To know how a Christian should live, has never been easy. Each new situation in our life requires a new and justified answer or decision. Especially in our days Christians have enormous problems, because the world changes every day. After the second world war and the several wars after it, which have influenced us so much, many questions have come up in our society, which seem to be unsolvable. What was taken for granted in former days, became doubtful or was completely rejected in these last years. It is for us and our children fundamentally very difficult to live in this world. We live in the world, we must go through this world, but we may not become one with this world. The decisions, which we must make, must be made in the light of God's Word. There we find an answer for our problems. Not always in the letter of the Word, but when we may feel the Spirit of the Word, then it is different and we will find an answer, with God's help. So we will try to write something about lotteries which have become a phenomenon lately and seem to be questionable for many.

Lottery belongs to the games of hazard, which is from the Arab word "assar", which means dice. This immediately shows the relation with lottery. In Webster's Dictionary I found the following definition of lottery:

1. a drawing of lots in which prizes are distributed to winners among persons buying a chance.
2. an event or an affair whose outcome is or seems to be determined by chance.

Both explanations end with the word "chance". This word we must keep in mind.

When we write about the lot or the lottery, we will divide it into 3 parts:

1. the lot in the Bible;
2. the lot in our Society;
3. the lot in the life of the Christian.

1.  What does the Bible say about the lot?⤒🔗

The lot was given by the Lord to make known His will to mankind in certain circumstances. This was not necessary in Paradise, for Adam and Eve, because they had a perfect knowledge of the will of God. They were image bearers of God, which image consisted in knowledge, righteousness and holiness.

By the fall and sin of men we have lost God's image, and also the true knowledge of God and His will. Still it has not pleased the Lord to leave us to ourselves, but to make something of Himself known to mankind, and also what His will is, how we must live before Him.

The will of God was revealed in different ways: by appearances, dreams, visions, verbal commandments, but the Lord also used the lot in special occasions. Some explain that the Urim and Thummim were given to this end. A few words about these important objects in Israel's history are also related to our subject:

The Urim and Thummim were kept in the high priest's breastplate, (Ex. 28:30), Lev. 8:8), a pouch fastened to the ephod, and sometimes, with it, simply referred to as the ephod. By the Urim and Thummim, the High Priest could declare the will of God to both the leader and the people.

We will now consider two passages which speak of the oracular use of the ephod. When Abiathar fled to David, he brought with him an ephod. When David required guidance of the Lord, then he asked direct questions, eliciting a simple affirmative or negative. This suggests that the Urim and Thummim was a form of casting lots.

1 Sam. 14:3, 41 presents similarities, when the guilt of Jonathan and King Saul, or the guilt of Israel, must be known.

However, man could not compel God to speak, for we find in several places (1 Sam. 28:6), that the Lord answered not.

This is the special lot, which the Lord gave to Israel.

Also we find several occasions mentioned in God's Word, where this lot is spoken of, but not through the use of the Urim and Thummim.

1. In the Old testament the lot was cast to discover God's will for the allocation of territory. (Josh. 18&19)
2. The choice of the goat to be sacrificed on the Day of Atonement. (Lev. 16)
3. The detection of a guilty person. (Josh. 7:14)
4. the allocation of temple duties. (1 Chron. 24:5)
5. the discovery of a favorable day by Haman. (Esther 3:7)
   This last example was of a heathen, not counting with God, and he is ashamed.
6. The division of the spoil. (Joel 3:3)
7. To make known the cities of the Levites. (Josh. 21:4)

In the New Testament Christ's clothes were allocated by lot. (Mt. 27:35) The last occasion in the Bible on which the lot is used to divine the will of God is in the choice of Matthias (Acts 1:15-26), and, there may be a significance in that, this is before Pentecost.

From these things we can see, that under the Old Testament the lot was used frequently, but when the will of God is made known, when the canon of the Bible is complete, then the use of the lot decreases, then it is not as necessary as before.

The casting of the lot is an extraordinary religious act in difficult circumstances or decisions in matters, which cannot be solved by men.

So we have seen three kinds of lots in God's Word:

1. the lot of revelation about future things. (Numb. 27:21 and Ex. 28:30)
2. the lot of counsel in difficult circumstances. (Josh. 7)
3. the lot of division.

The lot made known to man what the will of God was, according to his eternal decree. That decree is worked out in time; what the Lord has created in the beginning is kept in existence. The providence of God is over all things, small and great. So we believe in the Government of the Lord, even in the lot, as it is written in Prov. 16:33: "The lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord."

Now we have seen that casting the lot is a religious work, wherein we request the Lord to make known His will, so we ask the Lord for His guidance.

In certain circumstances the Lord gives permission to use the lot. So we may use the lot in the fear of the Lord; but as it is in so many things, under the influence of Satan and our sinful heart, the holy use is forgotten and instead of that we come to misuse it which displeases the Lord very much.

So it is with the Sunday, which is set apart for the service of God, but now it is misused in sin as never before.

Think also of prosperity: it is given by the Lord to honor Him, but the outcome is, that it is used to dishonor God and to live in the pleasures of the sinful world.

2.  The Lot in Our Society←⤒🔗

In our modern society, there is no room for God at all; everything is done without God. In general there is no belief in the providence of God. Closely related to this is the lot and the lottery. What has the lottery become in our society? We try to enrich ourselves in an easy way by the games of chance or the games of hazard, playing at dice or gambling.

I hope that all the readers are convinced that such a lottery is something totally different than the holy use of the lot, of which we have written before. This lottery is from the same principle as the first sin in Paradise: we want to be as God; it is pride and therefore sinful. We want to bring ourselves into a happy state, independent from God, so that we have no cares at all. I will be Lord and Master. That is the idea of lottery, that is living in our heart; also when we are not aware of it.

A few words about the history of lotteries in our society. Not many years ago gambling was forbidden by law, with only a few exceptions. Now in U.S.A. and in Canada we find lotteries all over. What first was forbidden by the Government, is now organized by the same Government. In Canada, 9 major lotteries are organized and they offer millions of dollars in prizes. Of the 23 million Canadians, 8 million or more regularly buy tickets for lotteries. In the U.S.A., there is also plenty of opportunity to gamble. We have only to mention Las Vegas. New Jersey has its own lottery and I guess there are many more. Well known are the race tracks in England, the football pools in Europe, the gambling houses in Monte Carlo. This is increasing all over the world.

When we return to the lottery, then we must say, that it is striking that in the advertisements, which must promote the lotteries, they always speak about the dazzling prizes which you can win and of the possibility of becoming an overnight millionaire. For only $5 or $10 you have the chance to win so much money, that you never have to worry anymore, which is what they promise in those advertisements. So they work on the lust, the desire of man; emphasizing what you can do with that money, etc.

They don't give honest information, although you cannot say that they lie. All people must stare at the million dollars. One lottery promised up to 150,000 prizes, but forget to tell that 95% of it were prizes of $250.- or less. When you read those advertisements, then you get the idea that many people will be so "lucky" to get 1 million dollars. (When you realize it, then there are so many words in our language, which are related to lottery: chance, luck, we often use, but is this right?)

What is the reality about winning $1,000,000? Conservative MP Otto Jelinek pointed out that in Lotto Canada's first draw last December the chances of a $10 ticket winning 1 million were one in 800,000. You'd be twice as likely to be struck by lightning, he said. Every Canadian is twice as likely to be murdered during 1977 as he is to win even one of those $10,000.- Lotto Canada consolation prizes. This shows how few will really win these so-called big prizes, of which the papers are so full.

Therefore we dare to say, that lottery is a rake-off which would give a political scandal, if it was not approved by politicians themselves. An enormous profit is made from it for the govern­ment; because only 40% of the money taken in, is paid out. From the $900,000,000.- at least $500,000, 000.- flows to the treasury.

I have mentioned these things to give an impression how the people are deceived in this matter, which is above all against God's Word and which has nothing to do with the lot in the Bible.

3.  The Lot in the Life of the Christian←⤒🔗

What is the opinion of the world about lottery? I read in "The Canadian" of Feb. 12, 1977: "For the moment, however, we'll leave the statistics and draw your attention to a few other perils attached to buying lottery tickets. As a responsible consumer's guide, we must explain that lotteries may lead to moral degeneracy, mental decay and the lunacy of helping governments lift a little more money from your overtaxed income."

It was the success of the first lottery that prompted a group of Ontario churchmen to issue a statement that claimed: "Lotteries, like other forms of gambling, encourage the notion that you can get something for nothing, and that contributes directly to violence, alienation and anti-human tendencies."

It seems that at least the federal penitentiary service shares this view: Prisoners are forbidden to buy tickets...

Other critics are hard on lotteries for medical rather than moral reasons. U.S. psychiatrist Edmund Bergler is on record as saying that lottery ticket buyers are "psychic masochists", trying to punish themselves for some crime they'd rather not think about.

A killjoy colleague of Dr. Bergler, a Dr. Iago Galston, complains that regular lottery ticket buyers are displaying immaturity; they simply haven't outgrown their childhood belief in magic and miracles. This is only a few of the many objec­tions outside of God's Word.

God's Word speaks of casting the lot, as an extraordinary religious act, whereby we call upon the Lord for his Divine decision in matters, which we cannot solve. When we misuse the lot in the lottery then it is an unjustified, a wicked calling upon the Name of the Lord. This is one of the reasons why the lottery always is condemned in the Reformed Ethics as a moral evil, as sin against the third commandment, but also against the fourth and tenth commandments.

The lottery is always said to be dominated by chance or luck. The unbeliever thinks of a supernatural, mysterious power, which governs all things. The words fate or destiny and fortune or chance say enough. Many people think of fate; they believe in unchangeable laws of nature which govern all things; this makes the Lord dependent on this law of nature, and deprives Him of His Omnipotence. If the Lord would be dependent on this, then He is not the only true God, Who created heaven and earth and to Whom all things are subjected.

Others believe in fortune. The name of a Roman Goddess was Fortuna. She is pictured with the helm in her hand, a horn of abundance in her arm and standing on the globe. The helm points to her power over mankind, that she rules over all things. The horn of abundance tells, that she can give abundance according to her pleasure, while she stands on the round globe, which tells the inconstancy; today here, tomorrow somewhere else, there will be abundance.

We condemn this thought of fate and fortune, because we believe that the Lord reigns over all things, small and great. Even the hairs of our head are numbered.

When we expect it from chance or fortune, then we sin against the third commandment, which commands us to honor the Lord and forbids the use of the Name of the Lord in vain. In Matthew 4 we read: "Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God." When we realize this, then there is no place for lottery in our life and family, but then we must also fight against it in our society. When the people buy a lottery ticket, then it is to win.

We may say that Reformed people do not expect it of fate, fortune or the devil, but they believe that the Lord reigns. So also in our lottery we entrust the outcome to the Lord, because the lot must be cast with a calling upon the Name of the Lord; but this is something for which we may not ask the Lord, this is wicked, this is against his Law. How do you reconcile this with each-other? This is impossible and sinful!

Let us not forget:

1. The holy character of the lot. In the lot we ask the Lord in important things to show the way to us. But this request is lack of reverence for God, it is lack of piety to ask the Lord for a game; the holy thing is debased to a game.
2. The seriousness of the lot. In important things we may ask the Lord, with reverence in our heart, for His guidance. But this is not the state of mind of the gambler. He thinks only of himself! He doesn't care about God at all.
3. The consequence of the lottery. This is greater than we imagine, because it is coupled with a burning desire for a favorable outcome. If a person does not win, that fills him with indignation against fortune, God and his neighbour, who was more lucky than he was.

Lottery is a game with a dangerous passion, as we can see in the gambling houses, where the people spend all their money, and if they lose it, often commit suicide. This is also one of the great objections against lottery, because it develops a dangerous passion in man.

It is also a waste of time, while the Lord says, that we must obtain our possessions by legal means, which is faithful labor: "six days shall thou labor and do all thy work." This means that we sin not only against the third, but also against the fourth commandment, which commands us to labour for our daily bread.

And then last, but not least, we may not forget the tenth commandment: "Thou shalt not covet."

This we do, when we wait for that fortune: we covet money to do or to buy certain things. We long for money, which we will not get in the right way.

The form of the Lord's Supper says very clear that usurers (gamblers) will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Then all that money, which we can get in this dishonest way, cannot be compared with what we will loose, if we are lost, because for usurers there is no hope, if they continue to the end in their sin.

We may not forget, that the happiness, which we expect can be a great disillusionment too. We can give many examples, that it did not bring any happiness at all, but much sorrow. A man won a new car, but soon it was a total loss in an accident. Another won the $1,000,000; he died after two weeks of a heart attack. A family got a first prize from a big lottery; they had no rest anymore, because frequently some men tried to kidnap their children, to get a ransom. The last example is of a man, who got his money in the above mentioned way, who became rich, but lost it all and was buried by the parish.

The blessing of the Lord does not rest upon it! When we recall the history of the lot, then we find that it is used often under the Old Testament to know the will of God. After Pentecost it is not used anymore, at least it is not mentioned anymore. Is this not a sign for us to be careful with the use of it?

We know that the modernist appeals to the Christian freedom, but that is not at stake here. Christian freedom exists in being freed of sin and being prepared to the service of God under the government of the Lord. In John 8:36 we read: "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." We can never speak of freedom, without being delivered of sin, in beginning, in our life. So also this last objection, which was in a pious garment, we must reject as being unscriptural.

So many people long for worldly possessions, they think that it will give true happiness. But a round world can never fill the triangular heart. Our poverty is in our life, that we lost the Lord and his image. We are without God in the world, and this is our misery. The greatest good we can possess is God. Thereof Paul says in 2 Cor. 6:10: "Having nothing and possessing all things." This is the language of faith. And when may we have the Lord? When we are reconciled with God through Jesus Christ. That is the Way wherein the sinner becomes the property of God and God the property of the sinner, for his reckoning for time and eternity. This is no chance, but and unmovable surety.

We close with the catechism: "What is thine only comfort in life and death? That I with soul and body both in life and death am not my own, but belong unto my faithfully Savior Jesus Christ."