Sports Betting Has Become Too Prevalent for Christians to Ignore
“There is a reluctance among Christians to condone gambling but not enough opposition to condemn it outright. I think many Christians aren’t quite sure what to make of the morality of gambling.” - C.Today
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I think one of the challenges is that 1) we don't have a really good theology around this, and the Bible isn't super clear in this area. I think this article attempts it with varying degrees of success, and 2) I don't think we really are good at defining "sports betting"? Is the office fantasy league, sports betting? Is the office pool betting? where everyone drops in $5 and the money is spent on a super bowl party at the end of the season. I think we would all argue the middle income individual who travels to Vegas for the weekend and spends the entire weekend spending money that he probably doesn't have on gambling on college football matches is pretty damaging. But the office environment where everyone makes $250K or more per year, does a $10 pool on college championship brackets, is probably not preying on the weak, is not chasing after money, is not looking to get rich, is not laying up treasures on earth.... I think this is why the church struggles and isn't very clear on how to address the dangers of it.
Yeah, all that. It’s one of issues with a few really clear principles and then a lot of ambiguity.
So a lot of Romans 14. As with so many things, if our hearts are in the right place it goes a long way. Add in some good ol’ practical wisdom from Proverbs and I think you’re mostly going to draw the lines pretty well.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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