ScriptureStream

Define “truth”

Does it matter who makes a “true” statement? Does its “truthfulness” vary because of who said it?

Define “race”

Define “discrimination”

Define “prejudice”

Define “racism”

What does the Bible not say about racism?

Genesis 4:15 – It does not say the mark of Cain was light or dark skin.

Numbers 12:1 – It does not say it is sinful to marry a Cushite woman because she was dark skinned.

Genesis 9:27 – It does not say black men must be slaves.

Deuteronomy 7:6-9 – It does not say white men are to be superior.

What does the Bible say about racism?

Genesis 1:26-28 – There is one race: mankind.

Exodus 2:21

Numbers 12:1, 8

Jeremiah 38:7-10; 39:16-17

How do you picture characters of the Bible?

Dealing with prejudice and racism

John 1:46; 4:9; 8:48; Acts 22:21; John 7:24 – Prejudice was a problem in the New Testament.

Galatians 2:11-14

Acts 17:24-28 – There is no distinction with God.

Galatians 3:28

Acts 10:28

Acts 2:39

Galatians 6:3

Philippians 2:3

I John 4:20

Colossians 3:10

Matthew 7:12; 22:37-39

Titus 3:1

II Corinthians 5:16

John 10:16

Racism is not a skin problem. It is a sin problem.

The gospel was taught.

The money was sent directly to the preacher.

This was simple and effective. No bureaucracy or hierarchy needed.

Modern sponsoring churches have corrupted this simple arrangement. There is no scriptural authority for this.

Romans 4:2 – Compare Romans 3:20, 28. None of us can be saved on the basis of law-keeping.

Romans 4:4 – In a physical job, the employer owes the employee his wages – it is not a gift. It is not that way with God and salvation. Salvation is a gift from God. Regardless of how many good deeds we have done, none of them can make up for our sins. “Words” here is about being perfect.

Romans 4:1-8 – If a person never sinned, he would be righteous by works. If he sinned and God forgave him because of the man’s faith, he would be righteous by grace (through faith). Abraham fell in the latter category, as do all of us.

Romans 4:3 – “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Scripture records this statement on three occasions:

Genesis 15:6 – When God said Abraham would have an heir.

Genesis 17:16; 21:5; Romans 4:18-22 – When God said Sarah would be the mother.

Genesis 22:10; James 2:21-24 – When Abraham was willing to offer Isaac.

Abraham had a long record of obedient faith even before Genesis 15:6.

Genesis 11:31; Acts 7:2-4 – Abraham and family moved from Ur to Haran.

Genesis 12:1, 4 – Abraham traveled from Haran to Canaan.

Genesis 12:7 – He built an altar to God after God’s promise.

Genesis 12:8 – He again built an altar.

Genesis 13:4 – He called upon the name of the Lord.

Genesis 13:6-12 – Abraham made peace with Lot.

Genesis 13:14-18 – Abraham built another altar after God renewed His promises.

Genesis 14:18-20 – Abraham met Melchizedek and gave him a tenth of all.

Romans 4:6-8 – Even Abraham sinned (Genesis 12:13). He, like us, was justified by faith instead of perfect works.

Romans 4:9-13 – Abraham’s faith was credited to him before he was circumcised. The Jews prided themselves on circumcision, but Paul brought up this fact that they may have never thought about.

Romans 4:14-17 – Law systems, such as the Law of Moses, bring about wrath because no one perfectly obeys the laws. What we need is a system of faith and grace.

This lesson is a continuation of our series on moral issues facing the church. Tonight we’ll be talking about gambling.

Part of the reason I selected this topic to teach on is that I felt like I did not have a good grasp on the issue myself. If someone asked me if I thought gambling was wrong and why, what would I tell them?

Maybe you are in the same position yourself. Hopefully our discussion tonight will result in some concrete Biblical principles we can all apply both to gambling and related issues.

Gambling is somewhat of a difficult topic to address because the Bible does not mention it specifically. We do have quite a number of principles laid out in the Bible that address various aspects of gambling.

I encourage your participation in the class tonight. I’m sure I cannot answer all the questions you may have, but we have many excellent Bible students here tonight that may be able to help.

This is an important question because people often like to confuse the issue of gambling by conflating it with other risky behavior and trying to draw parallels that aren’t really there.

To play a game of chance for money or other potential gain.

That in itself is pretty straightforward. Closely related to gambling is another idea we need to get clear on – betting.

Winners are created at the expense of losers through the wagering of money or valuables.

Betting – the staking of money on an outcome that is in doubt is the heart of gambling.

Playing a game of chance for pure amusement is not necessarily considered gambling. Rather, it is the betting—the staking of money on an outcome that is in doubt—that is at the heart of gambling.

Pocket Dictionary of Ethics

Which of these things really constitutes gambling or betting as we’ve defined them?

Maybe you have some immediate ideas on which of these is gambling Put these in the back of your mind for a minute and let’s look at the Bible to see what principles we can find that might apply.

Now that we have established some related Biblical principles, we can begin to look at these different scenarios and see which of them violate any of these principles.

I should note here that each of these are presented as a hypothetical, limited situation. In real life, there might be a lot more going on in a given situation that you need to consider than just what we are looking at here.

There are possibly multiple sides to this, depending on how you are investing in the stock market.