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A little wager? Posted by caf - February 13, 2004 at 2:31:33pm 1280x1024x32 - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 |
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Gambling: the betting or staking of something of value, with consciousness of risk and hope of gain, on the outcome of a game, a contest, or an uncertain event whose result may be determined by chance or accident or have an unexpected result by reason of the bettor's miscalculation. (Brittanica, 1997) The Bible doesn't have a specific commandment about gambling, but it is mentioned several times, always in bad company and a negative context Job 6:27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend. (NIV) Ps 22:18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. (NIV) Joel 3:3 They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine that they might drink. (NIV) Obad 1:11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. (NIV) The most famous gambling incident in the Bible is probably the soldiers who gambled for Jesus robe at the time of the crucifixion. John 19:24 "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did. (NIV) Mark 15:24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. (NIV) Another well known story of gambling in the Bible is Samson's wager against his Philistine "friends" at his wedding, which resulted in a broken marriage, the immediate death of 30 men, several other deaths later. The wager was the beginning of Samson's conflict with the Philistines. Judg 14:12-13 "Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes." "Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it." (NIV) etc. Then there's is Jepthah's toss of the dice, when he promised to sacrifice "whatever" came out of the door of his house first when he came home. His young daughter, knowing nothing about his folly, lost that bet. Judg 11:30-31 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." (NIV) Then too, Isaiah disparages the whole idea of courting "luck" as destructive idolatry. Isa 65:11-12 "But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me." (NIV) Gambling in inherently predatory, coveting what someone else has produced. For one to win, others have to lose. Everything that motivates gambling and all of the attitudes and behaviors connected with it are condemned in scripture. Ps 10:2-3 2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. Amos 8:6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. (NIV) Exod 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (NIV) Lev 19:18 "`Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. (NIV) 1 Cor 6:8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. (NIV) Rom 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (NIV) Then too, Christians are enjoined to be working, productive people, the very antithesis of the whole concept of gambling. Eph 4:28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. (NIV) 2 Thess 3:10-12 |
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