I have been asked by a few people over the last few weeks, “Why are you against gambling?  What difference does it make?”  Let me try to explain.  What I talked about a few weeks ago was that ideas have power.  The idea of something for nothing or by luck has power and is not good.  It is impossible to isolate our values so they don’t affect seemingly unrelated areas of life.  Gambling is one of those practices that appeals to the lowest part of our financial nature.  The higher part is the productive, committed part that says, “Here is a product that will benefit people.  I’m going to sell it,” or “Here is a service that will help people and make a positive difference.  I’m going to sell it.”  All gambling is based on the notion that with luck I can get rich.  It brings out the worst in people, and it is something no community needs to support. They look to luck rather than preparation, hard work, and good execution.

             There is also a big difference between regulating what becomes legal and regulating personal behavior.  When the county makes something legal, its proponents will say – that makes it ok.  I want to make sure that the law approves as few harmful practices as possible.

             We are going through a stage right now in our culture where legislators don’t want to raise taxes but they need more money. An easy way to do this is through allowing and taxing gambling.  We have had widespread gambling in the past.  Ride out Devine Street and Garner’s Ferry Road and you’ll see near the Lutheran Church of the Incarnation an historical marker indicating there was a horse track where the children’s home now stands.  Further out by the VA Hospital there was another one.  That one belonged to Wade Hampton.  So we have had organized gambling in this state in the past.  We don’t have it now because back then we discovered that while it looks like fun, it’s actually quite harmful.  The human cost exceeds the human value. Right now it’s back on the upswing, and it will take awhile before we see the error of our ways and again restrict it.  However, I think it is important to take a stand and raise the issue wherever it makes sense.  The human cost is still too high.

        It looked like nobody could tame Tiger Woods just like it looked like nobody could tame Michael Jordan.  It was said that the only person who could hold Michael Jordan’s score under 30 points was Dean Smith (his very conservative coach at UNC).  Apparently, the only person who could keep Tiger from being remembered as the greatest golfer ever to live is Tiger himself.  Count me as badly disappointed – make that disgusted. 

             I have said since he burst onto the scene that my greatest admiration for him was not how far he could hit a golf ball, how well he could recover from a bad shot, or how he could putt under pressure, as impressive as all that was.  It was how he handled himself as a young man with unlimited money, unlimited success, and unlimited amounts of admiration.  Now it turns out that was a fake.  It is certainly symptomatic of our culture where people believe they can do what they want as long as they don’t get caught. 

             The question for all of us is will we say to ourselves, “It doesn’t matter”?  Will we join all of these weak-spined, moral nobodies in saying, “People just can’t help it”?  It’s just like eating and breathing – I just have to do it.  Or will we be people who will say, “We live for God and believe God’s will for us is more important than the satisfaction of personal urges”?  If this is harsh, so be it.  We are in a hole and digging it deeper.  The problem really is NOT Tiger Woods.  It is the culture in which he lives – our culture. 

             In my next blog, I plan to write about the ups and downs of the morality of culture.  But let me say right now the moral fiber of our culture is weakening steadily.  I’m afraid things will have to get a lot worse before we finally decide enough of state-sponsored gambling that takes advantage of the poor, enough talk about legalizing drugs, and enough talk that divorce doesn’t matter or people can’t help it.  Count me as one who is fed up.