(48) Don't bet on it!

Do you know that many people use the verse "the wages of sin is death" as scripture against gambling?  How dumb can you be?  All this is referring to is that you do not want to risk your eternal salvation by living a life of sin and thinking you are going to be okay.  It has nothing to do with gambling.  Some use the scripture about lazy hands making a man poor but diligent hands bring wealth as being against gambling.  This is a little closer.  Those who gamble try to get money without earning it and most walk away from the table/machine poorer than when they came.  But the best scripture that can be used against gambling is Proverbs 28:22.

• He who is greedy rushes after riches, not knowing that want will overtake him.

Of course, there is no scripture that supports gambling but notice, it does not call it a sin.  It just means that if all we focus on all the riches of money then we lose our lives.  Not that we die because of gambling or going after riches, but that we lose things that are important to us.  It is a warning that if all we do is focus on our greed then greed will control us.   This is where the sin comes in; if we allow anything to control us then the action gets in the way of doing what we are supposed to be doing, hence a sin of omission by commission.

Here are the results from last month's poll:  Is gambling a sin?

• 37% said yes.
• 37% said maybe.
• 12% said no.
• 12% said it depends.

Now if that isn't clear then what is?   Here is an interesting article  http://bible.org/seriespage/money-money-money.