Are We Gambling With Eternal Life?

Short Answer: If we gamble our lives on philosophies and worldviews, rather than the truth of the Bible and the need for a Savior, then we risk our physical and spiritual well-being in this lifetime and we completely lose out on eternal life. Following after knowledge, magic, money, power, fame, beauty, entertainment, and many other such things may bring some form of pleasure in this world, but it cannot bring peace to the soul nor a loving relationship with the Eternal.

What Does the Bible Say About Gambling?

What Does the Bible Say about Gambling? The Bible does not directly say much about gambling. In fact, there is nothing to suggest that gambling in-and-of-itself is a sin. However, it can be closely associated with many sinful activities which all come together at the casino. Where money is involved people will covet, lie, cheat, steal, and even become idolatrous ... both casino and player alike. This is the powerful reason why the casinos have such strong security and the governments have such strong gaming commissions and gambling oversight committees to ensure things are legitimate and no cheating or illegal activities are done by either side.

Terrible Rules Indirectly, the Bible has much to say about how a fool and his money are soon parted. It is one thing to have a friendly bet with someone about who can chop the most firewood in an hour. It is entirely different thing to enter a building whose games are designed to make you consistently lose bets. Let that sink in … this is, perhaps, the most simple and striking accusation against the casino … the games are designed to make you lose your bets (it is called the house edge). Even with perfect play and strategy, you will still lose your money (just a little more slowly). Why would anyone bother to go there? It is foolishness. Inside the casino, you are stuck playing by terrible rules.

Life is much the same. We are in a fallen and sinful world. If we try to play according to the world's rules, rather than follow the rules of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are stuck playing by terrible rules and we will consistently be losing. The selfish and unloving attitudes of the non-believing world (and sometimes among less mature believers) will harm life rather than help. Furthermore, our enemy, the Devil, knows how to manipulate and tempt people into playing by the rules of darkness which bring destruction.

Boring Games Have you ever tried playing these games without any money involved? You are dealt your cards, there are no rounds of betting, you simply show your cards, and the person with the high card wins. It gets boring very quickly.

Casting Lots It is interesting to note that, within the Bible, there are situations where people make a decision by casting lots. These are done both to determine Elohim's will and to determine a pagan god's will. It is something that can be used for good or evil.

Temptations

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. KJV Ephesians 4:26 There are a great many temptations (and opportunities) to do wrong or commit sin in a casino. This is true of any location or activity that involves money. However, negative emotions tend to run strong inside casinos. It is a thoroughly unfriendly and competitive environment and the list of possible temptations is long.

Luck Luck is a topic that gets tossed around frequently in the casino. As a believer, you do not have the luxury of blaming 'luck' ... you cannot believe in luck. You must accept the Sovereignty of the Eternal. To place any type of power in the concept of Luck is idolatry. Luck does not exist. Yes, there may be effects of blessing and cursing in your life or in the casino. There is even a slight possibility the casino is using witchcraft. But none of that is Luck.

Theft Theft is a strong word and it is a strong action. Hopefully you will never encounter a casino that cheats. Hopefully, you will never try to cheat the casino. As believers, we should hold ourselves to a very high standard. But cheating (a type of theft) does occur. The internet is full of such stories ... some of which have verifiable evidence.

Covetousness Coveting is, perhaps, the biggest problem in a casino. If you doubt this, just ask yourself how easy it is to be cheerful for someone next to you who won a prize while you are sitting there losing money? Can you congratulate them? Or do you stew in covetousness and jealousy. Or what about the strong glares from other players who seem to assume you are out to steal their money? The casino seems more than willing to encourage this lust of the flesh every way it can.

Addiction Scripture states that we cannot serve two masters. Like other lusts of the flesh, gambling can be addictive ... and then we have another master over us. A master that typically drives our lives into ruin as money continues to be lost - followed by cars, houses, and sometimes even families. There can definitely be a spiritual (demonic) element to this and fighting addiction needs strong action.

Conclusion Therefore, a person going to a casino must always remember it is a dangerous place. Even if he is there to do good, the casino will be doing everything it can to make him fall and succumb to the lusts of the flesh, the temptations of money, and even idolatry. Wagering by itself may not be a sin, but as with many things, like anger, it can lead to sin.

What Do Other World Religions Say About Gambling?

Most world religions have a negative view of gambling and will discourage it in some way. Other religions will ban or forbid it entirely while the extreme end will physically punish gamblers. Some see it as a form of theft, others state the harmful effects it has, and some simply say it is a sin because of greed. A few religions will allow gambling if it is done fairly - with no cheating or fraud involved. The questions of morality and legality become blurred when a government gets involved by having an oversight position, especially when it can receive taxes.

Due to the adult and addictive nature of gambling, it is not surprising that religions will avoid this activity. Approximately seventy-eight percent of the world's population belong to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. That is a significant number of people who will be hesitant or will completely avoid gambling if they follow their religious views.

Christianity 31% Within Christianity, there is a wide range of views on the morality of gambling. Catholicism says gambling is permitted if it is fair and without fraud. Generally they will tend to oppose casino gambling because of the detrimental effects. Yet, at the same time, they will also use some games like Bingo as fundraisers. Protestant groups generally discourage gambling but a few more conservative denominations forbid it entirely.

Islam 25% Islam is very tough on gambling. It is considered "haraam", or sinful and forbidden, and considered to be harmful to the community. During some time periods, gamblers could be punished with lashes and prison. In some Muslim nations, gambling is strictly outlawed.

Hinduism 15% Hinduism recognizes the destructive impact of gambling. Yet in some texts it also recommends taxation and control of gambling. There is even an ancient poem / hymn known as the "Gambler's Lament".

Buddhism 7% Within Buddhism, gambling is seen as an evil. In the Five Precepts (Rules of Training), the second rule considers gambling as stealing and fraud. It is also considered one of the four defilements (as stealing) and one of the six ways of squandering wealth.

Judaism The Rabbi's have much to say about gambling. It is regarded as doing nothing beneficial for society, having a loser never being at peace with the winner, and having addictive qualities. At certain times, gamblers were disqualified to be court witnesses. Nonetheless, gambling occurs and it seems much money was lost to Yassir Arafat's casino in Jericho. Some types of gambling are overlooked among Jewish people. While not recommended, some Rabbi's have allowed a government lottery as a type of voluntary tax and the benefits of Bingo as a form of fundraising seem to outweigh the moral objections. The one form of gambling that has been accepted is playing with the Dreidel or cards on Chanukah as it has become part of the memorial and history of the Chasmonean revolt.

Witchcraft Witchcraft, like other polytheistic and pantheistic groups, is difficult to give a response because there are so many different paths (like denominations) to follow. The most broad view would probably be that there is no direct statement for or against gambling. However, some groups would probably see it as something fine to do and attempt it after casting a money spell. Others might fear the repercussion of the Three-Fold Rule because it can involve harming another. A few might suggest that the spiritual cost of gaining wealth is just too high and avoid doing it for those reasons. There are many strange stories out there ... such as a psychic that did well in a casino and the casino responded by putting up psychic baffles to stop this.

Loving or Harming Your Neighbor?

I Know How to Harm People Another way to look at this topic is to see how I could use this knowledge. I know how the casino works and operates. I know the rules of the game. I know what the 'odds' [mean, median, variance, and volatility] are for the game. I know how to combine and manipulate the rules and the odds so that I have an 'edge' where the 'house always wins'. I could open a casino, maybe even design a new game, and make a fortune off of the people who play it hoping to win … all the while knowing they cannot. That is evil. It is taking advantage of their lusts and on their ignorance and not giving them a fair chance.

Why should I know evil? Why should I understand some of the depths of selfishness? Knowing how to purposefully make people consistently lose bets is an exposure to evil. If I am to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, my focus should be to help and heal people – not hurt them and take what little they have.