My understanding is that making decisions by casting lots is not at all gambling, but a form of letting divine powers decide, which is common in many ancient cultures. It has religious background, while gambling hasn’t at all, so there is quite a significant difference.
Just for the record, Bingo is played in Catholic churches, traditionally as a fundraiser. The folks that are generally categorized as “fundamentalists” are from various Protestant sects. Hey, if you ask them, Catholics aren’t even Christian.
Nitpick: The so-called “Biblical value of pi” can be taken as exactly correct. A bowl-shaped object is described as being “ten cubits across and thirty cubits around”. If the measurement is confined to the surface of the bowl, then this is perfectly possible.
Well, I’ve lurked for a few years now, I guess it’s safe to start posting.
The official view of the United Methodist Church from the 1992 Book of Discipline is:
“Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government. As an act of faith and love, Christians should abstain from gambling, and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice. Where gambling has become addictive, the Church will encourage such individuals to receive therapeutic assistance so that the individual’s energies may be redirected into positive and constructive ends. Community standards and personal life-styles should be such as would make unnecessary and undesirable the resort to commercial gambling, including public lotteries, as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.”
I think that there is a newer version of the BoD, but I couldn’t find it online. I doubt that their (our) position has changed much.
What I take from this is that gambling probably isn’t forbidden in the Bible or else they would have quoted some relevant scripture.
To me, they don’t make a very compelling argument. However, I do agree that we should offer to help those that have become addicted to gambling. (If they want help.)