Next Friday will be five years since "Black Friday," when the U.S. Justice Department shut down several leading online poker sites. They were shut down in essence for the same reason several poker rooms in our city closed earlier this year - requiring money to play cash games or tournaments.
Some people are led to greatly exaggerate what happened. We found one columnist who declared:
Tens of thousands of Americans lost a basic freedom that day – while others lost their livelihoods.
We agree that some people lost a lot of money, when their online bankrolls fell into government hands. But really now -- did people "lose a basic freedom"? Absolutely not. There are still plenty of websites where people can play poker. They can do it for free, and even win money doing it - although admittedly the stakes usually are much smaller.
We're going to guess the lost "freedom" referred to by the writer is the ability to gamble online. While we've entered live tournaments and won some money for nearly nine years, we would ask: do you really need to gamble?
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:19
We believe God created everything, so He ultimately owns it all. And we believe God is loving enough to supply people's needs. But do you have enough faith to believe God will do that without gambling money on it?
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land.... - Isaiah 58:11
Some poker players might interpret this verse to mean a big-money tournament in Las Vegas. But seriously: God is willing to provide for you. But it may require taking the biggest risk of all - even bigger than going all-in with pocket 3's. It could mean giving God control over all aspects of your life. We'll dig deeper into that in our next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment