Lottery Tickets

[Guest LadyC]

I am sticking to my first post gambling is like drinking.

It ok if you do a little.

It is not ok if you over indulge.

both can be destructive only after you over indulge.

 

Destruction of family life or society comes in many forms.

where does the money go said one post ?

 

If you make a purchase at Walmart are you not helping promote the homosexual life style as they are the biggest giver to that cause. 

Same with taking kids to disney wolrd they promote it to.

If some one buys a few lotto tickets or plays a few one arm bandits its not self destruction therefore it is not

wrong. It was done for the fun of it win or lose there was fun associated with it not greed, not a bad thing but there was no destruction of anything.

 

many forms of destruction over indulging is the key I think.

Common sense,  does not allow greed to have control

 

i took a break to eat lunch and watch a movie. (i shudder to think of what causes the money i just gave to the hollywood machine might have gone to support... ) but in coming back, i decided that this comment from coheir says things as well as i can, and saves me the time and energy.

[Guest]

 

Quick Pick

 

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

 

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21

[Guest LadyC]

ok, i can't help myself. for those who sincerely believe all that was stated a few posts earlier, i have to ask... have you ever been to a casino?

 

the lure of money... the free stipend.... the free drinks to keep you sitting there so you can be lured deeper and deeper into depravity.

 

here's a realistic view for the VAST MAJORITY of gamblers..... and this applies for anyone who is not considered a "whale" or "high roller". you go into a casino. you place your bets. if you're lucky, a waitress will arrive with the offer of a free drink sometime within the first hour. she then brings you a 4 oz glass of a very watered down beverage. (if you're drinking a soda, you'll get maybe a sip of soda from a glass full of ice.) if you don't give her a minimum of a $2 tip per drink, i can promise you won't see her for at least another hour. in fact, even with a $2 tip per drink, you're not likely to see her again for close to that. now if you want those drinks to keep flowing freely, you'd better be tipping about $5 a drink. 

 

do you know what denomination of money the majority of slot machines in a casino accept? nickles. of course there are a lot of penny slots too, and a lot of quarter slots. but mostly nickle machines. in comparison, there are very few $1 or higher machines. most table games start with a minimum $5 bet. anything higher is way more money than the average gambler is willing to spend for more than a couple of hands. occasionally you'll find a $2 table. rare, though. move on towards the high roller areas and you'll see tables with $100 minimum bets. but you won't see more than one or two. now, if you want to watch from behind a glass partition, you can watch the whales playing hands that start with a minimum of a thousand or more. but unless you're in that category, you're not going to get inside that glassed room.

 

and unless you're in that category, you're not going to be given any "stipends", either. for the average gambler, it takes a long, long time to gain any free comps beyond a free buffet. it's based on points, which are based on some mathematical formula of how much you have spent in the casino. to get a free $10 meal, you've spent a lot more than that at the tables or machines.

 

the views expressed here about casinos in general are really not realistic. sorry, but they just aren't. no matter how much research you do by looking into sites that spell out the horrors, it's never going to reflect the whole truth. this ain't the movies. guido isn't waiting around to take you out and break your kneecaps if you owe the house too much. ha! unless you're a whale, you're not going to be extended one dime of credit. and guido? he's going to take what you owe them right off your credit card, not off your flesh and blood.

 

i find it interesting that so many of us try to "rationalize the sin of gambling", while others close their eyes completely to the sin of passing judgement, assigning intent to another's heart, being legalistic and demeaning of others...  

 

ya know, i'm thinking about now that Shenyi deserves an award or something for this:

 

 

Casinos make money by making sure you over-indulge.  They are in the business of making sure people overindulge and lose proper judgment.

 So does McDonalds. Would you like to Super Size that, today?

Any business will do everything they can to make sure you spend more money. What you have is NOT ENOUGH. BUY MORE. You know, you really need a bigger house. And a faster, more something something car.  We'll take your money now, thanks.

Not exclusive to casinos, sorry.

 

 

Here you say gambling is a sin... Again. Just because it has the potential to harm doesn't make it a sin

Yes it does.

 

 

So...alcohol is a sin? Is shopping a sin? Is television a sin? Is the internet a sin?  All these things have a potential do harm.

These things may, at the worst, be unwise. Especially if we can't show restraint. That makes them a bad idea, not a sin.

I believe that sin isn't necessarily always a specific act, but the spirit by which we do it. If I'm drinking alcohol, that's not a sin, but if I'm only 15 years old and I've discovered my parents stash, I am acting out of disobedience and rebellion. That makes it a sin. If I'm spending $50 at a slot machine, it isn't a sin, but if I'm doing it because I'm too lazy to get a real job and I am looking for a way to get easy money, that makes it a sin. If I feel the Holy Spirit's conviction about going to see a certain movie, either due to the cost or the content, and I go anyway, that is a sin. The movie itself isn't sinful, and if I impose my conviction on my friend, that becomes legalism, which is plenty harmful.  Throwing a stone isn't sinful, unless I'm pridefully aiming for the speck in my brother's eye...

 

  Since only God knows the spirit behind my actions, He really is the only one who can judge.

 

 

Just my two cents.
 

 

[Guest shiloh357]

i find it interesting that so many of us try to "rationalize the sin of gambling", while others close their eyes completely to the sin of passing judgement, assigning intent to another's heart, being legalistic and demeaning of others...

 

I am not judging anyone. I haven't condemned anyone  or questioned their salvation, no matter how hard you try to portray it like that, and no matter how hard you try to sanitize what goes on in casinos, I have listened to firsthand accounts and the information is out there.   I think you are trying rationalize it because the other option is to admit that it is what it is. 

[Guest LadyC]

no, shiloh. i never said you questioned anyone's salvation. but you have repeatedly questioned people's motives, their ability to control themselves, and their state of denial. you've listened to firsthand accounts? really. from who? oh, that's right. addicts. you acknowledge you have no firsthand experience in or with casinos, nor does anyone in your sphere of family or friends. but in your ministry, you've listened to such accounts. and online, you've read other accounts.

 

well shiloh, i'm not going to say that any of the addicts you've ministered to are lying. far from it. i believe that every word of their experience is probably exactly as it happened to them. i'm also telling you, from my firsthand knowledge of casinos and countless people who play at them, those whom you have counselled are NOT the average, not typical, and are not representative of the majority. period.

 

i'm not sanitizing anything. i've acknowledged repeatedly that there are those who have problems with gambling, that it destroys lives and homes and families. but that is not what happens for the average person. even the person i babysat for who was known to blow entire $2k paychecks (on a regular basis) was never given credit, rooms, or other comps. it takes a whale of a lot (no pun intended) for an addict to get to the point of those you've apparently counselled. and that only accounts for a small percentage.

 

on the other hand, you keep asserting things such as gambling being a bigger problem (or becoming a bigger problem) than all other addictions. really? you even said it was going to surpass porn addiction. i'd laugh if it wasn't so sad that you're trying so hard to persuade people that your opinion is the only one that matters that you're going to such lengths. those are beyond bold statements. they have absolutely no truth to them.

 

i think it's very sad that people get sucked into gambling as an addiction. but shiloh, i hope one day you'll realize that the activity isn't the issue. the person is the issue. some people have addictive personalities. you tell me how many of the gambling addicts you've ministered to have NOT also struggled with drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sex addiction in any one of its many forms. can you name a single one? not likely. the problem isn't an activity, the problem is a fallen human nature that some will succomb to. 

 

now i don't know how many people there are in the world, nor do i know how many of them suffer from any sort of addictive behaviour. but i DO know that as prevalent as addiction is, in ANY form, they still represent a minority of the world's population.

 

you say i'm trying to rationalize it because the only other option is to admit what it is. no, brother... that's not what i'm doing. it's what you're doing. you're so hellbent on insisting that if YOU see it as a sin, then that is what it IS for everybody, that you can't see that you're blinded by your own personal bias. you are unwilling to accept the fact (even as a possibility, although really it is a cold hard fact) that not everybody is an addict waiting to happen, and not all who gamble are partaking in sin.

 

i wish you well, shiloh, i do. i know you have a good heart and good intentions. i think it's wonderful that you work with those who do fall victim to their addictive personalities. i hope someday you'll recognize who, or what, is really to blame for their downfall. 

 

by the way, a good researcher takes into account ALL sides of a story, not just the ones that support his view.

[ncn]

I have locked this thread

Personally I think it has run its course but I will put it under review with other servants.

 

Nigel.