The 201st Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands conference of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas is intending to hold a referendum expressing its strong opposition to all forms of gambling on January 28th. The Conference Organizers say gambling is a subject of tremendous concern to all citizens of the Bahamas. In a statement today the Ministerial and Lay Delegates at the annual session reiterate their strong and uncompromising opposition to gambling in all its forms.
The Ministerial and Lay Delegates give the reasons for taking their principled stand against gambling. Firstly they point out that many religious leaders see gambling as the concept of gaining something by means of luck or chance at the expense of others. That makes it incompatible with the teaching of Scripture, which calls upon Christians to use their God-given abilities and talents to work for or earn the same: by the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread – Genesis 3:19. They also point to Proverbs, Matthew, andThessalonians for further clarification. Gambling, they say, encourages laziness, avarice and greed – fostering dependence upon chance rather Divine Providence and dedication to duty as taught in the Bible. They say further that gambling can greatly disrupt or even destroy home and family life. The most powerful argument against gambling from a moral perspective, however, was the “law of love” as expounded by Jesus in “The Sermon On The Mount in discussions with His religious contemporaries Matthew, Mark, and John. They say this is all in keeping with the teaching of John Wesley in his famous sermon on the use of money. Whatever may be the outcome of the Referendum, the Methodist Church will continue to hold tenaciously to its position that gambling is morally wrong.
