Depressed senior man in shirt and suspenders leaning his head at the poker table with money and gambling chips laying all around him<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nPerhaps you\u2019ve notice that there have been two pandemics going on in the last couple of years, and one of them is even promoted by national TV networks, major sports leagues, politicians, whole states trying to raise money for public education and much more.\u00a0 I\u2019m referring to the plague of opportunities to waste what little money you have by gambling.\u00a0 We are a very long way from the days when we were scandalized by Pete Rose because he bet on baseball, and these are not better days as a result.\u00a0 Gone are the days when in my home state of N.C. the Baptists and Methodists banded together and lobbied the state officials until they killed any attempts to pass laws to promote gambling (except for some reason on Indian reservations).\u00a0 So, you may be asking, what exactly is wrong with gambling?\u00a0 My answer is a lot.<\/p>\n
Well let\u2019s start with the fact that for many if not most participants gambling is as addictive as taking opioids.\u00a0 This is why there is an organization called Gambler\u2019s Anonymous. Like addiction to alcohol and other sorts of drugs, this behavior can ruin entire families, steal children\u2019s inheritance, and ultimately land someone in prison, because there are as many forms of illegal gambling as legal gambling, and no the latter did not cause the former to dry up.<\/p>\n
Then there is the whole premise of gambling\u2014- namely I would like to try and get a lot while only putting in a little. Of course this premise also applies to playing the stock market as well, and what it undermines is the whole notion that there should be fair compensation for good work.\u00a0 Gambling severs the necessary connection between doing something useful that benefits society and being compensated for doing so.\u00a0 Gambling is purely a selfish pursuit, indeed sometimes pursued \u2018so I won\u2019t have to work\u2019!\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 Forget about being a good citizen and helping the community, this is all about padding one\u2019s bank account without having to work.\u00a0 As St. Paul once said, \u2018let the one who will not work, not eat\u2019. Underlying all of this shady behavior is often one of the seven deadly sins\u2014 greed.\u00a0 It says a lot about how increasingly corrupt our society has become that we have best-selling books entitled things like \u2018GREED is Good!\u2019.\u00a0 That whole attitude is the opposite of the virtue known as self-sacrificial love.<\/p>\nAnd then there are the facts. Gambling all too often robs from the poor, and gives to the rich owners of casinos, of betting apps, etc.\u00a0 Very often the very people who can\u2019t afford to gamble, sometimes out of desperation for their situation, turn to gambling.\u00a0 And indeed the whole way lotteries are run promotes greed.\u00a0 When there is a 50 million dollar jackpot, instead of dividing it to 50 winners, what do lotteries tend to do?\u00a0 They give the grand prize to exactly one person with one ticket, or occasionally one group of people who bought the one winning ticket.\u00a0 This is despicable, and it simply further promotes bad behavior\u2014- all in the name of a good cause!\u00a0 Education.\u00a0 Do you hear educators protesting\u2014 \u2018oh that\u2019s immoral!\u2019 Nope. They call it a useful sin tax.\u00a0 Forgive me but I thought we were supposed to be stopping sin, not incentivizing it in the name of a good cause. Taxing sin only enables more sin, but some will say it\u2019s the lesser of two evils.<\/p>\n
What is especially pernicious is those sports channels that are targeting younger watchers with their other hands, while at the same time promoting gambling through games like Fan Duel etc.\u00a0 And we have even the announcers during the game promoting this, including former sports stars that people admire.\u00a0 Shame on all ya\u2019ll!!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen the lives of the poor which have been further ruined by gambling.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen the homes broken apart by gambling. Just go spend some time with the Salvation Army folks, and get them to tell you the tales of some of the people they work to help get out of poverty every single day.\u00a0 It\u2019s heartbreaking.\u00a0 \u00a0Let me be clear that I have no problem with playing games from time to time like Fantasy Football, if it\u2019s played just for fun.\u00a0 What I do have a problem with is playing such games in order to \u2018make it rain\u2019 (i.e. make money).\u00a0 This is no way to earn your keep, and promote healthy work habits and be a good example to your family and friends.\u00a0 And last but not least\u2013 gambling is not in any way a Christian form of behavior.\u00a0 Just because it is increasingly legal in many forms doesn\u2019t make it moral or ethical.<\/p>\n
Think about these things.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perhaps you\u2019ve notice that there have been two pandemics going on in the last couple of years, and one of them is even promoted by national TV networks, major sports leagues, politicians, whole states trying to raise money for public education and much more.\u00a0 I\u2019m referring to the plague of opportunities to waste what little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n