It does not. Gambling is not honest work. It is based on chance and luck. Gambling is not a selling/trading of lands or goods. It is actually stealing money from others. When it is all summed up, the Christian can know that gambling is not an authorized method of making money. Therefore, if it is not found in the Word of God, Christians must not take part in it (Revelation 22:18-19). May we strive not to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6).
Gambling destroys the biblical design for the family. There are numerous examples of how children are suffering the most from their parents’ gambling problems. For example, In Indiana, a review of the state’s gaming commission records revealed that 72 children were found abandoned on casino premises during a 14-month period. In Louisiana and South Carolina, children died after being locked in hot cars for hours while their caretakers gambled. Another disturbing examples shows the length gamblers will go to support their habits. An Illinois mother was sentenced to prison for suffocating her infant daughter in order to collect insurance money to continue gambling. Doesn’t it turn your stomach when you wonder how many children are being abandoned and left hungry in America so that their parents can go down to the casino and gamble? You think it isn’t happening? You better think again! The family as God designed it is to be a place of love and happiness. It is designed to be a place where father and mother put each other first. It should be a place where children learn what it means to love and the fundamental values of life. When gambling comes into the family, the family starts a downward spiral of destruction. May God help us to speak out against gambling so that we may save the American family from destruction! Truly, Gambling is SIN!!!
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