A stranger struck up a conversation with me recently and within minutes we discovered we had much in common.

We were empty nesters, with married children and grandchildren. We were both looking forward to being as hands-on as grandfathers as the unfolding years would allow.

We were enjoying many of the new-found freedoms that this season of life seemed to offer us, and our respective wives, with dreams and plans for travel and hobbies and the prospect of a comfortable middle-class retirement. We belonged to local churches and enjoyed the social circles we mixed in.

I delighted in hearing about some of his hobbies and his passion for them. He seemed equally fascinated to hear about the aid and development work I am currently involved in. The conversation flowed in a comfortable, free-spirited way without a hint of competitiveness or ‘one-up-man-ship’.

But what he said next floored me, "

It was said with eerie certainty. And it was said with dead-pan sincerity. "When my wife and I win the lottery we have decided to give a quarter of our winnings to charity."

Gambling is one of the major social issues facing our society. Is it as harmless a pastime as its preachers and high priests claim it to be?

• Australians lose more than 19 billion dollars on gambling every year.
• The Melbourne Cup this year will harvest almost a billion dollars in gambling revenue
• Sports betting is growing by 15% each year
• Seventy percent of Australians gamble
• Six hundred thousand Australians play poker machines every week
• Younger and younger children are being groomed for a lifetime of gambling by ubiquitous TV advertising, internet gambling options and this IGS (Insidious Gambling Creep
• Governments, who rake in 5 billion dollars each year from gambling, are adding fuel to this gathering firestorm
• 160,000 Australians suffer significant problems from gambling
• A further 350,000 are at risk from serious gambling addiction and its consequences
• These problems include suicide, depression, relationship breakdown, drug and alcohol dependency, domestic violence, crime, job loss, bankruptcy and homelessness

But is gambling the problem? Or is it a symptom of a deeper sickness? And is there a better way?

Gambling and greed

Gambling is a symptom. Greed is the sickness. Gambling is the cough. Greed is the cause.

It may be argued that gambling is not always motivated by greed. A flutter on the Melbourne Cup may just be a way of being a part of office hoo-haa once a year. An afternoon at the club with a self-imposed pre-commitment limit may be a welcome break in the weekly cycle of boredom and loneliness. But these exceptions will often be tainted by greed anyway.

I find it tragically amusing how politicians, priests and preachers, (of which I am one) can rail against gambling, the symptom, while being less vocal about greed, the cause. Doctors who only prescribe a medicine to sooth a persistent cough, but fail to x-ray the lungs are failing in their duty of care.

For those who are followers of the one who saw this distinction and connection more clearly than any modern day prophet, it seems to be a very strange quietness. As surely as lust leads to adultery and as hatred leads to murder, greed leads to a host of sins, of which gambling is but one, that needs to be addressed.

May my critique of many of the other consequences of greed, such as over-indulgence, excessive consumerism, corruption and the obscene disparity between extreme wealth and grinding poverty, and indifference to suffering be as robust as my critique of gambling.

The Bible’s warnings about greed are loud and clear:

            Be on your guard against all kinds of greed (Luke 12:15).

Greed and guilt

Greed, we are told, is idolatry (Colossians 3:5) and idolatry is a brash and foolish attempt to dethrone God.

We are all guilty of greed. We are all under God’s perfect and just condemnation. We all need his mercy and forgiveness. We need grace.

Let’s not have any nonsensical talk about accountability and sin and judgement and the need for mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation being ancient and irrelevant ideas. We are making judgements and condemning actions all the time. We just can’t get it right. We are too lenient on our own actions and too harsh on others’ actions. But God does get it right.

God’s judgement is perfect and we all deserve his righteous punishment. We are all guilty.

Guilt and grace

Astonishingly, Jesus was punished in our place. The innocent for the guilty. He paid the penalty our sinful actions deserved so that we could be forgiven.

Christianity isn’t all about guilt. It deals with guilt and offers grace.

Dawkins taunts Christians with the rhetorical question, “What sort of God would punish his son to save his people?”

The answer is a just and merciful God. A true and loving God. A great and gracious God. a terrifying and tenderhearted God.

This God commands our allegiance and trust.

Grace and godliness

Grace leads us to a life of godliness and contentment. Paul urges Timothy to a life of godliness with contentment and tells him that this is the secret to real gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

The counterpoint to godly contentment; wanting to get rich (1 Timothy 6:9) and the love of money (1Timothy 6:10), plunge people (and their families) into hardship, ruin, destruction and away from the faith.

There are few things in life more attractive than seeing and being in the company of genuinely contented people who want to honour God in every part of their lives. They don’t  whine and winge, grumble and gossip, play the victim or wallow in self pity.

Content people are a joy to be with and a blessing to learn from. Surround yourself with them and seek to be like them.

Godliness and generosity

The godly person will be like God. The Jesus-like person will be like Jesus.

God richly provides everything for our enjoyment and we who are rich can know both enjoyment and generosity, indeed the enjoyment of generosity. We can be rich in provideing for others (1 Timothy 6:17-18).

Jesus, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). We have experienced his grace. We are to excel in this grace of giving.

Generosity and gambling

It’s hard to imagine two more polarised concepts than generosity and gambling. Does anyone really believe that gambling will lead to generosity?

There are no winners with gambling. Even the bookmakers become the enemies of a society with a social conscience.\

But with grace, leading to godliness, leading to generosity, everyone wins.

Greed expressed in gambling will stop a nation.

But grace will build the nations.

Feature photo: Antti Merivirta