Right or Wrong? Part 3

We continue our meditations from a radio ministry's sermon on gambling.

3. The vast majority of gamblers lose.

We haven't done research on this, but we suspect it's true. That's how casinos make a profit, after all. We've wondered in recent years why several casinos in Atlantic City have closed. Have more people realized they're losing, so they don't play anymore?  Or are people actually getting better at the games?

But here's our issue with that point. The minister tried to make comparisons with investing in business - yet statistics show most start-up businesses fail as well. They fail at a slower rate than gamblers (ten years vs. a ten-day junket), but 71 percent eventually fail.

But our link had an amazing note about which kind of business has the "best rate of success after [the] fifth year." It's religious organizations. In other words, doing things for God pays off!

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. - I Corinthians 3:6-7

The apostle Paul is referring here to church growth, with new people becoming converted. But there's a principle here that religious organizations should understand better than anyone - that it's only by God's grace and mercy that anything grows. If that's true with church membership, why shouldn't it be true with a business? Or even success at a poker table, for those who believe God?

4. Gambling transgresses honesty. The preacher called it thievery "by mutual consent."

This may be true in back-alley dice-rolling and basement poker nights.  But many poker rooms and casinos take pains to ensure everything is on the up-and-up - like the day we had to take a one-blind penalty for acting too soon in a tournament.

A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies. - Proverbs 12:17

This point really comes to your personal ethics. Are you honest with your words and actions at a poker table? Or do you lie (if that's too harsh, "shade the truth" a bit) to get your way?

It's our policy always to be truthful during poker tournaments. Sometimes that means saying nothing, when an opponent asks probing questions about our hand.

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. - Ecclesiastes 5:2

We think it's better to say nothing and protect your reputation than tell a lie and risk ruining it.

(NOTE: This is a series of posts; keep checking here for the next part.)