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2.26.2005    |    "not everything is beneficial"
Paul had it exacly right. The State of Maryland has it exactly wrong. The Maryland House of Delegates has just voted to have slot machines in various venues, principally horse racing tracks. From the Washington Post story, we learn that
Both versions [of the slots bill in the Maryland House and Senate] would devote the bulk of the earnings to schools and school construction projects, with other proceeds going to slots vendors, horse-racing purses and renovations to horse tracks.
Well, that's certainly nice, isn't it? The kiddies get some of the proceeds from slot machines. It's enough to make the teachers proud. I would not ban gambling, just as I would not ban many things that are not good. On gambling, I stand with Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth:

1 Corinthians 6:12 "Everything is permissible for me"–but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me" – but I will not be mastered by anything.
We would have to say that the State of Maryland has just been mastered by slot machines, and the interests that control them.

posted by John Luke at 8:11 AM

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About this site and the author

Welcome. My name is John Luke Rich, (very) struggling Christian. The focus here is Christianity in its many varieties, its fussing and feuding, how it impacts our lives and our society, with detours to consider it with other faiths (or lack thereof).

Call this blog my way of evangelizing on the internet.

Putting it differently, we're only here on this earth a short time. It's the rest of eternity that we should be most concerned about. Call it the care and feeding of our souls.

I was born Jewish, and born again in Christ Jesus over thirty years ago. First as a Roman Catholic; now a Calvinist by persuasion and a Baptist by denomination. But I'm hardly a poster boy for doctrinal rigidity.

I believe that Scripture is the rock on which all Christian churches must stand -- or sink if they are not so grounded. I believe that we are saved by faith, but hardly in a vacuum. That faith is a gift from God, through no agency on our part -- although we sometimes turn a deaf ear and choose to ignore God's knocking on the door.

To be Christian is to evangelize. Those who think it not their part to evangelize perhaps haven't truly understood what our Lord told us in Matthew 28. We must preach the Gospel as best we are able. Using words if necessary.

Though my faith waxes and wanes, it never seems to go away. Sometimes I wish it would, to give me some peace of mind. But then, Jesus never said that walking with Him was going to be easy...

Final note: I also blog as Jack Rich on cultural, political and other things over at Wrong Side of the Tracks

Thanks for stopping by.