I don't know where this stuff comes from...
I was driving down the road today and began to think about the morality / ethics of the lottery. I have always thought that gambling was the same general kind of thing as the consumption of alcohol. It is not immoral per se, but it easily becomes sin when it takes control of part of a Christian's life. But many people consider both gambling and alcohol to be immoral on any terms. I know of a church where the staffers have agreed among themselves to completely abstain from the consumption of alcohol in order to avoid the taint that it might bring if someone who considered it immoral learned of their use.
On the subject of gambling, consider the following thought experiment:
Suppose you were a pastor of a conservative, evangelical church. And you found that someone had placed a lottery ticket in the offering plate. Would you check to see if it won anything?
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I heard of a pastor who bought a lottery ticket just on a whim because he had never done it before. He won $5,500.00. Pretty embarrased about actually winning, he sent his secretary to collect the winnings because he knew that winners names would be printed in the newspaper. She returned about two hours later and sheepishly entered his office.
"Did the ticklet actually win?" he asker her.
"Yes."
"Did they cut you a check?"
"Not exactly." she replied.
"What happened?"
"Well, when I gave them the ticket, they asked for my driver's lisence."
"And?"
She continued, "Before they give out the money, they check to see if you have any outstanding student loans."
"And?" he repeated.
"When I got up this morning, I still owed $5,800.00 on my college loans. Now I only owe $300.00"
The pastor laughed until tears ran down his face. "That is awesome!" he exclaimed. The pastor thought that this was such an obvious picture of the Lord's sense of humor that he told his entire congregation the following Sunday.
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