Gambling
“I was very sorry to hear, some days ago, that a member of the Church had won a prize in the State Lottery. Gambling is a great social evil, and when a thing like this happens I think that it is my duty to say something about it.…
“Money is the most inclusive sign of the material aspect of human life. It represents the results of man’s labour made available for use of others. We accept it as a gift from God, and we offer a part of it in worship as the token of our gratitude to Him.
“Gambling means that we deny this. It means that money represents only luck. It comes to us not because we have worked for it, or because others have given it to us, but just by luck. It is no longer a sign of God’s grace. It is part of the empire of the heathen god of chance. Those who fall into the habits of gambling have fallen away from the God of grace into the hands of the heathen god of chance. And this god is not merciful.”
SOURCE: Lesslie Newbigin, Bishop’s Letter, Madras (September 1969). (Quoted in The Preacher’s Notebook, John Stott, Ed. Mark Meynell)