Lottery – Wanna Bet?

Just this morning the Governor of Alabama proposed letting the citizens of Alabama decide on a State Lottery. His claim is that this “volunteer tax” will help fund Medicaid, Law Enforcement, and other State programs. He cites that our bordering states all have a lottery and that we are losing lottery sales to those states.

Before you voice your opinion on a State-wide Lottery, allow me to give you some notes on gambling:

1. What about Christian Benevolence? Working so you can give (through the Church, other charities, to individuals, via taxes) – Ephesians 4:28
2. Lotteries prey on the elderly and poor. These are the people who stand in line for tickets using the money they need for the basic necessities of life. – Zechariah 7:9-10
3. Gambling plays on our greed (covetousness). We play not to give, but to get what others lost while gambling. Luke 12:15
4. Covetousness is idolatry – Colossians 3:5
5. Gambling displays a discontent and distrust of God – Philippians 4:11, 19

Here is what John MacArthur said in Exposing the Ten Pillars of Gambling:

“Gambling is the result of post-modern pessimism, the hopelessness of practical atheism, that says, ‘there is no God, no hope, no future, no reason, no rationality – just luck.’ (Gambling) succeeds in a mood  . . . Of relativism and atheism, but it doesn’t belong with Biblical Christianity.”

Keep these thoughts in mind as our state considers this dangerous road.

-Scott