Adventists Outline Opposition To Gambling

May 15, 2009

From the Bahamas Conference of SDAs

By KRYSTEL ROLLE ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ krystel@nasguard.com:

Stating that it is opposed to every form of gambling, the Seventh Day Adventist Church called on all authorities to prevent the "ever-increasing availability of gambling" in the country as it could fuel a rise in crime and have other damaging effects on society.

In a statement that laid out several reasons why it is opposed to the games of chance, President of the Bahamas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Pastor Leonard Johnson said gambling not only violates Christian principles and creates false hope, but it is also addictive.

The definition for gambling, as he puts it is "a paid game of chance" or "an enterprise undertaken or attempted with a risk of loss and a chance of profit or success".

"These definitions prompts one to ask, Who wins?, Who loses? The local numbers house operators would appear to be the overall winner. But with the idea of a national lottery, it is argued that the government or by extension society stands to gain with much revenue to fund education, sports and youth activities."

"However, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is of the view that the concept of winning at the expense of others has become a modern curse. Society pays the escalating cost of associated crime, victim support, and family breakdown which erodes the quality of life."

Pastor Johnson said for those and other reasons, Adventists have consistently opposed gambling "as it is incompatible with Christian principles".

He said the Bible calls for man to earn a living through honest labor and hard work as opposed to chance and risk taking. Specifically, he said in the book of Genesis, God identifies work as the appropriate method for gaining material benefit; not the playing of a game of chance while dreaming to gain at the expense of others.

He added that Seventh-day Adventists do not see gambling as "an appropriate form of entertainment or a legitimate means of raising funds".

"Consider the financial costs that are likely to result from crime committed to pay for the gambling habit, increased policing, and legal expenses, as well as associated crimes involving drugs and prostitution.

"So the point can be made that gambling, instead of generating income, is likely to take from those who often can ill-afford to lose and gives to a few winners, the greatest winner of course being the gambling operator as already noted," he continued.

Pastor Johnson said gambling is also addictive.

"It is said that 'number playing' has reached the level where persons try to interpret or play numbers associated with the announcement of a passage of scripture or hymn. In other words, such addicted individuals look for every means to come up with a number to play. The addictive quality of gambling is clearly incompatible with a Christian lifestyle," the statement said.

The pastor said while the church is opposed to gambling, it is not opposed to helping those who are addicted to gambling.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church organization does not condone raffles or a lottery to raise funds and it urges members not to participate in any such activities however well-intentioned. Neither does the Church condone state-sponsored gambling. The Seventh-day Adventist Church rejects gambling as defined above and will not solicit nor accept funding that is clearly derived from gambling," he added.

Over the past few weeks, several persons have added their voice to the highly debated topic of whether gambling should be legalized in the country for Bahamians and residents.

Taking into consideration that a "substantial part of the Bahamian public" in one way or another already engages in some form of gambling, Opposition Leader Perry Christie said the time has come for the country to review its gaming laws.

He said legalizing aspects of the game of chance could potentially benefit the country.

Recently, National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest said it is his personal view that the question of legalizing gambling should be put to referendum.

"I think that we ought to have a referendum and let the people decide," said Turnquest in an interview with The Nassau Guardian.

"We don't have a mandate to do so (legalize gambling). It wasn't a part of (the FNM's) manifesto. So the only other way is that there has to be a mandate from the people," said Turnquest.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has said that legalizing gambling is not a part of his current legislative agenda. However, Ingraham said he would not stand in the way of changing the laws if others made the move.

In one of his first news conferences after coming to office in 2007, Ingraham said there will be no referenda put forward by his government.

Thursday, 14 May, 2009

May 15, 2009

I live in an area where there's a lot of legal gambling, and even the Indians who own the casinos are told by the owners to "let the stupid white man do the gambling." A friend of mine who is part indian and gets thousands of dollars every month from casinos told me that before they opened the casinos, the indians told the tribe members to stay out of the casinos and just let the whites lose their money. They do lose it, believe me. The advantage always goes to the house.

There's a "gamblers anonymous" just like there's a Alcoholics Anonymous. It really can be addictive.

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/mtgdirTOP.html

http://www.nongambler.com/?gclid=CIHVl8DivpoCFSMSagodQissrg