At 04:47 PM 4/8/99 -0800, John I Evans wrote:
> Hey there I have a question
>on Bingo. Okay over the net there is a bingo on
>http://www.bingozone.com What does AG teach
>and belive on this. Know this site is non gambling
>for you don't have to pay for anything. NO joke.
>The lady I told Y'all about that said ladies shouldn't
>wear pants, yep the United Penecost Church one.
>Told me since I am playing bingo it is a sin. Come on.
>However I want to make sure it ain't. Anyone ever
>had this problem. Where they force their beliefs
>on you. Try to make it where it is a sin.
Bingo without betting or money exchange isn't gambling. It seems to me to
be a pointless game, and maybe a waste of time, but that doesn't
necessarily make it a sin. The only way it would be is if you knew you were
supposed to be doing something else and you were playing that game, instead.
Anyway, the Assemblies of God don't have a position paper on games, but
there is one on gambling:
POSITION PAPERS of The GENERAL COUNCIL of the ASSEMBLIES of GOD (USA)
1445 Boonville Avenue
Springfield, Missouri
65802-1894
http://www.ag.org/
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: (417) 862-2781
fax:(417) 866-1157
------------------------------------------------------------------
This report was adopted by the Assemblies of God General
Presbytery, August 10, 1983.
A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON GAMBLING
Gambling, both legal and illegal, is a phenomenon gaining
unprecedented acceptance. Because it is so widespread, Christians
must look at this activity to determine the ethical and moral
implications.
GAMBLING DEFINED
----------------------------------------
Advocates of gambling often try to place this activity in the same
category as other ventures which involve risk. They describe
farming, business, insurance, and even investments as gambling
because the outcome is unpredictable and losses can occur. In this
way they hope to transfer the respectability of legitimate ventures
to gambling.
L. M. Starkey, Jr., has made the following helpful observation:
Life does have its normal risks which one must accept with faith
and courage. These normal risks are in no sense equivalent to the
risks in a game of chance. Gambling devises artificial risks in
the hope of excessive gain far beyond what the investment of time,
money, or skill would justify. In gambling the chance is
unrelated to any creative effort called for by the farmer or the
stockbroker in the responsible investment of his mental, monetary,
and physical funds. [1]
To distinguish gambling from risks involved in legitimate venture
it will be helpful to recognize three factors integral to
gambling: (1) An incentive consisting of money or merchandise is
offered. (2) The prize is acquired primarily on the basis of
chance. (3) A payment of money or other consideration is required
to become involved in the chance taken. [2]
Gambling then is recognized as any activity in which wealth changes
hands, mainly on the basis of chance and with risk to the gambler.
Creative effort, useful skills, and responsible investment are not
integral factors.
Because gambling exists in many forms and people in increasing
numbers are exposed to its temptations, the responsible Christian
must form an opinion concerning its propriety. The legalization of
gambling by government or its acceptance by some religious
organizations cannot be a criterion for evaluation. The Christian
attitude must be determined by the principles of Scripture.
GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD GAMBLING
----------------------------------------
God's people in Bible times apparently were not greatly tempted with
gambling. It seems the vice manifested itself only when Israel was
dominated by heathen nations. When gambling did occur God clearly
indicated His attitude concerning it.
During their Babylonian captivity the Israelites came under the
influence of people who gambled. As a result some of the captives
also became involved. To these people God through Isaiah said, "But
ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that
prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering
unto that number" (Isaiah 65:11). As indicated in some modern
translations of the Bible, the Hebrew words translated "troop" and
"number" were names of the heathen gods "Gad" and "Meni." To the
heathen, Gad was the giver of good luck. Meni was the god of bad
luck.
The translation of Isaiah 65:11 by James Moffat is as follows: "But
ye who have forsaken the Eternal, ye who ignore his sacred hill,
spreading tables to Good Luck, pouring libations to Fate, I make the
sword your fate."
E. H. Plumptre, late Dean of Wells, has pointed out that Gad was
worshipped as the greater fortune, the giver of good luck. Meni was
worshipped as the lesser fortune. George Rawlinson, who at one time
served as professor of Ancient History at Oxford, has indicated the
name Meni "designated a deity who apportions men's fortunes to
them."
The sin for which some of the Israelites were condemned was trusting
in luck rather than God. Isaiah made it clear that trust in God and
trust in luck cannot coexist. If people rely on chance it is evident
they do not rely on God. Isaiah described those who trusted in
gambling as "they that forsake the Lord" (Isaiah 65:11).
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES
----------------------------------------
A careful reading of Scripture makes it clear there are numerous
Biblical principles which indicate gambling is an evil to be
avoided. When people recognize God's authority they will honor the
principles which indicate gambling is evil.
1. Gambling is wrong because it is a disregard of responsible
stewardship.
The Bible clearly teaches that all things belong to God. "The
earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they
that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). Since all things belong to God,
man is placed in the position of a steward who must give a proper
accounting for everything given to him in trust.
The first step in a faithful administration of this stewardship
is the giving of self to God. The believer must recognize he is
not his own (1 Corinthians 6:19). He has been redeemed with a
price, not of silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus
(1 Peter 1:18,19). The churches of Macedonia set a worthy example
of personal dedication when they "first gave their own selves to
the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8:5). Life, with all it involves, is a
stewardship to be administered for the glory of God.
People who honestly dedicate themselves to God will also
recognize that all they possess must be handled as a stewardship.
The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) indicates that the
good and faithful servants administered the talents entrusted to
them in such a way that the master was pleased. The wicked and
slothful servant failed in his administration and suffered the
appropriate consequences.
When people recognize their stewardship responsibilities they
will not consider gambling in any form a proper administration of
divinely bestowed resources, time, and ability. Even the ethics
of the world will not tolerate those who gamble with resources put
in their trust. Christian responsibility transcends all other
responsibility, and for the Christian, gambling is wrong. It is a
total disregard of the principle of stewardship. It is a
prostitution of God-given assets which should be used to glorify
God and advance His kingdom.
2. Gambling is wrong because it involves a chance of gain at the
expense and suffering of others.
The nature of gambling is such that a person has a chance of gain
only because others have suffered loss. The economic benefits
come only to a very few. The financial loss is borne by many who
usually can least afford it. The fact that people involved in
gambling are commonly referred to in derogatory terms by its
promoters is an indication of the status to which they are
reduced. Whether or not the financial loss is excessive, gamblers
are basically losers while the operators of gambling
establishments are the winners.
The suffering caused by gambling is totally inconsistent with the
teaching of Scripture concerning love. Not only is the Christian
to love those who are lovable, but even enemies. God's people are
to love their neighbors as themselves. The principle of love will
prevent Christians from gambling because of the damage it does to
others. The principle of love will cause Christians to oppose any
effort by the state or any other organization to legalize any
activity based on a weakness of people which degrades society.
William Temple, late Archbishop of Canterbury, stated the
Christian position well when he wrote:
Gambling challenges that view of life which the Christian
church exists to uphold and extend. Its glorification of mere
chance is a denial of the divine order of nature. To risk money
haphazardly is to disregard the insistence of the Church in
every age of living faith that possessions are a trust, and
that men must account to God for their use. The persistent
appeal to covetousness is fundamentally opposed to the
unselfishness which was taught by Jesus Christ and by the New
Testament as a whole. The attempt (inseparable from gambling)
to make profit out of the inevitable loss and possible
suffering of others is the antithesis of that love of one's
neighbor on which our Lord insisted. [3]
3. Gambling is wrong because it is inconsistent with the work
ethic of Scripture.
Throughout Scripture the importance of work is emphasized. In
several places the correlation between working and eating is
stated. The Old Testament reminds us, "He that tilleth his land
shall be satisfied with bread" (Proverbs 12:11).
In the New Testament the same principle is stated with great
forcefulness. To the Thessalonians Paul wrote: "When we were with
you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither
should he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
Not only does the Bible require that man should work for the
necessities of life, but it also warns against the
something-for-nothing, get-rich-quick approach. "He that maketh
haste to be rich shall not be innocent" (Proverbs 28:20). "He
that hasteth to be rich hath an evil [envious] eye, and
considereth not that poverty shall come upon him" (Proverbs
28:22). "Wealth gotten by vanity [without labor or exertion] shall
be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase"
(Proverbs 13:11).
In the wisdom of God man was assigned work in the garden of Eden
even before the Fall (Genesis 2:15ff). Though sin resulted in a
change of the nature of work (Genesis 3:17,19) the responsibility
of working was never rescinded. Any effort on man's part to
circumvent the work ethic of Scripture can result only in
failure. Gambling, whether to secure wealth in a hurry or to place
bread on the table, is inconsistent with what the Bible teaches
about work.
4. Gambling is wrong because it tends to be habit-forming
Gambling, like other evils, has a tendency to become an
addiction. As in the case of alcoholics and drug addicts,
compulsive gamblers are dominated to the extent that they risk not
only money, but everything meaningful in life. They have lost
control of themselves.
This condition is contrary to the teaching of Scripture. The Word
of God points out that a Christian will refuse to be brought
under the power even of lawful things (1 Corinthians 6:12). The
person indwelled by the Holy Spirit will be characterized by
temperance, or self-control (Galatians 5:23).
Those who have studied gambling addiction seem to agree there are
six symptoms characteristic of compulsive gambling:
(1) The activity becomes chronically repetitive.
(2) It becomes a mania which precludes all other interests,
including the home.
(3) A pathologic optimism replaces the ability to learn from
previous losing experiences.
(4) The ability to stop in a winning situation no longer
exists.
(5) In spite of initial decisions to gamble only so much the
addict invariably risks too much.
(6) The activity seems to produce an enjoyable tension
consisting of both pain and pleasure.
It is obvious that habitual gamblers are under the control of the
compulsion to gamble. Rather than being servants of God, they are
servants of a desire they cannot handle. Paul described the
condition clearly when he wrote, "Know ye not, that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey" (Romans 6:16). Because of the degrading possibility of
addiction, gambling should be considered an evil.
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY IN RELATION TO GAMBLING
----------------------------------------
When the various truths of God's Word are considered, the Christian
cannot adopt a neutral stance toward gambling. There are
responsibilities which he cannot ignore.
When the Bible instructs believers, "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31), it certainly precludes gambling.
God is not glorified when people put their trust in chance rather
than in the Lord.
When God's Word teaches that we should "abstain from all appearance
of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22) it precludes gambling. There is no
way in which a practice can be considered anything other than evil
when it violates principles of God's Word concerning stewardship,
consideration of others and the dignity of honest labor.
Those who want to live according to Scripture will refrain from
participation in any form of gambling. As the salt of the earth
(Matthew 5:13) they will also do all within their power to discourage
the legalization of gambling, whether to raise money for charity,
church, or state.
__________
[1] L M. Starkey, Jr., *Money, Mania, and Morals* (Abingdon Press,
1964).
[2] Virgil W. Peterson, "Obstacles to Enforcement of Gambling
Laws," *The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science* (May 1950).
[3] William Temple, "Gambling and Ethics," issued by The Churches'
Committee on Gambling, 215 Abbey House, London.
(c) Copyright 1983 by the Assemblies of God
GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE
Springfield, Missouri 65802-1894
GPH catalog no: 34-4186
----------------------------------------------------------------------
POSITION PAPERS of The GENERAL COUNCIL of the ASSEMBLIES of GOD (USA)
For more information, send email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, or visit our
website at <http://www.ag.org/>.
___
Michael Paul Johnson aka Soaring Golden Eagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://eBible.org/mpj Rocky Mountain Outpost 207 New Creation Church
Jesus Christ is Lord! If Jesus came back today, would you be READY?
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