GAMBLING - A GAME CHANGER

 

I am going to publish this though it is still a draft, a work in progress, but it has enough information in it that I believe you can follow, if interested.

GAMBLING - A GAME CHANGER

When I was young I asked my mother if there was anything in the Bible about gambling. She thought for a few seconds and said, "Well, there is the verse 'A fool and his money are soon parted.'" That was the end of the discussion, so I went years wondering if there was more, especially when gambling became legalized. It wasn't always legalized. I remember one state voting against it but it was allowed anyway with promises to help fund schools. To my knowledge, that has never happened.

Though the Bible doesn't specifcally mention gambling, other than casting lots, it does talk about wasting money as being done by fools. There are other Bible teachings that indirectly condemn gambling as something detrimental to family and society. Questions a person needs to ask himself or herself before gambling are:

Does it take time away from the family?

Does it take away resources needed for the family? I Timothy 5:8 - Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Does it take time away from God whether in thought or deed? Matthew 6:24 - “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Are you willing to take the risk of becoming addicted? It is a very difficult addiction to break. Any addiction goes against God's teachings. Genesis 4: 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

Do you get a high over a small win even though you have spent six times more than the win? 2 Peter 2:19 - They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

Do you have remorse after losing more than you gained?

Do the effects of gambling make you do things you wouldn't ordinarily do or to entertain thoughts you never would allow to enter your mind before gambling demanded your time and money? Just remember, the father of lies is behind this evil and all other addictions.

Is gambling ill-gotten gain? Proverbs 1:19 KJV - So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. 

“‘They will throw their silver into the streets,

and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean.

Their silver and gold

will not be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
It will not satisfy their hunger
or fill their stomachs,
for it has caused them to stumble into sin.

Does it have the appearance of evil? 1 Thessalonians 5:22 - Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Do you encourage others to participate, even though they may not have the means or are weak-willed and prime for addiction? Romans 14:21 - "It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall." King James Version words the same verse a little differently: "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." I have known people who went gambling as a fun night out and were hooked right away into continuing until they lost their everything including home and family.

Are you setting a poor example for your children or others? Matthew 18:6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." NIV

Are you influenced by others also gambling, who are also drinking to excess and possibly philandering? 1 Corinthians 15:33 - Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Proverbs 1:10, 13-16b,19:
My son, if sinful men entice you,
do not give in to them.
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
14 cast lots with us;
we will all share the loot”—
15 my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into evil,
19 Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the life of those who get it.

I Timothy 6: 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 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.

Luke 12: 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Luke 12: 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Colossians 3:5 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Proverbs 13:11 - Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

I Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;

Hebrews 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.”

I Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

20 Proverbs 28:20 - A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.

Mark 8:36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

Ezekiel 7:19 - “‘They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin.

(Copied from internet, source unknown):
Cognitive Distortions Gambling is an ineffective and unreliable way of acquiring money. For someone to become addicted to gambling, their cognitions or thought processes must become distorted to the point where this central truth eludes them.

Ten Types of Cognitive Distortion Many problem gamblers’ thoughts are distorted in the following ways: 

1. Attribution –- Problem gamblers may believe their winnings occur as a result of their efforts and not randomly. 
2. Magical thinking –- Problem gamblers may believe that thinking or hoping in a certain way will bring about a win or that random outcomes can be predicted. They may also believe they are special in some way and that their specialness will be rewarded with a win. 
3. Superstitions –- Problem gamblers may believe that lucky charms, certain articles of clothing, ways of sitting, etc., may cause a win or a loss. 
4. Systems –- Problem gamblers may believe that by learning or figuring out a certain system (a pattern of betting in a particular way), the house advantage can be overcome. Although professional gamblers were more able to predict payouts with earlier technologies, which relied on more predictable patterns of payouts, this required many hours of careful observation, and the machine always kept more than it paid out. The increased computerization of gambling machinery has ensured that wins are now truly random, so it is impossible to predict a payout, and, of course, it is still heavily stacked in favor of the “house.” 
5. Selective recall -– Problem gamblers tend to remember their wins and forget or gloss over their losses. 
6. Personification of a gambling device –- Problem gamblers sometimes attribute human characteristics to inanimate objects, which are part of the gambling process, thinking that a particular machine is punishing, rewarding or taunting them. 
7. Near miss beliefs –- Problem gamblers reduce the number of losing experiences in their minds by thinking they “almost” won. This justifies further attempts to win. Near misses can be as stimulating, or even more stimulating, than actual wins. 
8. Chasing losses –- Problem gamblers believe that they have not really lost...

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