A) INTRODUCTION.

B) TO YOUR TREASURES.

C) MONEY WITHOUT LABOR.

D) SAD FACT.

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

The Bible speaks directly about gambling, only in the sense that It covers “the love of money,” First Timothy 6:10.  In other words, valuing it over anything else in life, addressed in the coveting factor of the 10th Commandment, as found in Exodus 20:17, to the point where, as an example, families must often go without basic necessities because of one member’s addiction to gambling -- is wrong.  Therefore, the basic root of gambling then is coveting money, and is one of the main reasons that people gamble and play the lottery.  Therefore, the enticement of gambling, via the lottery and other things, obviously comes under many Bible texts that address this issue.

 

 

B) TO YOUR TREASURES

 

 

Matthew 6:21 (see also Luke 12:34) quotes Christ as saying, “where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”  For those who engage in the get rich quick processes, we can readily identify this group as fitting this particular category.  Jesus continues to address this issue by stating that “by their fruits you shall know them,” Matthew 7:16.  Thus we can begin to see that Biblically speaking, this issue is a heart one and is spiritually discerned.

 

Let’s take a closer look.  What are the fruits of gambling?  It is well argued that revenue and jobs are created, thus advocating in favor of establishing gambling halls.  By contrast, when Tom Dewey was the governor of New York, he addressed the New York legislature as follows:  “. . . the entire history of legalized gambling in this country and abroad shows that it has brought nothing but poverty, crime, and corruption, demoralization of moral and ethical standards, and ultimately a lower living standard and misery for all the people.”  Thus the Bible does directly speak of these things:  “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.”  Proverbs 20:21.

 

The sad fact is that a gambler can become just as addicted to his bewitching pastime as an alcoholic does to his liquor, or the drug addict to his drugs.  A guiding principle, and a truth that once it is perceived, it will grip the heart, that both one’s time and money belong to God.  First Corinthians 6:20 states that, “You are bought with a price.”  If your time and money were your own, we could say, “Gamble all you please, it’s your own business.”  But to gamble with money that is not your own, i.e., God’s, is to waste time that is not your own, i.e., God’s, and is to make you nothing less than a thief in God’s sight.  Also, the Bible does say that a thief will not get into Heaven (First Corinthians 6:9-10).  Many a family has been ripped apart from the selfishness of one of its members:  “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house,” Proverbs 15:27.

 

 

C) MONEY WITHOUT LABOR

 

 

Another interesting bit of information:  Governor Washburn of Wisconsin in his annual message of January 9, 1873 [not 1973], declared, “Some law seems to be required to break up the schools where gamblers are made.  These are everywhere.  Even the church (unwittingly, no doubt) is sometimes found doing the work of the devil.  Gift concerts, gift enterprises and raffles, sometimes in aid of religious or charitable objects, but often for less worthy purposes, lotteries, prize packages, etc., are all devices to obtain money without value received.  Nothing is so demoralizing or intoxicating, particularly to the young, as the acquisition of money or property without labor.  Respectable people engaging in these chance enterprises, and easing their consciences with the reflection that the money is to go to a good object, it is not strange that the youth of the state should so often fall into the habits which the excitement of games of hazard is almost certain to engender.”

 

Let’s take another look at the full verse of First Timothy 6:10:  “For the love of money is the root of all evil:  which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”  Notice the end result of seeking after quick money:  “erring from the faith,” i.e., leaving and or teaching or accepting false doctrine, and ultimately heaping oneself with “many sorrows.”  Some even come to this point for the love of money, “So are the ways of every one that is greedy [covetous] of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof,” Proverbs 1:19.  Many a person has been murdered over a fist-full-of-dollars.

 

Other texts to consider are:  Proverbs 23:4; 28:20; 28:22; John 6:27; Second Corinthians 4:18; Colossians 3:1-3.

 

 

D) SAD FACT

 

 

It is a known sad fact that almost to the number, every “Million Dollar” state lottery winner has squandered away their winnings.  The proof of this is all over the internet.  By contrast, a few donate their winnings and some actually invest well (very few; for most never learned in the first place how to handle money).