Quote:
Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson
If you play Spades or Poker, are you sinning? If so, will you explain why? I had an Apostolic Pastor who said from the pulpit that if any of his saints won the lottery, he would expect them to tithe on the winnings.
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I am addressing the issue you asked about, regarding playing a game of cards. The lottery winnings issue I am leaving for others on the thread, since THAT was what I initially asked about (the gambling, wagering, betting, etc).
The third commandment says 'Thou shalt not take the name of YHVH thy God in vain.' What does this cover? It surely covers more than merely using the Lord's name as a curse word or expletive, or using euphemisms for his name as expletives. It actually covers quite a lot of ground, including things like making oaths or vows without intending to fulfill them, or reneging on oaths or vows made before the Lord. It also covers things like praying without faith, without sincerity, etc, for in prayer we call upon the name of the Lord. But if our intention is insincere, faithless, etc we take his name 'in vain', that is, profanely, without that holy reverence that is due to him, pointlessly, etc.
Now, according to the Bible, a lot is cast by a person but the outcome is determined by the Lord.=, as brother Benincasa pointed out. What exactly is a 'lot'? A lot is any method or mechanism for deciding something, that is outside human control. Drawing straws, rolling dice, shuffling and then drawing cards, using a spinner, flipping a coin, etc are all forms of lots. To the atheist, they are a means of generating a 'random' result, which is then used to determine an outcome or course of action. The atheist believes in 'chance', ie genuine randomness. To the believer, however, there can be no such thing as 'chance' in the sense of a truly random event. All events have a cause, and God is in control of things. Providence requires that God himself directs the so called 'random' events of the universe, one way or another.
Now, the Bible declares that God himself decides the outcome of a lot. The lot according to scripture is a method of appeal to God. Men would cast lots, knowing it was God who determined the result. They would take that result as the revealed will of God for that situation. Casting a lot was of course accompanied by prayer, asking God to determine the outcome of the lot in reference to the request. 'Lord, show by the determination of the lot what your answer to our dilemma is.' Devout men would take the result as if God himself had spoken - for indeed he had. There was no 'two out of three' if you didn't like the result. God had determined the outcome, so that was that. It was an end to all controversy.
So then casting a lot is essentially an appeal to God. It thus qualifies as prayer, as calling upon God to make a determination. Now, to use a lot for mere sport, entertainment, etc would amount to praying for mere sport, for entertainment, and not solemnly, in the fear of God. It would amount to a profanation of the name of the Lord. It would be like pretending to pray, in order to make a joke or for simple entertainment. And thus would be a violation of the third commandment.
Now, random number generators used by PCs and laptops would not count, because they are not truly random. They use an algorithm to generate their results. It's complicated, but not genuinely random. (This is why you should never use your computers RNG - random number generator - to develop any keys for personal crypto. Since it is developed by an algorithm, it can be hacked and cracked.) So the RNG function on a computer (including the one used by card game simulators) are not truly random. A TRUE random number generator does not use an algorithm to generate the numbers, it uses truly (!) random events (like internal PC noises, which in themselves may or may not be truly random...).
So in conclusion, it would seem to me that shuffling cards, and then drawing them, being a form of casting lots (for determining who is to win the hand), is a profanation of the name of the Lord. The vast majority of people, of course, do not think in such terms. But then again, the vast majority of people do not examine what they do in life, nor do they understand the significance of what they do in life, nor do they seek to 'bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ', nor do they care.
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