A few months back I tried to engage everyone in a conversation on gambling, but unfortunately, no one wanted to join me. Historically, when I discuss gambling with someone, inevitably they get to the point where they say something like, “Well, I can’t come up with anything else right now, but I know it is wrong.” In other words, “Since you have pointed out that my biblical ‘proofs’ were not infact proofs at all, I just cling to my preconceived opinion I had before I even opened the scriptures.”

Recently I had may first visit to gty.org.  If you are unfamiliar with it as I was, it is John MacArthur’s website.  I was shocked and dismayed that prominently displayed on the front page of their site was a post about gambling. In fact, on further research, I discovered that, Phil Johnson, Executive Director, has written a whole series of posts on this topic.I actually took the time to join and reply to his blog, but to no avail.  So far he has not had the courage/ integrity to approve my rebuttal.  In fact it appears he only approves 1 rebuttal for every 4 mindless agreements.  Bear in mind, I did not do a hard count, but this is the general impression I get by my observations.

Here at increasing faith, we allow all comments regardless if they agree with us or not.  .  The only thing we disallow is obvious spam.  Comments like, “I agree”, and then linking back to their own site are not permitted, and also attacking other commenters is not permitted either.  Other than that, disagree with me all you want.  I challenge Phil to have the same courage and integrity.  Allow people to freely comment.  If your are in the truth, you should have no fear.  Otherwise, it just appears like you are afraid of the other side making you look foolish.

All that being said, here is my point by point reply to his article:

“Gambling places something valuable at risk for an illegitimate purpose.”

First off, he has failed to establish that gambling is an illegitimate purpose.  Just because he states it does not make it so.  I can say the moon is made of cheese, but that does not make it so.  So let’s reword it in a more accurate, truthful way- “Gambling places something at risk for entertainment.”  Well that now opens up a whole mess of things like cable, high speed internet, movies, eating out at restaurants.  All of them place something at risk for the benefit of the person placing it at risk.  The reality is, gambling is the only one of these activities that gives you a chance to receive greater value for what you pay.  The others do not.

“Gambling is covetousness distilled to its very essence
I know people—and in all likelihood you do, too—who claim that they gamble only for entertainment or recreation; not out of greed or covetousness.
But if it’s mere entertainment they seek, why not play a game without staking any money on the outcome? Every gambler to whom I have ever posed that question has given me the same answer: “To play a game with nothing at stake is not as much fun.” The stake makes the game more “fun” or more “interesting.”

As a matter of fact, one commenter made that very point: “Poker simply doesn’t work without some money at stake . . . the money at stake adds to the enjoyment of the game.” He said he plays for small amounts—so that “the financial losses are not enough to be any more than entertainment money, and the prize not enough to create greed.”
Analyze that for a moment. Why would the element of gambling make a game more “fun?” There is only one reason: because the “fun” is derived not from the game itself but from the possibility of winning something that belongs to your neighbor. In other words, what makes gambling “fun” is pure covetousness.”

So the reason people go to work is for a paycheck, so that is ‘pure covetousness’?  The reason someone writes a blog like gty.org is to make money, so they are now coveting?  Phil, if John stopped paying you, would you still show up?  If the answer is no, then by your definition you are coveting and in sin.  Pure and simple.  You need to apply your arguments with equal integrity if they are valid.  One must assume they are not since you fail to equally apply them.

Also, the only thing that brought me to gty.org was someone posting that they were having a 20% off sale.  Does that mean that gty.org has been overcharging everyone for the past years by 20% which means they have been coveting 20% more of our money than they are due?  Placing the desire for money as motive the means test of coveting, then every person that goes to work for a paycheck is therefore in sin by your standard.  SERIOUSLY?

“Gambling can be a sinful dereliction of the steward’s duty for several other reasons as well. Note: I’m not arguing here that every act of gambling is necessarily tainted by all the following sins. But these are all major factors in the complex of evils that commonly accompany gambling. Anyone who practices gambling as a pattern of life is systematically tolerating and even cultivating the sin of covetousness in his or her heart. That person will of course be especially susceptible to many of the corresponding temptations, too:

•Slothfulness. Get-rich-quick schemes are practically all foolish and immoral. Solomon wrote this in Proverbs 28:22: “A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not consider that poverty will come upon him.”
The promise of easy wealth is an overt appeal to slothful desire. Yet most gamblers freely acknowledge that the promise of gaining money quickly and with little effort is one of the major factors that adds to the “fun” of gaming. In other words, gambling fuels both covetousness and sloth.”

So now by your standard Phil, every person who analyzes mutual fund returns and picks the one with the highest return is sinning.  His desire to earn a return in the quickest possible way is by your standard, ’slothfulness’ and therefore a sin.  In fact, you should go to John and offer to work for minimum wage, otherwise, you are just trying to get rich quick.  Oh, and hide your money under a mattress or else you are trying to get rich quick.

See ‘quick’ is relative.  Is 100% a year quick? What about 20%?  5%?  Phil, who appointed you the god of proper investment returns to determine what is quick and what is not?  Please enlighten us all.  What percent return is acceptable to you to keep out of sin?  Almost like asking the Pharisees how many steps are ok to take on the Sabbath, but we will hold off on the Pharisee comparisons for now.

“•Foolishness. Listen to Proverbs 22:16: “He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.” That’s an interesting verse. Most of us will instinctively understand that it is sinful to oppress the poor in order to increase our riches. But the verse also says that you shouldn’t just give your money to the rich. Who would give their money away to rich people? People who gamble in casinos are doing it all the time.”

The same can be said for any purchase you make.  When you pay for cable, you are giving your money to the rich.  When you pay $8 at restaurant for a $1 slab of beef you are giving to the rich.  When you buy clothing at the store rather than sewing your own, you are giving to the rich.  The reality is, gambling venues are selling entertainment, you are giving them nothing.  If you go to the movies, you are giving money to the rich.  If you got to a show, you are giving money to the rich. PHIL- EITHER HAVE INTEGRITY AND CALL OUT ALL THESE ACTIVITIES, OR ADMIT, GAMBLING IS NOT A SIN!

“We could also talk about gambling’s negative impact on philanthropy and charity for the poor.”

As we could regarding eating out, going to the movies, etc.  Weak argument Phil.
The truth is, gambling does cost money.  It can be very unwise for some people to get involved with, but it is not sin.  The reality is, gambling is the only activity that one can spend money for entertainment and have a chance at getting some back.  Imagine if you went to a movie and they announced that 2 patrons would get triple their ticket value back to them at random.  Now it would be declared a sin by many folks to go to movies because it would now be gambling.  In other words the 100% chance of losing your money is more spiritual than a 2% chance of making money.  Does that make any sense?  Is that wise?

I can spend 2 hours playing in a $10 poker tournament or $10 at a movie.  Only one of those activities allows me the chance to walk away with some money in my pocket.  Also, the movie is giving money to the rich’ by Phil’s standard which makes it a sin.  If I lose, I am just giving my money to some middle class friends, so therefore it must not be a sin by Phil’s standard.

All I ask in discussing gambling, is so called Christian leaders do so with integrity.  Otherwise, they prove themselves to be the modern day Pharisees they are.

You see, I have this foolish notion that God through the Bible should determine what is sin and what is not.  Not some made up man made rule.  Otherwise, the Amish arguments for not driving cars are valid and we are all in sin.  If gambling is the great sin that the Pharisees say it is, then I believe God would have addressed it.  Didn’t they cast lots to determine the next Apostle after Judas killed himself?  Imagine, a game of chance to determine Apostleness.  Joseph called Barsabbas should have condemned their sin and not participated in it.

Technorati Tags: gambling, gty.org, john macarthur

Last night I was having a friendly conversation with some good friends regarding the morality or lack there of gambling in various forms. I typically find that the range of opinions regarding this to go from completely immoral to completely moral. People tend to have a fair amount of passion regarding this, and bring out said passion in discussion. Last night was thankfully more low key regarding the passion front, and the typical mindsets appeared in one form or another. Those of you who know me well, know where I land on this, but for those who do not I will not spoil the surprise.

My goal with this post is to engage in the discussion regarding gambling from a moral perspective. The foundation of this discussion is the Bible, just so we are all on the same page. Remember, keep it nice and on topic.

So what do you think? Is it wrong to gamble? Should a Christian gamble or refrain from it? Would you teach your kids to play poker?

Technorati Tags: christian, gambling, holdem, moral, poker

Have you ever really looked in the mirror? I mean, looked really close. You might see a zit on its way in at one spot, and another on its way out at another. As you get older, you will start seeing hair in places that never had hair before, and you may see less hair in some places that used to enjoy being hairy. A few wrinkles will appear over time, and all in all, if we look real close, it tends not to be a very pretty sight. Even super models, when pictured in real life look a little squirrelly over time.

Looking in a mirror can and often is a painful experience. It makes us want to change things about ourselves. To improve what we see in the mirror.

Now I want to imagine that you have a magic mirror. Sort of like the one Bell from Beauty and the Beast had. Not that it would show you what you want, but that it was magic. But our magic mirror would have a very specific kind of magic. It would be so special, because when we would look in this mirror, we would not see our face, but we would see ourselves from God’s perspective.

We would see all the junk we hold onto and love as God sees it, junk. We would see our uniqueness that has shamed us as the beauty God intended it to be. We would see the puss filled sacks of sin in our lives as just that, fetid rotted flesh.

How much time would we spend looking in this mirror? Could we really take it? There are days I get to work, and after using the bathroom at work, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realize that that is the first time I have looked at myself that day. I somehow managed to shower, dress, brush my teeth, and do all my other morning rituals, and never once glance at myself. Now this is not because I do not want to see myself, it is just that 1. I get up at the butt crack of dawn, so I am still half asleep, and 2. I really do not care all to much about what people think of my appearance.

But let’s pretend for a moment. Let’s pretend that I have a giant golf ball size zit on my cheek. (can you even imagine the pain of that sucker). This baby is huge, and it is a perpetual whitehead. Even if I pop it, it forms a new white head. When I exercise, the zit juice dribbles down my neck and onto my shirt. To make matters worse, it looks like there is a second one beginning to form on my other cheek. My body has turned against me.

After this has gone on for a few months, and my friends have nicknamed me Mt. Pussuvius, how often do you think I would look in the mirror? Each time I would look, I would see a massive puss bubble on the brink of erupting. Nothing I could do to change it, so eventually, I would stop looking. It would not longer matter if my hair was a mess, because who would be looking? Got lettuce in your teeth? Who cares? The eyes are naturally drawn to the gargantuan bubble of puss residing on your cheek.

So when we look at ourselves through the mirror of God, there is no doubt that we will see many of these giant zits. Do we give up and stop looking? The difference between Zit monster and our God mirror, is that God gives us the tools and the grace to begin removing the giant zits from our spiritual faces. It takes time and discipline, but it will work like a spiritual dose of Proactive.

You: BUT WAIT! I must have been in the bathroom when these God mirrors got passed out because I never got one.

Me: Yes you did.

You: No I didn’t! (you even stomped your feet a little at this point.

Me: Yes you did, it is called the Bible. Start in I Corinthians 13. If God is Love, and we are supposed to be like Him, how much of our lives do or do not line up with I Cor 13? That little mirror is enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life. Every day I fall short of this mirror.

Below is a skit by The Skit Guys. It illustrates a bit what I am talking about and goes a little more in depth into God’s view of you. I enjoyed it, and I hope you do to.

Technorati Tags: chisel, god, guys, love, mirror, proactive, skit, The, zit

I had hoped for two things for this post which did not happen.  I had hoped it would be longer, and I had hoped it would have happened on Thursday or Friday.  However, due to contracting strep throat on Tuesday, my cognitive abilities have been severely limited.  Today is the first day I can actually think some clear thoughts.

All that being said, I thought for the next however many later week posts it takes, we will start looking at the early New Testament Church in Acts, and looking at some of the differences between them and our modern church.  I also hope that through this we can create some ideas to implement today to return to being saltier in the world.

Until next time, I would love to hear some of your ideas regarding why the early church had such a greater impact on the world compared to the American church.

Technorati Tags: acts, church, faith, new testament

Last month a father and son were kicked out of a college football game.  They had done all the right things.  They had bought the tickets, they had great seats.  They showed up and took there seats and started watching the game.  After a little bit, they were kicked out.  The tickets they had purchased were counterfeit.  They had trusted in the wrong tickets to get them to the game.

In my last post I mentioned a verse which should trouble us all.  In Matt 7:21-23, we see that not everyone who names the name of Christ will enter heaven.  For too long, Christians, myself included, have preached a ‘ticket to heaven gospel’.  As long as someone got their ticket punched, we felt we were doing our job.

We would have vast evangelistic campaigns and pat ourselves on the back for the number of people who ‘believed’ in Jesus.  Large amounts of money were spent on getting these people to buy a ticket, because then at least they would be saved from hell.  Yeah us.

Then we are hit by Matt 7:21-23.  What do we do with this?  In John 3:16, we see what seems to contradict this.  I guarantee, these people who are turned away from heaven, claimed to believe in Christ, or else why would they be there?  So what is the answer to this apparent dichotomy?

Christ gives us part of the answer, and then we see the rest in James.  In Luke 18:18-23, we have a better picture of what Jesus is all about.  Jesus is not about buying a ticket to heaven, he is about radically transforming lives.  In this passage he is asking the rich man to be transformed into a new life.  A radical new life where he gives away all his riches.  Salvation is about Lordship, is it about submission, it is about putting him on the throne of your life.

We see even more in Luke 14:26, here Christ states that our love and devotion to him must be so strong, by comparison we hate our families.  Does that sound like ticket purchasing to you?  Does that sound like being ’scared into heaven’ to you?  Certainly does not to me.

In James 2:14-25, we see a more clear picture of what that faith looks like.  True faith will transform you.  It you believe in Jesus and everything he has to say in His Word, you will be transformed.  Why?  Because you are a new creation.

Why Do we sell tickets?

So why do we sell tickets?  Why do we rejoice when our children pray a simple prayer with no change demonstrated in their lives? (again, I am preaching to myself here, if anyone else benefits, all the better)

Personally, I believe it is because many of us are ticket holders as well.  We bought our ticket and are just waiting for the rapture.  We may condemn a few things of the world along the way, but that is about it.  We volunteer teaching Sunday School.  We bring meals to the potluck, and we feel safe.  We do not like verses like Matt 7:21-23, it is too challenging to our belief system.  Since this is the paradigm we function under, we replicate it when we share.

We can only share the truth we know and believe ourselves.  Did you ever wonder why when you read Acts there is such a difference between that church and the American church?

My friends, it is time you tear up your counterfeit ticket, and be transformed.  It is time to forget about being safe, and be sanctified.  Do something radical for Christ today.  Christ was a radical in his time.  Early disciples were radicals.  God calls us to be radical, not to conform to this world.  Maybe this is why the road to destruction is so broad, who wants to be a radical?

Technorati Tags: Christianity, faith, heaven, ticket to heaven, tickets

Once again this week I heard a ‘Christian’ say that they believe a certain part of the Bible is no longer relevant.  Maybe you have felt this before, I know I have.  There are times when the Bible feels out of touch from where we are in our lives.

The Bible says to not cheat on our spouse, but God did not know how little my spouse meets my needs.

The Bible says not to get divorced, but I know God really wants me to be happy.

The Bible says to pay taxes, but everyone fudges the numbers a little.

The Bible says to submit to the government, but I am just keeping up with the flow of traffic.

The Bible says to love your enemy, but God did not mean to love the man who raped me.

The Bible says to submit to m husband, but God did not know what a tyrant he would turn out to be.

The Bible says to love my wife, but God did not give me a wife who listens to me.

The Bible says to honor my parents, but my parents are hypocrites.

The Bible says ____________, but God did not__________.

Do you get the picture?  Somewhere along life’s journey we became convinced that God is more concerned with how we feel and think than He is about His Holiness and His Word.  Well of course the God of the universe just wants me to be happy.  Of course the God of the universe who created everything, from the tiniest cell to the grandest mountain, does not understand the huge issues I am facing.

I hope you can sense the sarcasm in those last two sentences.  C’mon people, where is your faith?  Is it really that weak?  Do you really not trust God at all?

I want you to think about the most important human in your life.  Pets do not count for this exercise.  Imagine that of everything this person told you, you knew that 30-50% of it was not true.  How could you trust them at all?  You cannot partially trust someone.  You either trust them or you do not.  They either have integrity or they do not.

You cannot partially trust the Bible.  It is an all or none deal.  If you cannot trust some of it, you should not trust any of it.  You either believe in its potency, or you deny it.  There is not room to be lukewarm.

The reality is that when we start slicing and dicing the Bible when it confronts our lives, we will not stop.  As our lives move forward and new issues in life are presented to us, we will follow our desires and change the Bible once again.

The truth is, if you are honest with yourself, that you do not believe the Bible.  The Bible is a good book, but that is about it.  Your faith is not resting on God, but on your own opinions.  You have created your own god, and it is a fun god to worship.

I want to be crystal clear here.  I am not referring to believing everything certain Christian leaders are teaching.  That would be foolish.  They are men, and unfortunately, even pastors stray.  However, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and so is His Word.

Be honest, do you believe?  Do you have faith?  This is an all or none deal.  Are you in or out? Yes, we fail and trip up, but we know we fail because we acknowledge the standard. This article is not about meeting the standard, it is about acknowledging one exists. Do you?

Technorati Tags: bible, faith, increasing faith

Those of you who know me and my background know that I have a fairly conservative upbringing.  In fact, in some regards, there was a large amount of legalism mixed into the teachings I was raised under.  These teachings encompassed most areas of my life from music to movies to dress and on and on it went.  This was my reality.

Thankfully, the Lord in his graciousness converted me out of this.  Slowly but surely, God used his word to break through these idolatrous high places I had erected to spirituality.  Now I refer to myself as a ‘free Christian.’  Not free to sin so grace may abound, but free to live life and enjoy life.  Free from the made up rules of the modern day Pharisees.  Free to love and serve God to his standards, not man’s.

One of the most ludicrous standards foisted upon others is the need to wear certain attire on Sundays.  I remember one time when I was younger a pastor driving a female parishioner home to change out of her slacks and into a skirt.  Another time, a member of the worship team was sent home to change out of jeans.  This is all done under the auspice of spirituality.  To many of these folks, better dressed = more spiritual.

The irony is, from my experience, the very people championing this standard, would when it was violated be the first to grumble, complain, gossip, and backstab.  In other words, they were willing, and eager to violate standards set be scripture in defense of their manmade standards.  How twisted is that?  By scriptural standards, I refer to Philippians 2:14, Romans 1:29, and II Corinthians 12:20.

Let me say this again, the supposed spiritual violate God’s standards in order to uphold their standards.  Does this remind you of anyone from scripture?  If you said the Pharisees, you win a prize.  These are modern day Pharisees which have crept into our churches to sap the life out of the church.

Read through the New Testament, and look for the similarities, and then also look at how Christ reacted to them. Doe we really want Christ to have the same reaction to us? Do we want to be like Christ or the Pharisees?

Just to be clear, if you see me in church, I typically have on jeans and a t-shirt.  If I feel like dressing up to look nice for my wife, I will put on a collared shirt.  During the summer, I change things up a bit and wear shorts.  Those of you who have not fainted at this confession, lets look at what God says about this.

In I Samuel 16:7, God makes his thoughts very clear.  “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  Some people do not like the statement that God does not care, but in regards to clothing, he does not.  My only caveat on this would be clothing that does not cover you up.  Christ is quite clear about the responsibility on a person who temptation comes through, so dress modest.  Other than that, he does not care.

Why?  Because God cares about your heart.  Pharisees of old and modern day Pharisees always seem to miss this point.  They suppose that by controlling external behavior, the heart will be kept under control.  Boy are they wrong.  A healthy apple will not make a sick tree healthy, but a sick tree will make an apple sick.  External does not drive internal, but internal drives external.  What is inside will come out.

We all know of folks who have been in the church for 10,20, or even 50 years and then one day they throw it all away and start living for the world.  These are folks who were model church goers.  They were deacons, elders, pastors, pastors’ wives, ushers, choir directors, etc.  You name a position in the church, and I guarantee that someone in that position has ‘fallen away’ at some point.

Why does this happen?  Because for all those years, they had the wrong relationship.  They had a relationship with rules, and not with Christ.  They had things backwards all along.

I will write more on our freedoms in the future, but for now brothers and sisters, please be open to seeing spirituality outside of the rules man has created.    Our faith does not rest on rules.  In fact a faith on rules is a diminished faith, but a faith in Christ and all the freedoms he gives us leads to increasing faith.

Love Christ, Love others, Love Freedom.

Technorati Tags: appearance, faith, freedom, increasing faith, legalism, pharisees

Tonight, I want you to take a moment to take on the mind of God.  Imagine sending your child to die for someone who hated you.  If I stretch my mind, I can almost imagine this.  I can almost imagine sending my son to die for those that hated me, if I knew he was going to be resurrected again, but then it hits me.  Could I ever concieve sending my son to suffer to the degree Christ did?  Could I allow my son to go through what Christ went through for people who hated me?  Heck, I couldn’t even do this for people who love me.  This is what God did for us.

He sent His Son to be beaten, to be whipped, to have his skin ripped right off his back.  He sent His Son to have huge thorns pressed through his scalp.  He sent His Son to have nails hammered through His hands and feet.  He sent His Son to be rejected.

He loves us that much.  Thank you Father.

Technorati Tags: christ, Easter, Father