Balancing our Personal Believes, Religion and Gambling

[michellee]

It is not right to discuss about gambling and religion because both is different and many people who are religious will not like to see other people gambling. They will say that they condemn gambling and will not accept the win money while the other people may accept the win money and say no problem with that money.

Religion should not related to anything such as gambling, political, economical, and social. Let them run by itself and not interfere each other. People who want to playing gambling will still playing gambling while those who don't like gambling will not agree with gambling.

[Dewi Aries]

If someone can control themselves and become addicted to gambling, then gambling cannot have a bad influence on them in any way. However, you must have the ability to control it, otherwise, if you become uncontrolled within yourself, it will definitely have a bad impact on your personal life.
Gambling is bound up with various opinions in religious sentiments. The Muslim religion prohibits gambling and considers it one of the most abhorrent acts. While other religions do not prohibit gambling, they emphasize self-control and addiction. However, if someone controls themselves in their personal beliefs and has no harmful effects on the environment and surroundings, then there is certainly no obstacle even if they are addicted.

Maybe what you mean is, when someone can control themselves then they will not be addicted to gambling, and this will not have a big bad impact on the perpetrator, but for someone who cannot control themselves in gambling then addiction and other bad impacts can occur. Gambling which is considered bad by many people because many people experience the bad impacts of gambling only needs to be looked at further because the bad impacts are also the actions of someone who cannot control themselves.

Gambling may be something that is prohibited in some countries because it is against their religious rules, but when someone gets a big win and wants to donate some of this win I think it is a good thing, because here there is a good intention that he wants to do, but some people will definitely label it bad.

[Outhue]

~

Hmm I'd say what the clergy did was okay? Cause technically speaking if they rejected every money that was of dirty source, I reckon they'd reject anything but freshly minted ones from the bank cause every bill that we have inevitably came (or touched) something dirty (from their standards).

And I believe there's no explanation for it except for it being well, religion. It may stem from a story from their holy book or whatnot but I believe that is enough as it is as an explanation. After all, it's called a religion for a reason.

From religion side this is not the right way to think, everything has its purpose, a drug money on a religious man hand doesn't make him a drug person too, he is free spiritually if he knows nothing about where the money was originated from or what the money was been used for before it landed on his own land.

Where sin starts is when you knew that this person is a fraudster or this person is into money ritual and still go ahead and receive money from the person, meaning you will likely be affected too because you have intentionally receive dirty money from a sinner.

I heard people say the same thing as you many times and in fact it is one of those ways to know if someone is in someone bad, they use such claim to justify their bad doings like it is nothing since no one can identity a stolen money or a evil money.

[Ziskinberg]

It depends on us since our religions are different, and I'm sure many of us believe in God, which means we should value that. So if gambling is a sin in my religion, then to follow God's law, I should avoid gambling. It's that simple, you just choose what and who to follow, and everything will be fine.

We can't deny that gambling is really entertaining and gives us a thrill, but if it means violating God's law, then we really shouldn't be gambling. You can't justify your mistake with anything because, according to your teachings, there's no excuse for it.

[freedomgo]

When it comes to discussing religion, we all have different principles in life. For me, I just keep it simple, my only rule when gambling at a casino is that I must be 18 years old and above. That's it, the casino doesn't care if you're Muslim, Christian, or anything else.

So my personal belief is, if you're not enjoying gambling because something is holding you back, then you shouldn't gamble at all.

We need to be focused to really feel the fun and have a better chance of winning.

[DaNNy001]

First of all gambling wins can be donated to church or any religious setting because it wasn't stolen...it was gotten legitimately so there's absolutely no offense in taking some percentage of it and giving to church. The problem with a lot of people is that they are being over religious, there's no where in the bible that says Gambling is a sin but what you should know is that gambling can push you into sin, this is when it becomes dangerous to you.. There are religious leaders that engage in gambling, does it mean that they are going against their religion? Absolutely not, they have simply learnt how to keep things balanced.

[Eternad]

Just a short story I will like to tell before the main discussion, I was opoortuned to listen on a telephone conversation between a man and a Clergy, what he ask was that if it is right for someone to gamble and won a jackpot, then bring a percentage of the winning to the Clergy, will the be accept such as a sacrifice for the growth and developments of the religion? Knowing that the money was gotten from gambling fortune, the Clergy accepted the money but condem gambling.

Money is not evil per se which means even if the money comes from gambling it doesn’t contain sins rather the act of gambling itself is the one that forbidden that’s why the clergy accept the money imho then condone gambling so that the offering will not looks like they are tolerating gambling.

But in normal people perspective this is ironic since the clergy condone gambling while accept money.

So the answer varies based on their own perspective about sins.

[Marvelockg]

Be informed that this is a general discussion, not a threat to take attacks on each other, drop your own perspective and state some reasons to back them up, let's make it more of being fun and informative with our actual facts.

you can't really make a comparison between what you term personal believe and religious believe because in reality, things don't work that way. as long as you are a religious faithful, your religious believe supersedes any form of personal believe you hold and that include whatever justification behind whatever action you take. for instance, with the way the world has gotten really wild, a lot of people might believe that having a girlfriend believe marriage is a norm but that doesn't make such believe system to be in alignment with what the religious standard keeps for her faithful. that a clergyman even holds his own personal believe system does not mean that he is completely correct, for all i know, he can be a worse and loosed person than yourself. it is always good that everyone knows what they believe in and the reason they believe in certain do's and don'ts. the justification you have based on a firsthand information you have gathered based on research is what will help you create an unbiased balance between the religious and personal believe on every subject matter including gambling.

[Peanutswar]

I guess this topic might be heavy because it's about the beliefs of the person who wants to play gambling, but at the end of the day, the player's actions have consequences. If based on your religion its again with you and you believe in that it is up to you if you want to follow, but on the other hand its your life so it's your choice if you want to pursue getting involved in playing gambling because if you enjoy playing gambling at the same time you see it you have an extra money that contributes to your daily life so why not take on it. We respect each other's decisions about whether we want to pursue it or not because it's their beliefs.

[Cantsay]

Just a short story I will like to tell before the main discussion, I was opoortuned to listen on a telephone conversation between a man and a Clergy, what he ask was that if it is right for someone to gamble and won a jackpot, then bring a percentage of the winning to the Clergy, will the be accept such as a sacrifice for the growth and developments of the religion? Knowing that the money was gotten from gambling fortune, the Clergy accepted the money but condem gambling.

Money is not evil per se which means even if the money comes from gambling it doesn’t contain sins rather the act of gambling itself is the one that forbidden that’s why the clergy accept the money imho then condone gambling so that the offering will not looks like they are tolerating gambling.

But in normal people perspective this is ironic since the clergy condone gambling while accept money.

So the answer varies based on their own perspective about sins.

Like I said before - if I should kidnap someone or commit robbery and then go to a clergy and give part of the money I got as ransom or from the robbery as an offering do you think the clergy would accept that money “putting into consideration that money per se is not evil”?

Accepting money that you know fully well was gotten from an evil source or source that is against the beliefs of the clergy is the same as the clergy being involved in that act. You can’t condemn something and still accept gifts from it; if I’m not mistaken that’s what is being referred to as being an hypocrite.

[yahoo62278]

Just a short story I will like to tell before the main discussion, I was opoortuned to listen on a telephone conversation between a man and a Clergy, what he ask was that if it is right for someone to gamble and won a jackpot, then bring a percentage of the winning to the Clergy, will the be accept such as a sacrifice for the growth and developments of the religion? Knowing that the money was gotten from gambling fortune, the Clergy accepted the money but condem gambling.

Secondly, some of us have been arguing on this before time, but I want us to go wide on this discussion using different approaches over it, which may includes the religious, political, economical and social believes to why Clergy men should gamble or not, lets sight examples where necessary, prove our point and learn from each other's opinion.

Be informed that this is a general discussion, not a threat to take attacks on each other, drop your own perspective and state some reasons to back them up, let's make it more of being fun and informative with our actual facts.

Seems pretty hypocritical to me for the religious man to take the money. If he is going to condemn gambling then he should not accept the gains from gambling. Just proves to me that corruption can be found not only in politics, but religion as well. Losing faith in humanity when I read stories such as this 1.

[Hispo]

When comes to religion and gambling, there is no such a problem about both topics here in my country. I am sure there would be priests within the Catholic church who would not mind to accept money which originated from gambling, as long as it helps to make their church bigger and attract more followers.
Such questions like that one are the very same which have always divided Catholics from Evangelists, the latter are less forgiving when comes to gambling and drinking alcohol (except wine).
Though, in the case of the clergy who accepted the money and yet condemned gambling, it sounds rather hypocritical coming from a man who is not only supposed to preach and preach, but also practice what he preaches and teach with his own example.

When comes to politics, each one of us is supposed to have the freedom to choose what to do and what do not to do with our money, gambling included.

[bias]

Just a short story I will like to tell before the main discussion, I was opoortuned to listen on a telephone conversation between a man and a Clergy, what he ask was that if it is right for someone to gamble and won a jackpot, then bring a percentage of the winning to the Clergy, will the be accept such as a sacrifice for the growth and developments of the religion? Knowing that the money was gotten from gambling fortune, the Clergy accepted the money but condem gambling.

Secondly, some of us have been arguing on this before time, but I want us to go wide on this discussion using different approaches over it, which may includes the religious, political, economical and social believes to why Clergy men should gamble or not, lets sight examples where necessary, prove our point and learn from each other's opinion.

Be informed that this is a general discussion, not a threat to take attacks on each other, drop your own perspective and state some reasons to back them up, let's make it more of being fun and informative with our actual facts.

Seems pretty hypocritical to me for the religious man to take the money. If he is going to condemn gambling then he should not accept the gains from gambling. Just proves to me that corruption can be found not only in politics, but religion as well. Losing faith in humanity when I read stories such as this 1.

All religions condemn "bad habits" but when those habits bring money to them they don't have any problem. Probably because that money is purified since it is touched by their "holy hands" or is for "holy purposes". As long as everything interacts with money, we don't have a chance. Corruption will be everywhere and forever. As for humanity, I'm nearly forgetting the word and its meaning from my brain...

[alani123]

The two most major religions, Christianity and Islam, are quite strict against gambling.

Other big religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism don't actually prohibit it at all but interestingly these countries have strict policies against it. In many cases even more so than Christian or Muslim majority countries.

So I'd say it's not so much about religion but about society. If s society can't provide institutions to support its people that may end up addicted, limiting access to addictive stuff makes total sense.

And on a personal level you should also understand that if being seen to gamble will put you in a worse position among your peers, you shouldn't do it. Having a good social presence is more important than rolling a slot machine at the end of the day.

[Odusko]

Whenever I go to church and my pastor wants to call out sinners for repentance he will start by saying, if you know you are addicted to smoking, drinking, womanizing and gambling you should come out for alter call to be prayed for forgiveness, this call by my pastor always triggers thinking in me that why should the pastor view gambling as so evil whereas a lot of members will pay offering or even tiths from gambling winnings, so this is so deep and should be accepted and approached based on individual peculiarity.

[Kemarit]

Yeah, there are so many moral contradicting here. First many religions condemn gambling itself, Christianity and Muslims. However, for Christian church, it's but normal to donate money even if it comes from gambling and they even think that once it is donated, somewhat the money is "cleansed" already.

But with this argument though, it is a moral contradiction as they should refused it as their teachings says that gambling is immoral. I guess this is going to be a moral and ethical debate and it will go on forever. And maybe this is the reason why gamblers doesn't care anymore about their religion.

[mirakal]

Gambling is not actually a wrong habit, but what makes it wrong are those who sees gambling like gods and goddesses because they are totally addicted into gambling. If you are just gambling responsibly and stay gambling like the one that brings you leisure and fun, then there’s no evil thing that would point into gambling.

However, in terms of religion, there are actually religions that do not allow their people to gamble, but some religions are not totally strict on it. You can gamble but stay religious, and I see no wrong with it. But if you are devoted into your religion but on the other hand, you are secretly committing crimes, that’s another story to tell. Gambling is never an evil thing, unless if you do such devilish actions because of gambling addiction.

[nakamura12]

The clergy will accept the money regardless of it's origin either from winning a jackpot, business or from stealing but if a person told the clergy where it's from then the clergy will tell that person to condemn those things. Clergy will say it doesn't matter where the money is from if you plan to donate to them then it's the thought and the action that matters and not the money and where it's from. As I have said, it's the act that the clergy doesn't want and the evil is the way a person is getting the money.

[AliMan]

Just a short story I will like to tell before the main discussion, I was opoortuned to listen on a telephone conversation between a man and a Clergy, what he ask was that if it is right for someone to gamble and won a jackpot, then bring a percentage of the winning to the Clergy, will the be accept such as a sacrifice for the growth and developments of the religion? Knowing that the money was gotten from gambling fortune, the Clergy accepted the money but condem gambling.

Secondly, some of us have been arguing on this before time, but I want us to go wide on this discussion using different approaches over it, which may includes the religious, political, economical and social believes to why Clergy men should gamble or not, lets sight examples where necessary, prove our point and learn from each other's opinion.

Be informed that this is a general discussion, not a threat to take attacks on each other, drop your own perspective and state some reasons to back them up, let's make it more of being fun and informative with our actual facts.

This topic is good, it makes sense at all because everybody has their own personal perspective towards their respective formation as human being towards the society. There are lots of aspects to consider when talking about gambling, especially when religious beliefs will become a deep concern. A conservative mindset would literally affect this kind of understanding towards gambling, because every individual has the will and freedom to decide whether they'll consider gambling as bad influence or not. We can't stop personal preference, regardless of what beliefs or religion they have.
Basically that's not a big deal for me, based on my opinion.

[GreatArkansas]

The clergy will accept the money regardless of it's origin either from winning a jackpot, business or from stealing but if a person told the clergy where it's from then the clergy will tell that person to condemn those things. Clergy will say it doesn't matter where the money is from if you plan to donate to them then it's the thought and the action that matters and not the money and where it's from. As I have said, it's the act that the clergy doesn't want and the evil is the way a person is getting the money.

We don't know. There are some clergy that will always do anything for money. I believe there lot of them.
Some of them are just being clergy for their own good or personal gain. That's why if you can see some news, a lot of religious persons especially in those positions got a lot of criminal charges. Which from their place, they must not have done.

With gambling - money involved, this is very prone to corruption, and temptations. That's why most of religions don't tolerate their members to engage in any kind of gambling.