A Reviews Editor has to become accustomed to receiving all sorts of printed material unsolicited through the post. Most of the unusual items come, of course, from non-Christadelphian sources: titles like Irregular People and Not quite Heaven, whose contents do not justify more than even passing notice in a magazine devoted to “the study and defence of the Holy Scripture”. It is much more surprising to receive any Christadelphian material which merely by its title seems likely to disqualify itself for serious treatment by way of review.
Why Christadelphians shouldn’t buy lottery tickets seemed at first sight to fall into this ‘unsuitable’ category. The problem, surely(?), was virtually nonexistent, and its solution could hardly justify the time and expense put into the writing and distribution of a 12-page pamphlet about it. And surely even the few who might be unwise enough to indulge in the occasional flutter would not be unaware in their own consciences of the reasons why they ought not to continue to do so. A lottery is a gamble, and gambling—the risking of loss against the chance of something for nothing—is morally reprehensible. And that seemed all that needed to be said. And yet the pamphlet had been written, and out of respect for the writer, at least, it deserved to be read . . .
And what a revelation the opening paragraphs proved to be! The reviewer had no previous idea of the scale of gambling in North America; but the pamphlet makes it clear that Canada is well and truly hooked on “Lottomania”: “In January 1984, the Canadian lottery Lotto 6/49 was offering a prize of $12.5 million in its weekly draw. An all-time one week sales record was reached when Canadians plunked down $65 million”. And when we are told that recent studies have shown that in some communities in Canada as many as 90% of the adult population buy lottery tickets on a regular basis we can begin to understand why the author has taken the “addictive magnetism” of lottery tickets so seriously. Will all Christadelphians be able to resist this apparently common urge to ‘get rich quick’? With the near advent of video-lotteries in the comfort of the home, the temptation for North
Americans in the Truth to ‘try out their luck’ is likely to become even greater. And it has long been axiomatic that what America does today, Britain does tomorrow.
Brother Farrar’s pamphlet, therefore, is a serious attempt both to sound a warning about the dangers of lottery-participation and also to meet in advance the specious arguments of any who may seek to justify it. An interesting historical survey of the history of lotteries reveals that from Elizabethan times until 1828 state lotteries in England were a means of raising large sums of money for public purposes, but were abolished by Parliament after campaigns by reformers like Whitbread and Wilberforce, who drew attention to the ruin and impoverishment being caused to many of the people. In the modern world, however, and particularly it seems across the Atlantic, the authorities have no such scruples about the grave social consequences which the encouragement of large-scale gambling brings in its train, with the result that the number of legalised lotteries has mushroomed in recent times.
The professional psychologists have clearly been employed to make it seem that many lotteries are not what is traditionally thought of as gambling. But Brother Farrar lays their methods bare: ‘You’re only paying for an amusement, a game’; ‘Here is an opportunity to aid a worthy cause’; ‘We offer hope, happiness and security for a derisorily small sum’; and ‘Just think how much good you could do with all that money !’— all these are illusions traded on dishonestly by lottery-organisers, and eagerly accepted as self-deceptions by those who take park But people gamble, says the manager of one ‘Super Loto’ bluntly, because they are greedy; and the organisers cynically base their whole marketing strategy on that one undeniable facet of human ugliness. For Christadelphians, a primary concern must be to avoid even the temptation to mask the unpalatable fact of their own humanity in this respect. For those who are espoused to a Master who “became poor” for their sakes, the very idea of obtaining riches at the expense of others should be abhorrent. The dangerous argument of the once-in-a-while-can-do-no-harm approach shows how easy it is to play fast and loose with Divine ethics, and how important it is to keep oneself “unspotted from the world”.
The Christadelphian’s course in life should be clear. His hope is in “the true riches”; his affection is set on “things above”; he looks at “the things which are not seen”. His example to his brethren and sisters, his friends and, especially, to his children, should demonstrate precisely where his treasure really lies. Hypocrisy is the inevitable companion of those who try to serve both God and Mammon.
The virtues of patient labour (1 Thess. 4:11) and of quiet diligence in work (Eph. 6:5-7) are both examples set by the apostles and also central aspects of the life-style laid down by them for others who would follow. Well might Brother Farrar write:
“It would seem impossible to reconcile injunctions such as these with the hope of the something-for-nothing philosophy . . . One searches the scriptures in vain to find support .. . for any form of gambling”.
The saint in Christ has higher ideals than the common run of humanity; he subscribes to a nobler `world view’. And the author’s closing remarks lift the pamphlet’s convincing array of arguments on to an altogether more lofty plane: “From such a vantage point, those who are called to be saints, can observe lotteries in their true colours. They are the playthings, the hopes, the aspirations and the ambitions of those whom the Psalmist describes as ‘men of the world which have their portion in this life’ (Psa. 17:14)”. In which life will the Christadelphian gambler find his portion? The problem is real, and the question, after all, deserves to be asked.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)