okay now that I've got a blog, I might as well make use of it...
Christians and gambling. There seems to be a fine line between playing a card game using points and using real money or even chips/tokens, even if it's just for fun. Sure its just a game, and it even enhances it. But is it necessary to use real money/tokens? From an observer's point of view, it definitely enhances the game in the wrong way...it makes it look like something straight out of a casino. And what connotations are associated with casinos? Gambling. Ungodliness. People with no self control. The list goes on...
Maybe I'm ranting on like this because of my upbringing. Then again, maybe it's justified. Feel free to comment.
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12 comments:
I guess it pays to work out what exactly is wrong with gambling. What is the difference between gambling and competition? investing? games of chance?
Hmmm...what about drinking games?
is this because we were using Yao's coin stash when playing Texas Hold'em?
Aaron: True. I guess with investing and competitions, you can at least have a degree of control over what happens: you can at least choose to invest in a good company, or you can at least prepare for a competition by training for it.
Viv: Drinking games using alcohol? Personally I would be against it.
Nate: You are correct, that was the event which sparked my chain of thought.
sorry mate, but our "gambling" thing was just for fun. To us gambling is trivial. But if it causes people to stumble then we won't play cards...
Yeah, but what makes gambling wrong? Is it always wrong?
Should we even play games of chance?
Investing and gambling both involve calculated risks. You can train or prepare for competitions, and you can do likewise for gambling (eg. betting in sports). So what's the difference?
What's the difference between games of chance that involve money and those that do not?
There are several different things involved in gambling and we need to discern them. The main things we need to look at are: money, risk and methods of wealth creation.
I guess as an addendum:
You linked casinos with gambling, ungodliness and people with no self-control. I would suggest that lack of self-control isn't the main (or at least only) reason why gambling would be displeasing to God.
You can lack self-control in many areas. In relation to money, being a spendthrift, a miser, a covet or greedy all amounts to idolising money.
Nate: I'll talk to you more about this later on
Aaron: some interesting points raised there. However, like I said at CG, we may be focusing on two different issues here...
Comment deleted: who wrote a comment and deleted it?
Sorry, I wrote a comment and deleted it. I just fixed up some syntactical ambiguities in the last comment I posted.
Are we really talking about two different issues?
Yes I think we are. But enough of this matter...time for a new post.
No no no. Not so easy my friend. You need to be just and justified in your post. I think you need to think about gambling and the Christian biblical understanding of the issue. Your use of rhetoric, subjectivism and underlying assumptions must be up open for critique. Use your words carefully on this blog, such as "Feel free to comment."
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