I believe the same rationale you use, "this is not going to end well", could have been used for legal gambling in general, couldn't it? Sure, grown folks should be able to throw their money away for whatever reason they choose, but has gambling been a moral positive for our society overall? I'll go ahead and throw in legal alcohol sales too. How many individuals and families have been literally destroyed by legal gambling and alcohol? Does the fact that there are those who 'can handle it' relieve us, the church, from "speaking up" against those things?
I used to be of the mind that drinking was absolutely forbidden in Scripture. That was an easy interpretation to come up with because I also used to abuse alcohol as an early 20-something before I got married and actually got saved instead of just being a church member. All good Southern Baptists are called on to rail against alcohol. But as I grew up in my faith, I came to believe that alcohol was not forbidden in Scripture, but being drunk was. That's easily defensible from God's word. But...I do not believe that's the end of the discussion. Scripture also says to avoid even the appearance of evil, and I could hardly sit in fromt of my kids and drink alcohol, or gamble, and HOPE that the elements of those two habits/practices that can become so self destructive never became challenges for my kids, who might start the same practices because they saw dad do it (and by implication, approve of it in their lives too). I think that 1 Thes. 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil", is easily applicable to drinking and gambling. That particular passage in God's word is at the end of a list of very pratical list "habits" that every Christian should practice. To associate "abstain from" with alcohol and gambling is no stretch, imho.
Look, I could easily talk myself into thinking that a tasty mixed drink here and there and trying my chance at winning a billion dollars in the lottery wouldn't hurt a thing. But it MIGHT hurt someone who saw me, a Jesus-follower, approve of it by doing it. Erick, we'll still see each other in heaven and praise the Lord together for eternity, but "this isn't going to end well" has already played out in our society with alcohol and gambling. It doesn't take a Biblical scholar or trained sociologist to understand that sports betting is in the same category. Love you brother.
Churches don’t need to speak up for things that are common sense. A Christian should be setting the example by not being at the craps table, not smoking, not drinking, not cursing . Some men believe pornography is okay but it is adultery.
If it’s not acceptable during a church service you shouldn’t do it and you don’t need the church to speak up.
As explained by Apostle Paul Romans, and other books, in the latter days (yep you are now there). Churches have gone secular to draw the crowds rather than just preach the Gospel. Good has become evil and vice versa. Churches Ordains women, homos, ballroom dancing, and recreational basketball, etc. Might as well just call most of those organizations community service and activities, and eliminate the word church. Most young people no longer go to church.
Back when I was raising my kids, recreational sports did not schedule games, tournaments, etc., on Sundays and Wednesday nights. That is all history now. The spiritual genre has gone 180 and the addictions thereof are mostly secular. Written on the wall again, mene, mene, tekel, Parsin, is where mankind now reside.
Money now controls in life. It controls the politicians, the contributors thereto, and might say mankind. Money is now destroying college sports and lead by football, as in NIls, and portals, and coaches being paid many millions. I will not elaborate or give a litany, but as Paul Harvey would say; now for the rest of the story ( It is in The BOOK).
As I told my eager gambling friend one evening at dinner in an out-of-the-way restaurant in Vegas, “Don, you realize, they pay for all these lights and cocktail waitresses in these casinos SOMEHOW, don’t you?” He was “only down $1800” at that point and had two days left before we had to head back to Georgia. He never admitted what his total was but if he had been up he would have been proud to let me know. I didn’t loose a penny because I didn’t play anything, ever, in the 8 or 10 times I was there on business.
For the first and last time in my life, I joined a fantasy NFL league because my two sons put it together and wanted a family experience. I appreciate that I got to learn about how it all worked but I won't be doing it again. I came in second to last after being 2nd and 3rd most of the season because in two game-weeks toward the end of the season, I was too busy and failed to move on critical players that were out of service because injured or on a bye week. My wife came in last because as she said, she only picked the players that she liked after watching the series Hard Knocks... reality TV about NFL teams.
My problems with betting/gambling in general is a more universal consideration about where we have been headed over the last several decades with respect to our economic - and as a result, our societal and cultural - direction.
Gambling is a form of looting. It is non-productive behavior. It is not additive to the productive essence of humanity. It is entertainment only at best, but at worst it reduces the amount of time people would otherwise have for productive endeavors.
If you consider the direction we have gone after our management elites corrupted the concepts of capitalism to mean corporate profit by any means (here China, take all our industry and jobs), and our administrative elites went along with it because those damn independent producers and their workers tended to vote against the administrative elites.
We just don't make, build, grow or fix enough real things anymore. We gamble and rent-seek on what already exists... trying to extract the last dollar out of the next consolidation or optimization... and we consume massive amounts of entertainment with our time that should otherwise be used for productive activities.
The young people don't want to work. The reason? It cuts into their entertainment time... including gambling on-line.
We need a national movement to get back to our productive essence. We need policies that provide disincentives for corporate consolidation, and incentives for new business starts and small domestic producers. We need significant regulatory reform to open more paths to careers that produce... in effect replacing the wasteful entertainment gaming with the game of life.
Legalized sports gambling is a piece of a bigger sickness we have... one that will destroy us if not remedied.
Unfortunately, even your comment about having a friend who (somehow) makes a living betting on sports, is fuel to the fire of the spreading epidemic. It actually allows people to think they can do it too. They cannot. I bet sports for many years. Over the long term, there is a very small percentage of breaking even, much less any chance of making a living at it. Beyond game fixing, the ONLY chance for sustained success at sports betting is continuous and consistent access to inside information, or use a sophisticated computer algorithm. There are sophisticated groups who watch and closely follow foreign betting trends using computer algorithms that are able to make money betting against the foreign action.
I agree with you Erickson but its hard to tell someone the house will win the majority of the time. After I took probability and statistics, I remember my professor stating after this class you will realize why the casino owner are rich. Your odds of winning are very low and unfortunately, states have done this with the lottery.
I see adds for PrizePicks on Max, it is clearly targeting blacks; and WSB's Shelley Wynter hocking it contributing to the stereotype. I didn't know he was black until he told the audience, I thought he was Italian.
“That's The Truth About Las Vegas. We're The Only Winners. The Players Don't Stand A Chance.”
-- Sam "Ace" Rothstein, Casino
I believe the same rationale you use, "this is not going to end well", could have been used for legal gambling in general, couldn't it? Sure, grown folks should be able to throw their money away for whatever reason they choose, but has gambling been a moral positive for our society overall? I'll go ahead and throw in legal alcohol sales too. How many individuals and families have been literally destroyed by legal gambling and alcohol? Does the fact that there are those who 'can handle it' relieve us, the church, from "speaking up" against those things?
I used to be of the mind that drinking was absolutely forbidden in Scripture. That was an easy interpretation to come up with because I also used to abuse alcohol as an early 20-something before I got married and actually got saved instead of just being a church member. All good Southern Baptists are called on to rail against alcohol. But as I grew up in my faith, I came to believe that alcohol was not forbidden in Scripture, but being drunk was. That's easily defensible from God's word. But...I do not believe that's the end of the discussion. Scripture also says to avoid even the appearance of evil, and I could hardly sit in fromt of my kids and drink alcohol, or gamble, and HOPE that the elements of those two habits/practices that can become so self destructive never became challenges for my kids, who might start the same practices because they saw dad do it (and by implication, approve of it in their lives too). I think that 1 Thes. 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil", is easily applicable to drinking and gambling. That particular passage in God's word is at the end of a list of very pratical list "habits" that every Christian should practice. To associate "abstain from" with alcohol and gambling is no stretch, imho.
Look, I could easily talk myself into thinking that a tasty mixed drink here and there and trying my chance at winning a billion dollars in the lottery wouldn't hurt a thing. But it MIGHT hurt someone who saw me, a Jesus-follower, approve of it by doing it. Erick, we'll still see each other in heaven and praise the Lord together for eternity, but "this isn't going to end well" has already played out in our society with alcohol and gambling. It doesn't take a Biblical scholar or trained sociologist to understand that sports betting is in the same category. Love you brother.
I will be happy to treat your gambling addiction and I’m taking new patients.
You are right. It's a big problem that will only get worse.
Churches don’t need to speak up for things that are common sense. A Christian should be setting the example by not being at the craps table, not smoking, not drinking, not cursing . Some men believe pornography is okay but it is adultery.
If it’s not acceptable during a church service you shouldn’t do it and you don’t need the church to speak up.
If your standard for life is “if it’s not acceptable during a church service you shouldn’t do it,” then I guess you’ve never had sex with your spouse.
Good Point. I have had sex with my wife for 50 years.
ESPN is owned by Disney which is majority owned by a Chinese company.
As explained by Apostle Paul Romans, and other books, in the latter days (yep you are now there). Churches have gone secular to draw the crowds rather than just preach the Gospel. Good has become evil and vice versa. Churches Ordains women, homos, ballroom dancing, and recreational basketball, etc. Might as well just call most of those organizations community service and activities, and eliminate the word church. Most young people no longer go to church.
Back when I was raising my kids, recreational sports did not schedule games, tournaments, etc., on Sundays and Wednesday nights. That is all history now. The spiritual genre has gone 180 and the addictions thereof are mostly secular. Written on the wall again, mene, mene, tekel, Parsin, is where mankind now reside.
Money now controls in life. It controls the politicians, the contributors thereto, and might say mankind. Money is now destroying college sports and lead by football, as in NIls, and portals, and coaches being paid many millions. I will not elaborate or give a litany, but as Paul Harvey would say; now for the rest of the story ( It is in The BOOK).
As I told my eager gambling friend one evening at dinner in an out-of-the-way restaurant in Vegas, “Don, you realize, they pay for all these lights and cocktail waitresses in these casinos SOMEHOW, don’t you?” He was “only down $1800” at that point and had two days left before we had to head back to Georgia. He never admitted what his total was but if he had been up he would have been proud to let me know. I didn’t loose a penny because I didn’t play anything, ever, in the 8 or 10 times I was there on business.
For the first and last time in my life, I joined a fantasy NFL league because my two sons put it together and wanted a family experience. I appreciate that I got to learn about how it all worked but I won't be doing it again. I came in second to last after being 2nd and 3rd most of the season because in two game-weeks toward the end of the season, I was too busy and failed to move on critical players that were out of service because injured or on a bye week. My wife came in last because as she said, she only picked the players that she liked after watching the series Hard Knocks... reality TV about NFL teams.
My problems with betting/gambling in general is a more universal consideration about where we have been headed over the last several decades with respect to our economic - and as a result, our societal and cultural - direction.
Gambling is a form of looting. It is non-productive behavior. It is not additive to the productive essence of humanity. It is entertainment only at best, but at worst it reduces the amount of time people would otherwise have for productive endeavors.
If you consider the direction we have gone after our management elites corrupted the concepts of capitalism to mean corporate profit by any means (here China, take all our industry and jobs), and our administrative elites went along with it because those damn independent producers and their workers tended to vote against the administrative elites.
We just don't make, build, grow or fix enough real things anymore. We gamble and rent-seek on what already exists... trying to extract the last dollar out of the next consolidation or optimization... and we consume massive amounts of entertainment with our time that should otherwise be used for productive activities.
The young people don't want to work. The reason? It cuts into their entertainment time... including gambling on-line.
We need a national movement to get back to our productive essence. We need policies that provide disincentives for corporate consolidation, and incentives for new business starts and small domestic producers. We need significant regulatory reform to open more paths to careers that produce... in effect replacing the wasteful entertainment gaming with the game of life.
Legalized sports gambling is a piece of a bigger sickness we have... one that will destroy us if not remedied.
Unfortunately, even your comment about having a friend who (somehow) makes a living betting on sports, is fuel to the fire of the spreading epidemic. It actually allows people to think they can do it too. They cannot. I bet sports for many years. Over the long term, there is a very small percentage of breaking even, much less any chance of making a living at it. Beyond game fixing, the ONLY chance for sustained success at sports betting is continuous and consistent access to inside information, or use a sophisticated computer algorithm. There are sophisticated groups who watch and closely follow foreign betting trends using computer algorithms that are able to make money betting against the foreign action.
A lot of what we’re doing or allowing is bound to end up in a bad place. Sports betting is just one of the many…
Then ESPN says only bet what you can afford to lose. Then there hands are clean
I agree with you Erickson but its hard to tell someone the house will win the majority of the time. After I took probability and statistics, I remember my professor stating after this class you will realize why the casino owner are rich. Your odds of winning are very low and unfortunately, states have done this with the lottery.
I see adds for PrizePicks on Max, it is clearly targeting blacks; and WSB's Shelley Wynter hocking it contributing to the stereotype. I didn't know he was black until he told the audience, I thought he was Italian.
Vegas wasn't built on winners.
Neither was Hartford, CT, for those who think they can win at the insurance game (side-eye to all those folks pushing annuities these days)
You may see the beer commercial, but the hosts are not encouraging you to get drunk during their broadcast...
Oh now you've done it, we going to have scantily clad women coming on to the broadcast stage during the show and pour beers for the broadcasters.