Posted on 03/27/2005 12:54:56 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
Although there was nothing wrong with the resolution to legalize a state lottery to fund education, there are also legitimate reasons to oppose it.
Not that it matters: The Senate Judiciary Committee clubbed that baby seal last week.
Senators said they worried the resolution didn't outline how the money should be spent, or that a state lottery would compete with casinos.
Some said they worried poor people would be tempted to buy lottery tickets they couldn't afford in convenience stores.
Good thing there's no video poker machines at 7-Eleven. Oh, wait...
And some, like Assemblyman Garn Mabey, said he was against a lottery because his faith -- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka the Mormons -- opposes gambling.
And boy, he's not joking. Here's Mormon Media Manager Kim Farah: "Experience has clearly shown gambling to be harmful to the human spirit, financially destructive of individuals and families and detrimental to the moral climate of communities."
It would be hard to confuse that with the mission statement of the Nevada Resort Association.
But it does raise an interesting question that claws at the separation of church and state: If a devout Mormon accepts that it is his duty to vote the way the church tells him to vote, doesn't his religion then become a political issue?
And while it's not just limited to Mormons and gambling -- plenty of Catholics had to wrestle in 2004 with Roman Catholic Church statements that support for a pro-choice candidate was a sin -- the gambling question is particularly relevant to Nevada.
Despite the church's strong teaching, Mormons have held jobs in the casino industry from the tables on up, and at least one Mormon, Richard Bunker, was president of the Nevada Resort Association.
But if Farah's statement is taken at face value, are not good Mormons fundamentally at odds with the state's No. 1 industry? Mormon settlers tried unsuccessfully to tame the desert, but Las Vegas didn't come into its own until gambling was legalized.
Alan Alda, in a star turn as a California senator nominated for president on the flagging NBC series "The West Wing," last week ran smack into this dilemma when reporters started wondering why he doesn't go to church. (The simple answer: He just doesn't believe it.) At the end of the episode, he's promising to answer all political questions, but not religious ones.
But if your religion and your politics are not so easily separated, don't voters have the right to ask about your religion? If you're going to follow your church's teachings on abortion, stem cell research, the death penalty, war, welfare or gambling, shouldn't you tell the people that before you get elected?
John F. Kennedy, running for president, had to assure the county, which had never before elected a Catholic, that he wouldn't take orders from Rome.
But if a devout Mormon does embrace his church's teaching, can he be an effective official in Nevada? If gambling really does harm the human spirit, bankrupt families and degrade morals, how could a devout Mormon ever grant a gaming license, re-zone property for a new casino, or approve a lottery? How could he even work at a casino, or represent one?
Ultimately, every churchgoing politician must tell the voters to whom he ultimately answers: To them, or to God.
God does not approve of anything done in excess if you ask me : ))
You mean that if I am on a winning streak I should stop so I won't do it in excess?
You mean that if I am on a winning streak I should stop so I won't do it in excess?
The Great Spirit approves of the forked tongue white man gambling, but only on the rez.
Hey Willie! Long time no speak.
Can God hate? And isn't this covered in the Bible; something about you cannot serve God and Mammon? Seems clear to me. If they're in these positions, they can't be good Mormons. But then aain, they don't see anything wrong with polygamy.
"Ultimately, every churchgoing politician must tell the voters to whom he ultimately answers: To them, or to God."
False dilemma. In a representative democracy, the elected representative owes his constituents his best judgment, not a guarantee that he will vote however the majority of his district feels or thinks.
If his constituents don't like how he represents them, they can oust him in the next election.
"Can God hate?"
"Jam 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]."
What this verse is saying is that God is light, and no matter which way He turns, He casts no shadow because He is all light. So God cannot hate.
Answer: Yes........The British Religion of Darwinist Hindu Re-Incarnationist-Karma-Evolution,....or,...Superior-Karmic-Caste-Capitalism?
Better,.....Creator God uses,....Designed-'DNA'....linear planning all the way!!!
Bottom Line........'Don't bet against God like the Devil does,....God is NOT mocked!
Salvation is NOT 'chance'......but 'Choice'.....
The Gift of Christ's Death for our sins,...the sins of the whole world!
Sinner,....'Choose Jesus Christ and live Eternal Life!'
Then,.....no 'chance' of Gehenna!
" So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." Christ Jesus, aka God, Revelataion 2:15 KJV
I don't know of a Scripture that says to the affect "don't gamble" but a lot of things come in to play here. What is the motive of someone gambling? Is it to win money or just to have fun with friends/family where winning and losing take a backseat? In the latter case I don't see where this would be wrong. On the same side of the coin for people who have the right attitude that they are gambling just for the fun of it and can lose the money without hurting themselves financially at all, I don't see a problem with that.
Gambling in general I see as bad idea because it is a tremendous snare that entraps way too many people. I've heard it said that addicted gamblers will give up sex to continue gambling. That is the only known addiction that will cause that. Pretty potent stuff.
There are Scriptures I know of that would seem to go against gambling but since I'm not sure they really address the issue I wont post them.
All this is JMHO.
Amen!!!
"which thing I hate"
There are many times in the Scriptures that use the term "hate" from God. It is a figure of speech called condescension where God uses a term that can be understood by man.
Boy I would hate to play poker with JC...He would be drawing to an inside straight all the time and always makin' it.
Gambling is "getting something for nothing" and the Bible calls this sin "covetousness" see Romans 1:28-32, and God hates sin.
Good way to put it.
If you quit before your or just when your luck starts to run cold you are not in excess. If you lose all your hot streak winnings, you've gone to excess :D
How do you figure it is getting something for nothing. It is no differant than the stock market, you have to invest to win.
Does God hate gambling?
The Bible does not say anything specifically about the Stock Market however, Jesus saids, "Why then didn't you put my money on deposit(return on investment), so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?"-- Luke 19:11-27.
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