Article September 15, 1986 Issue

Gambling—the deeper issue

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

For many years countries have turned to lotteries to raise money and keep deficits down. Millions of dollars are wagered each week in numbers games that are supposedly beneficial. But are they?

The suffering that gambling ultimately causes is far greater than the benefits it seems to confer. Gambling can become habitual and debilitating. But there is an even deeper problem: gambling tends to obscure our relationship to God, to the only genuine source of our well-being.

The Bible teaches that God is wholly good, the one universal Love and Lawgiver who cares for each of His children impartially and abundantly. The prophet wrote, "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us."^{Isa. 33:22.} And referring to God, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'"^{Science and Health, p. 13.}