Q: What Is The Biblical Position On Gambling & The Lottery?
Q: I have seen a few Christians standing in the lottery lines and on occasion gamble: what is the biblical position on these activities?
A: When weak, feeble-minded Christians open their mouth and say, “Well the Bible doesn’t really say …!” I immediately say, “Don’t go there!” I have to admit that the Word of God doesn’t explicitly say, “Thou shalt NOT gamble nor play the lottery!” However, the true Christian church has held firmly to the biblical principles that Christians are to follow not only what the Bible teaches explicitly about a subject matter, but what can be drawn from the scriptures as they relate to a biblical principle. For example, STEWARDSHIP: every Christian is responsible to act as a steward of his/her possessions, including their wealth, and not be wasteful or irresponsible in how they spend their money. We know that gambling is designed to exploit the poor of our society, whose desire is to improve his position in our society with material goods, such as a house, car, money in the bank, etc. Gambling makes him/her promises it can’t deliver. I conclude with this example, like the Federal government, states’ mandate is to improve the welfare of its citizens. Yet, there are lotteries, casinos, and other forms of gambling that are state run. Giving their poor a monthly allotment to live on, then permitting them to come and gamble with the hope of winning a lot more: but we know how that story ends – the little amount the state gave, was soon back in its coffer before the month was over. [Because of the sin nature, some got even more desperate and went out and committed crimes, because they were BROKE! And the state obliged them even more, by incarcerating them.