Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 3/13/2008

Question
Hi Pastor Carpenter,

We are devoted Christians saved by Jesus who are  depending on Jesus to enter into Heaven when we die.

Does the Bible say Christians can not play state lotteries? I try my best to be a good Baptist husband and father and don't gamble. However, am I sinning against God if I allow my wife to spend a few dollars (like $5) here and there in hopes of winning the state lottery? I would certainly not allow my wife to spend money that we need for our family.

If it is ok to play the lottery for nominal amounts? Is it ok while praying to God for everything else that we include asking God if we can win the lottery? Would God hear our prayer request to win the lottery as long as we repent of any sins in our lives before we pray?

If it is ok to pray to God for us to win the lottery is there some way we should phrase the prayer such as a promise to God that we would tithe the winnings to the church and use the money God blessed us with to better help Christians in need?

Do you think God could use winning a lottery as a way to bless Christians who seek to help other Christians or do you think God has no interest in who wins lotteries?

Answer
Hi Brison,  

Thank you for this great question.  Obviously there is no specific scripture verse forbidding or condoning playing the state lottery.  With that in mind let us consider a few principles.  You can use these principles to help you make a good decision for your family.

1.  God will not and cannot bless your money if you are not currently tithing to a local church.

Malachi 3:8-10
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

1 Timothy 3:15
15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  If you are not tithing now on everything that brings you increase, then you will not tithe if you win the lottery.

Luke 16:10-11
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

3.  Promising to tithe the lottery as a condition if winning is like saying, "God if you let me win the lottery, I will do you the great favor of not robbing you of the money due to you from the lottery".


4.  If you believe that gambling is OK, can you do so without a younger, weaker Christian being stumbled by your actions?

Romans 14:14-16
14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.  15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.  16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

5.  The last thing to consider is are you absolutely sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is not sin?  If there is any doubt, then you should not do it.

Romans 14:22-23
22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.   

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that these things will help you.

In Christ
Pastor Don