On Christians Gambling
Affective recently posted on “Christian Ethics and Gambling” (any block quotes you see below are taken from that blog entry).
Since this happens to be one of those subjects that I think Christians have gone overboard on (as far as trying to bend the Scripture to their desires) I am posting my comment here instead of on his blog.
First off, let me state my position. I have no problems with gambling, period. Gambling is nothing more (or less) than a game. I must append that statement with the fact that “gambling” also falls into the category of being a professional (and amateur) sport and is a career for many people.
Basically, almost all forms of gambling involve a fee, a game, and an outcome. For example, in tournament poker you pay an entry fee and you go up against a bunch of other players (who pay an entry fee) until everyone runs out of chips and someone wins. Generally in tournament poker the payouts are usually scaled from 1st down to a certain place based on the total prize pool.
Some want to see gambling as synonymous with playing the stock market, industrial or corporate endeavors, or just living life. The distinction between gambling and the aforementioned is that there is a difference between making up for losses in business, and life, and creating them such as gambling does.
I don’t see it as being any different than the stock market. In fact, the stock market is gambling without the negative stigma attached to it.
Now before I go any further I should state that I have plenty of experience in the stock market (I have plenty of study time on it as well). I am a current “investor” and I have done all sorts of trading from grinding/daytrading to swing trading to longterm investments. In addition, I have studied poker in depth and I have plenty of experience playing it as well (for money). So my statements are coming from experience and not just outside observation.
Christians should actually be able to see the parallel in investing and gambling much clearer than people that aren’t Christians. The reason for this is that many games that are considered to be gambling involve “chance” or “luck”. However, any Bible believing Christian knows that there is no such thing as luck or chance.
So I ask, what is wrong with gambling, what is wrong with paying money to play a game? Surely it isn’t wrong because you can win something. Surely it isn’t wrong because there is almost always a loser. Surely it isn’t wrong because there can be money involved.
The bottom line is that there is no Scriptural support against “gambling”. In addition, if people are going to make an argument against “gambling” they should at least be consistent in their application of terms (applying them to other games and sports). The reason you don’t see them doing that is because they would have to throw out nearly all other games and sports.
Note: Gambling is very general term and games (that are considered gambling) can range from pure chance to games that involve mostly skill.
Comments
2 Comments on On Christians Gambling
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Affective on
Fri, 1st Jul 2005 13:29
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BA on
Fri, 1st Jul 2005 15:34
Wow, it looks like I hit a hot button :), I hit the same button with a guy at work–who read my post. What you read was the summary of a paper I did for ethics class in seminary. I provide much more substantiation in the body of my paper. In other words I define my terms a bit more clearly than in the sound-byte you read on my blog. If you want I’ll send you the whole paper. I just can’t figure out where to find your email at–do you provide that on your blog? I wanted to send you a couple other papers, that you said you would be interested in looking at (i.e. my Melanchthon post). Let me know how to get in touch with you via email, and I’ll send you a much more substantial piece on gambling. I should say, that in my paper, I am arguing for a particular ethical construct (faith ethic), which wouldn’t necessarily “condemn” gambling in general–as long as you feel like you could gamble and do it as unto the Lord (I Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:17,21).
My own dad, disagrees with me on this, although after we talked a bit further, he seemed to see my point–I mean gambling as unto the Lord (I don’t know it just sounds like an oxymoron to me :). Let me know your email, and I’ll get you my paper–if interested.
Hey Affective,
Actually, it isn’t a hot button at all, didn’t mean it to come off like that. My post wasn’t really directed at you, I just used your post as a starting point for my post. 
P.S. I responded to you via email so you can just use that email address.
AMDG
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