great joke

Gambling itself has been around for a very long time, and universally, the Church has taken a dim view of it. For example, an early second century sermon preached in a North African church contained the following description of gambling: "The game of dice is an obvious snare of the devil. He presides over the game in person, bringing to it the deadly venom of the serpent and even inducing ruin which when it is seen to be nothing, a great let down is brought about in the players." Down through history, key figures in Christianity have also held an unfavorable view of gambling. Augustine said, "The devil invented gambling." Martin Luther proclaimed, "Money won by gambling is not won without sin and self-seeking sin." John Calvin outlawed gambling in the city of Geneva. But why did these men and others in the Church reject gambling – why did they believe gambling to be sinful? First, gambling betrays the following internal attitudes: • 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 Second, from a philosophical perspective, gambling shows itself to be devoid of value and worth. Philosophically speaking, the nature of any "thing" can be known by the effects it produces. From an internal, personal standpoint, the attributes above show that gambling results in very poor personal effects. Externally, gambling shows itself to be no better, producing the following effects: • Addiction • Poverty • Crime • Dishonesty • Family strife and divorce • Escape into alcoholism • Exploitation of the poor When both its external and internal effects are examined, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that gambling demonstrates itself to be spiritually bankrupt. In the Old Testament, God specifically warned about the spirit behind gambling when He said, "But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in " (Isaiah 65:11-12 ). The phrase "set a table" means "to bring food to an idol." The Hebrew word for "Destiny" comes from the Hebrew word Meni, and it means "luck." Israel was literally worshipping the gods of luck and fortune and trusting them for their needs, rather than worshipping and trusting God. This is what people do today who immerse themselves in gambling. And because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, it is foolish thinking to believe His views on the matter have changed. I hope this helps to clarify certain notions about this topic.