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Q and A-Gambling

January 12th, 2016

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Q and A segment explores the question, “What does the Bible have to say about gambling?”

While references to gambling are subtle in the Bible, there are warnings in the Bible against the love of money, which is often the desire that prompts people to play the lottery and other games of chance. First Timothy 6:10 says, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Playing the lottery is a gamble, not just because of the money we lose if we don’t win, but also the temptations we might face of having so much wealth if we would win.

The odds of winning, however, are not in our favor. Oddsmakers say we have a better chance of getting struck by lightning or getting bit by a shark than winning the lottery. The Bible promotes the idea of earning money by our labor, rather than games of chance or get-rich schemes.

Proverbs 28:19 says, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.”

A good focus point for our lives is to pursue after God’s own heart rather than chase after the riches of this world in the Year of Exploration.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com




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