Gambling

1 Timothy 6:9-10 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The dictionary defines gambling as betting on an uncertain outcome. Casino gambling is anything but uncertain because the mathematical advantage is held by the house, and the house will always win with repetition and time. They get plenty of repetition and are open 24 hours a day seven days a week which insures they will always win week by week, month by month and year by year. Just as a spider builds his trap bigger and better, casino operators build their traps with more lights, glitz and entertainment. Some people consider it harmless entertainment, but there is a percentage of people who will become addicted and bring devastation and financial ruin to their lives and also their families’ lives. Crime, divorce, and even suicide are all part of the cost of this ‘entertainment’. Entertainment was also very big in Sodom and Gomorrah, but it was not harmless there and it is not harmless in the United States. Las Vegas did not get the nickname Sin City without reason, and for a Christian, or anyone else, to view gambling as just another form of entertainment is pure folly. As Paul said…. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8). Think of the good that could result if the money, lost every year to gambling by professing Christians, were instead invested to please the Spirit instead of the sinful nature. May God enable us to sow wisely.