Church Fundraising: Christianized Gambling?

Q: Should Christians be gambling? How far should we go?

A: Someone once explained to me that as long as the gambling wasn’t negatively impacting our lives, we’re fine with a few lottery tickets. Could be. However, I’d like to tell you a story:

  “Real money sports bets made easy!” said the announcer. “Play four dollars-worth and get forty more…instantly! Just mention my name when you sign up.”

I winced and squinted at the road ahead of me in thought, not surprised, but disappointed. The bellowing talk show host on my AM radio was one of a small handful of influencers touted to be a

bastion of conservative-Christian values.

(Photo by JESUS ECA on Unsplash)

Pondering his bold solicitation, I quickly flipped through his bio in my mind and concluded: Of course. He subscribes to a certain denominational doctrine that includes bingo parlors in church basements and roulette wheels at parish fundraisers.

“Dangit!” I huffed, shaking my head. What a let-down. I thought the guy was more aware of the reach of his platform and the responsibility that went with it. Now he’s seeded the idea to radio listeners of all ages that online gambling is fun, rewarding and perfectly safe (or he wouldn’t be advertising it.) My already dim view of the fantasy sports world circled the drain and flushed. A new snare had arrived onto the conservative-Christian landscape (as if anything was new under the sun[1].) It was official and it now had a national spokesperson: Certain types of gambling slithered soundlessly under the Church door and it was apparently alright for Christ followers to dabble in it. Online sports gambling was cool.

Sports betting and even the invisible, fantasy leagues…their wins, losses and players stats…were now one click away from taking your money and enticing more. Bonus! If you followed the radio announcer’s instructions you were guaranteed a win—as long as you signed up and, became a website member, you could keep placing bets. No longer did the spirit of greed require its prey to locate a bookie, a secret poker table or a quiet trip to Vegas. Nope, a trusted, conservative icon with a national microphone just announced it was open-season on financial good-sense and/or Christian stewardship. And now the cell phone provided casino-level lures right there in your hand.

The Bible’s misinterpreted and misquoted statements about money make perfect sense in our modern world of financial confusion. We say, “money is the root of all evil” and point to the Holy Scriptures as the guilty author of the statement. No, that isn’t what the Apostle Paul declared in first Timothy 6:10: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.[2]

Do Christians love money? Do we play games with money? God’s provisions were never intended to be playthings. He provides exactly what we need and asks us to guard carefully what we do with it.

It’s considered normal practice by many to juggle credit cards based on interest rates; shift bulks of borrowed cash from one consumer-debt outfit to the other; then argue with God-sent financial counselors about why living debt-free is unwise because our credit scores buy us bigger widgets and cash-back-bonus vacations. The Church marches in goose-step with the world in house-poor mortgages, new cars with crippling payments and financial lifestyles teetering on collapse if a single paycheck is missed. No wonder our eyes light up when the state or national lotteries hit mega millions. Suddenly we’re all, Christian or not, swerving into the convenience stores for a six-digit ticket to easy street. Is there anything wrong with this thinking? Perhaps it contributes to some of the Church’s painful realities.

National statistics expose the pitiful truth that less than twenty-five percent of Christian congregations dutifully place their tithes in their proverbial offering plates. (Many “offering plates” are now digital QR Codes flashed on overhead screens during service offering times.)

The ten-percent tithe, contrary to false teaching and carnal belief systems, is not optional if one claims Jesus as their Savior. The Laws of Moses mandated tithes in the Old Testament, which then became the New Covenant through Christ’s ministry. Even Jesus knew better than to skimp on the temple tithe. He obeyed it, taught on it and answered questions from the scoffers.[3] The tithe is one of the most well-tested, well-vetted practices in Christendom. Yet the Church continues to limp along, often in lack, because the sheep approach their church membership more like a parasite than a host. We keep our church-doors open, you see…we host the presence of Almighty God for all to experience…by obeying God’s statutes and ordinances on the tithe. Cherry-picking which biblical mandates we support or apply to our lives is not Christian. To ignore the discipline of the tithe is pure sin since Christians are mandated to do it.

Thousands of years ago, in an effort to clear up any tithe-fog once and for all, Father God directly admonished his people when they inquired of him regarding their financial hardship, crop-failures and disease. God used his servant, the prophet Malachi to explain:

“Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob Me day after day. “You ask, ‘How have we robbed You?’ “The tithe and the offering—that’s how! And now you’re under a curse—the whole lot of you—because you’re robbing Me. Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in My Temple.”[4]

Despicably, loads of pastors are timid about preaching the tithe scriptures because they offend the average church-goer. I’ve met numerous people who claim church membership yet grimace and growl about “those money-hungry, pick-pocket preachers who do nothing but guilt people out of their last dime.” I can neither defend or deny this travesty is happening in pulpits. Yet I do know if Church-people would obey their biblical instructions like they claim to, no preacher would ever need to mention the subject of money. I digress.

            Gambling is a bullet train toward the demon of greed. This gambling spirit masquerades as innocent fun, as in, a few quarters in a slot machine or a couple scratch-off tickets in a Christmas stocking. But what happens when the innocent person toys with instant wealth and they win? I imagine the pupils dilate, the heart races and the flesh yells out, “Do it again!!” Now, the potential for more arrives in the financial, moral landscape of the mind. Greed is conceived and a gambler is born. Sure, most people can smile and quit while they’re ahead. But some cannot. And nearly all cannot resist the urge to test the waters.

###

            Aunt Jane had just retired from forty years teaching English at a local high school. Finally, as the days arrived for her last class, I asked her, “What are your plans for retirement?” She had none and talked about rest and a few vacations, etc.

I chimed, “It’ll be important to stay busy…”

            “Yes, idle hands are The Devil’s workshop,” she mused.

            “You could volunteer somewhere,” I coaxed.

            She never did volunteer, vacation or rest. Instead, she immediately began weekly, then daily, drives to the new riverboat casino in a nearby town. She stopped answering my calls; stopped talking to her older brother, my dad, about her life, post-teaching. One night, while I was home early for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, I heard my parents talking solemnly after dinner. I crept into the living room to listen and stood in the doorway unnoticed.

            “She’ll sell everything to keep it up.” Mom’s tone was frantic and definite. “You need to confront her.”

            Dad, never one for awkward interactions, hung his head. “I’m worried about my mother’s engagement ring,” he said, defeated. “It’s a 1929 platinum piece.”

            “I wouldn’t wait.” Mom quipped, staring at him until he looked at her. He sighed heavily.

            “Okay. I’ll go.” He grabbed his raincoat and car keys. “I’ll be home late. This will take a while, I think.”

            “Dad?”

            He eyed me with his hand on the doorknob.

            “I want Grandma’s china and sterling. Aunt Jane doesn’t use it. If you’re going to get stuff, those things are really old and really valuable.”

            “We’ll see.” He nodded and stomped out.

The next morning, Gram’s sparkling ring sat in the middle of the breakfast table. Six cardboard boxes were piled in the foyer; a flat, mahogany, sterling case sat on top of the pile with the key in the lock. Dad took a quick swig of coffee and wiped his mouth.

“In lieu of last night’s circumstances, I think we should draw names for Christmas instead of buying for everybody. Let’s put a limit on it of a hundred bucks. Jane can afford that.” I dutifully wrote out our family Christmas exchange of six people on a legal pad and passed the folded pieces around in an empty coffee mug.

“I’ll draw for Aunt Jane and the boys,” I said, judiciously. “Then I’ll send my Christmas cards out early with their assigned person and the amount.” A follow-up call was also mentally noted. Nobody in my family except me and Mom ever kept a written calendar.

Christmas Eve: The living room was overheated by Dad’s insistence on a roaring fire and rounds of his famous eggnog, over-spiked with bourbon and coma-inducing. We reminisced our former Christmas traditions to pass the time, slumped into wingbacks near the fire, lounged on the sofa and stretched out on the floor while trying to avoid decimating the hors d'oeuvres. We were waiting for Aunt Jane to arrive.

Suddenly she did, plowing into our sleepy gathering with a bang of the front door, a shopping bag and her purse. “Why is it so damn hot in here!” she yelled as Dad scurried to prepare her glass of eggnog. She peeled off her coat and sweater while my baby brother abandoned his spot on the couch and sat her down.

We decided to exchange our gifts right away, since Mom was holding dinner and it was getting too late. Our newest holiday tradition of exchanging names was exciting since we weren’t completely sure how it would work…did everyone understand and would they follow the rules? No one but me knew who was buying for whom. Aunt Jane was assigned to me. A woman of expensive taste and usually very generous, I was eager.

Around the living room we went, naming our person and handing over the gift. The exchange operated perfectly. Folks had secretly researched one another’s wish-list. Paper wrappings and ribbon covered the floor when each item was joyfully received with squeals of “How did you know?” Christmas cheer abounded.

Finally, Aunt Jane announced that she was assigned to me. She stood up for a speech while I waited gleefully, eyeing the shopping bag:

“I was at the casino by three o’clock,” she began. My stomach double-flipped. Oh no.

She continued. “One by one I sensed which machine would spit out the gold. Then I stopped at the dollar slots…” Her drawn-out tale was orated like a spooky story around a campfire. Indeed. We listened politely, unpleasantly surprised that even on Christmas Eve she couldn’t stop herself from gambling.

“And then it happened! The bells went off—the sirens started spinning and out came nine-thousand dollars!”

Nobody moved or smiled. We looked at her and hoped the tale was over. Confused by our reaction, she collected herself and in a normal tone proclaimed, “So here, my dear Adrienne, is your brand-new, one-hundred dollar bill!”

Sitting cross-legged on the floor I rose and thanked her quietly with a peck on the cheek and a slight hug. My heart sank as I suppressed tears. I fought the urge to throw the money into the fire. She hadn’t bothered to think of me at all. The gift-exchange only became another outlet for her addiction. She managed to turn a joyful, family moment into a despicable display of greed and deception. I was embarrassed and ashamed of her as she continued to explain how lucky she was at her sin.

Six months later, the bank took her house for lack of payment on the second mortgage. Then she was banned from the casino. Her friends moved her into an apartment nearby and she began her journey to the nursing home where she died five years later.

Ill-gotten gain is fair-game (pun intended) as we discuss the gambling practices, habits, addictions and winnings of everyday Christians. The Bible says, “Wealth gotten by worthless means dwindles away, but he who amasses it by hard work will increase it.”[5] What is the goal? Do Christians live for themselves; their pleasures and desires; or for Christ?

I love the analogy of a fence. Christians who want to go to heaven, but refuse to give up their penchant for earth-bound living, spend their lives sitting on the fence. They’re afraid to step down into the green pastures as sold-out disciples of Christ because it might disturb their social calendars, their cool-dad status at the high-school football games or their powerful position in the Knights of Columbus.

That said, they wouldn’t dare jump onto the parched sod of the devil’s landscape either. They believe they’re a heaven-bound Christian, great parent and a good citizen! But here’s the kicker: the devil owns the fence. Jesus placed a boundary between his children and The Enemy that was strong enough to prevent demonic trespass yet transparent enough to clearly see the need for separation. Protection.

Christian fence-sitters are required by God to choose a side. Jesus said: “This message is from the one who stands firm, the faithful and true Witness of all that is or was or evermore shall be, the primeval source of God’s creation: ‘I know you well—you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!’”[6]

Gambling, in all of its forms, seems innocent. It isn’t. And it may lead to destruction.

Adrienne Greene is pastor and author of "Kryptonite: The Killing Fields of Christianity's Acceptable Sins." (Amazon & Barnes & Noble) Contact for inquiries or bookings: info@adriennewgreene.com

[1] Ecclesiastes 1:9

[2] 1 Timothy 6:10, NKJV

[3] Matthew 5:17, 18

[4] Malachi 3:8-10, MSG

[5] Proverbs 13:11, CJB

[6] Revelation 3:14-16, TLB