Gambling/lottery is not a sin - your attitude towards them can make them a sin.

NFL conference championship games are Sunday (Jan. 24) and millions of Americans are poised to bet money, a new survey finds most have no moral issue with sports gambling.

An evangelical polling group found 64 percent of U.S adults said sports gambling are not morally wrong, 31 percent disagreed and 5 percent were unsure. Only 40 percent agreed “sports betting should be legalized throughout the country.

Gambling should be a State issue not a Federal issue and should be decided by a vote of the people. I am not for Internet betting because it allows those living in a state where the majority of the people oppose legalized gambling to gamble. If you do not agree with the majority of voters in your state and gambling is that important to you then you should move.

The Bible does not specifically condemn gambling. The Bible does warn us to stay away from the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 13:5). Scripture also encourages us to stay away from attempts to “get rich quick” (Proverbs 13:11; 23:5; Ecclesiastes 5:10).  

Gambling is a difficult issue to discuss because if it is done in moderation and only on occasion it is not necessarily evil. Gambling is nothing more than entertainment for many people. We spend money on all types of entertainment sports events, movies, expensive meals, vacations, holidays, purchasing items we do not need, etc. What some see as a waste of money others do not. Anytime you spend money that you do not have to spare on anything you do not need is a waste of money and I personally see it as a sin.

There are people who are addicted to gambling as there are people addicted to drugs and alcohol. Is it our responsibility to try and make it difficult for them to satisfy their addiction – I think not. If a person is addicted to something they will find a way to satisfy their addiction regardless of what we do. A cure for any addiction only comes when the person who is addicted wants to stop and seeks help.

I had a friend that was addicted to alcohol. I would have dinner parties and holiday parties and if he was in attendance I would not serve any alcoholic beverage. I was confronted by other friends and ask why they all should do without wine or cocktail simply because he had a problem. I thought and prayed about it and then approached my friend with the problem and explained the situation and told him I would be serving wine and cocktails in the future and if he felt it was best he not attend I would understand. He laughed and told me he had no problem with my decision and confessed he kept a bottle in his car and would take a drink before and after leaving one of my dinners. My not serving alcohol did not help him in the least.

The Bible does not explicitly mention gambling, but it does mention events of “luck” or “chance.” As an example, casting lots is used in Leviticus to choose between the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat. Joshua cast lots to determine the allotment of land to the various tribes. Nehemiah cast lots to determine who would live inside the walls of Jerusalem. The apostles cast lots to determine the replacement for Judas. Casting lots is a form of gambling.

I do not deny that lottery participants are usually those who can least afford to be spending money on lottery tickets. The allure of “getting rich quick” is a temptation for those who are desperate. Those that are desperate are usually desperate because they do not know how to manage their finances regardless if they gamble or purchase lottery tickets or not. Society had a lot of desperate citizens before the lottery and gambling became legal in some states.

Laws have never stopped prostitution or addictions. They only have made the vices go undercover. When they go undercover the government has absolutely no control of them. Illegal lottery brought down President Estrada in the Philippines. Lottery is now legal in the Philippines, illegal lottery continues, but does not present the same problems it once did.

I have heard that the money the government collects from lottery does not go to fund the causes it is supposed to. I am sure that is happening, but that has nothing to do with the lottery and everything to do with the politicians we elect.

I have heard the argument over and over to justify not having the lottery that lottery winners have less in a few years after winning the lottery than they had before winning. Whose fault is that? How can you blame the fact that they are irresponsible on the lottery?

I have heard fellow minister use scriptures to judge those who play the lottery or gamble. One scripture they use is Proverbs 13:11, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” How can gambling or playing the lottery be classified as dishonest money if it is done legally and won fair and square? I have even heard it said God does not want money donated to the church that is drug money or money stolen in a bank robbery and God does not want money that was “stolen” from the poor in the temptation for riches. That honestly sounds stupid to me – lottery money is not money STOLEN from the poor. I think the poor have a choice if they want to play the lottery or gamble. If we passed a law that you must show prove of income to gamble or play the lottery then the liberals would be screaming discrimination.

These are other arguments that I have heard protestant ministers use to oppose gambling or the lottery - First Timothy 6:10, “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.” Hebrew 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Do we assume that if someone eats an expensive meal in the finest restaurant they are putting money before God? If we do there certainly are a lot of ministers putting money before God. Using scripture improperly to support your personal agenda is what has made Christianity look foolish to some.

One minister calls the lottery and gambling a sin because he says it causes materialism, greed, discontent, reliance on chance vs. reliance on God's providence, exploitation, laziness vs. working, thwarting of charity, seeking to gain from the loss of others – REALLY! If that is true and it is probably true in some cases then I think his time would be better spent on teaching his followers the sin of materialism, greed, discontent, reliance on chance, exploitation, laziness, charity and taking advantage of other rather than focusing on trying to make gambling and lottery illegal.

He also says the lottery and gambling produces addiction, poverty, crime, dishonesty, family strife and divorce, escape into alcoholism and exploitation of the poor. It could contribute to all of those problems. I question if poverty, crime, dishonesty, family strife, divorce, alcoholism and exploitation of the poor would end if gambling and lottery was made illegal. What happen when the Federal government ban alcohol? What happen when prostitution was made illegal? Cocaine and heroin are illegal has it solved the problem or slowed the problem?

Moral issues are corrected in the home, in the schools, in the churches, by friends and not by government – never has and never will.

Summary killings are a crime regardess of who does it.

A free society regardless if it is a Federalist or Democratic cannot allow elected officials or their agents to perpetuate violence upon people they suspect of committing a crime. If we do we eventually will have to look over our shoulders to see if we are being watched. Politicians are eager to capitalize on our fears.

It is becoming more common for police and elected officials to see themselves as judge and jury dispensing inappropriate summary justice on the streets. It is also becoming more common for citizens to look the other way because they fear crime taking over their community. The Constitution does not allow those who are there to enforce the law to be put in the position of becoming judge and jury.

Politicians are supposed to make the laws, police officers are supposed to enforce the laws and the judiciary is supposed to determine what happens when evidence is presented to them of lawbreaking. This separation has become blurred over the last few years as more and more politicians are winning elections playing on the fears of the citizens, but citizens need to understand we will eventually lose our freedom if we allow this to continue. Americans or citizens of any country must never sacrifice their liberty for false security.

Politicians will claim that the reason they act as they do is because the judicial system is flawed and criminals are not being convicted. That is not justification to ignore the constitution and laws. Politicians should be taking action to reform the judicial system not become judge, jury and executor of suspected criminals. When politicians and police become judge, jury and executor they also become criminals.

I am not sure killing drug dealers without giving them an opportunity to have their day in court or offering any rehabilitation programs or adequate rehabilitation programs is a humane process. This subject is very personal to me and I realize my views may be influenced by personal family experiences. My brother who died in 2004 of cancer in the ninth grade started smoking marijuana. He did use and sell marijuana to friends to supply his needs. He could have been a victim of summary street justice. He was fortunate that he received a trial and spent time in prison. He got out opened a business and became quite successful, married and raised a family. I just do not think any elected official or police officer would have been justified of robbing him of his life.

I do not accept the end justifies the means. I do not accept short cutting the legal procedure as a valid solution to crime. I do accept and whole heartily believe those involved in summary killing are criminals themselves and should be tried in the judicial system they flaunt. Their sentence should be severe since they are suppose to be role models for regular citizens.  

I realize a lot of citizens disagree with me.

We know that some who have been sentence to death for crimes were eventually found to be innocent. Mistakes are made even when the accused is given a 'fair' trial. How many suspected criminals killed by summary killers were innocent and they were denied a 'fair' trial.

What is the difference in Martial Law and summary killings? Both deny suspects of their international human rights. Politicians involved in or who encourage summary killing cannot guarantee laws will apply equally to all.

A society that does not demand that their police officers who shoot without legal justification face conviction are condoning summary killing. A policeman recently shot a young man in Chicago 16 times killing him. The young man is said to have had a knife in each hand while walking down the street. It took one year before the Chicago elected officials brought charges against the policeman and they only did so after pressure from the black community was put on them. How can any society justify 16 shots by one policeman in one victim?

The 6th Amendment states: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed…” The right to a jury trial was designed by our founders to be a fundamental right bestowed upon our citizens and a means to keep the government under control of the people.

When a defendant exercises his right to a jury trial, it is the jury of his peers that decides whether the defendant is guilty or not. In these circumstances a great deal of control is relinquished by the government and put into the hands of the citizens.

The right to trial by jury takes the control of the outcome of a criminal case away from the government and gives it to the citizens. This right, though it has its limitations, is essential in maintaining liberty and imposing restraint on the government.

Let us not forget the summary killings in the South perpetrated by the KKK. The membership of KKK consisted of a lot of Southern policemen and politicians. They were self-appointed vigilantes who regarded themselves as both outside and above the law when they perpetrated their crimes. Do we want to return to those days?

The KKK did largely bring their barbaric justice to the black communities in the south, but blacks were not the only ones lynched by the KKK. They lynched Jews, foreigners, rapist (black or white), northerners, wife beaters (black and white), Catholics, homosexuals, communists and thief’s (black and white). I am sure today drug dealers and drug users would be their victims. They were white men, consisting of a lot of politicians, that thought they knew best how to deal with society’s problems. Their illegal actions were accepted by the citizens out of fear of the blacks which then became fear of any and all suspected law breakers or people they disagreed with in general.

At an early age I was introduced to public officials acting as judge, jury and executors. I was twelve and went to spend the summer with relatives in Alabama. My cousin by marriage was the sheriff. One Saturday night his son and I were allowed to ride with him in the patrol car.  He arrested a young black man for “standing” on the corner in the downtown area at night. He put the young man in the back of his patrol car under the pretense of carrying him to jail.

On the way to the jail we stopped for coffee at the local café. He opened the back door of the patrol car and he told the Blackman to stay in the car while he drank coffee. The car door was left opened.  I kept watching the man from the café window and later I realized my cousin was watching to. I finally had the courage to ask what if he gets out of the car and runs away. His reply came with a hardy laugh, “I hope the ‘nigger’ is that stupid then I will shoot him and we do not have to take him to jail.” The young man was smart enough not to run and he was turned lose in the café parking lot. A few years later he was returning for the summer from college in Tuskegee and got off the bus on the highway and was taken by the KKK and lynched.  That is what they did to 'uppity niggers' that went to college. I have never forgotten that and have since had a real distaste for injustice regardless of who inflicts it - bullies, police officer, politicians, judges, religious leaders or citizens.