The Lottery

I was taking Weaver for a walk this afternoon, and I stopped by the local service station to pick up a snack for the afternoon. A young woman in front of me was purchasing a variety of Wisconsin lottery tickets. She wasn't necessarily spending a lot of money, but it caused me to wonder. I have no idea what her financial situation is. I don't know for sure how purchasing these tickets cuts into her budget.

As I have mentioned on my blog before, the United Methodist Church takes a strong stance on gambling. As clergy, I am not supposed to participate in any form of gambling. I wouldn't anyway. But, for other folks, I worry about the allure of the lottery. Sure, there is a chance of winning something, but is it worth the cost of paying for games and tickets until you win?

I was looking at the Wisconsin Lottery's website, and it provides a breakdown of where the money goes that people pay for lottery games. Thirty one percent goes to property tax relief, and the rest goes to prizes and operational costs. I do appreciate that there is some benefit for our lottery system. I only wish we could help people to find better things to do with their money then risking it for the hope of winning in some game of chance...

Gambling

This Sunday, I will be talking, in part, about the role that small groups played in the early Methodist Church. Wesley saw it as extremely important that these groups met often and "watched over one another in love" so that they might foster their relationship with God. They abided by three general rules: (1) Doing no harm and avoiding evil, (2) Doing good and (3) Utilizing the means of grace (bible study, prayer, Communion, etc.).

As I was doing more research about what to avoid I noticed that gambling was one of them. This didn't surprise me, as I know Methodists took a pretty strong stance on gambling. But, if you check paragraph 163, section G of the Book of Discipline, it says the following:

Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship. As an act of faith and concern, Christians should abstain from gambling and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice...The Church's prophetic call is to promote standards of justice and advocacy that would make it unnecessary and undesirable to resort to commercial gambling--including public lotteries, casinos, raffles, Internet gambling, gambling with an emerging wireless technology and other games of chance--as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or fund for support of charities or government.

Wow...there's really no room for argument there. I can admit that, in my five years as a United Methodist before I was a minister, I definitely gambled. I've played bingo, fantasy football and partook in a few slot machines on our honeymoon when we were in Las Vegas. I would say that I was in control in all of this and never left compelled to spend beyond my means. In fact, it was fun.

I can see from that the above perspective looks at what happens when one does something in excess. I certainly do not want anyone getting addicted to gambling. I suppose the only way to guarantee that is to refrain from everything. Sometimes be disciplined isn't always fun. It also means that you need to give up things that can be fun, even in moderation. But there is a purpose behind what we do.

As a clergy member, I know that I must abstain from all gambling. As a United Methodist, how do you feel about it?