The Wheel of Misfortune

I was in the pub last night with my husband and father-in-law. I had few drinks with them and talk about how well I am now coping here in UK. I said I'm ok and having fun. I really am. Especially now that I've got a new hobby that I put my efforts on ( duh?! Blogging??). Anyways, to make the story short, we tackled about this so-called " Gambling". Dad said in the middle of the betting conversation, " One thing in betting that wives love is when their husband is winning but when we are losing, they hate us..." I thought about every lines of it and I think he has a point. Why are we in the pub now? ( Hehe because he won in the horse race ). I answered him back that betting is okay if in moderation. You know, just for fun and not making it as a habbit. And he agrees with me. As we get home, I'm still puzzled why dad suddenly talk about it. Only to get up early and find the answers in the web. To make the explanation clear here are some of the answers I've found:

" To non-gamblers, even more to controlled gamblers, the idea that gambling may become compulsive (an addiction or a sickness) is incredible. It is not so difficult to believe that people can be alcoholics or drug addicts because, in those cases, something gets into the physical system. Nonetheless, the condition is real enough.
It begins for some when they are still young. It overtakes others later in life. It is more than just having an irresistible itch to gamble. Those who are affected vary considerably both in their personalities and in their positions in life. Their experiences of gambling and of its results in their lives have much in common but in detail there are considerable differences.

The onset of compulsive gambling may be prompted by circumstances. The beginning for some is an introduction to gambling which they recognise immediately as an inviting world. They enjoy the excitement and the whole atmosphere. Others win when first they gamble, and become convinced that they are lucky gamblers, a conviction which prompts irrational action. Others cannot endure being under pressure for money. The move from ordinary to compulsive gambling for these may start when they get married, when a child is born, or when for some other reason their responsibilities, domestic, financial or otherwise, are suddenly increased so that they are not sure how to handle them. They are faced with bills and not enough money to meet them. This is a common human experience but the compulsive gambler feels that the only answer is to gamble and try to win enough to pay them all at once.

Compulsive gamblers are carried away by this and for them it becomes a squirrel's cage. Win or lose they cannot escape - this distinguishes them from heavy and professional gamblers. As time goes on they develop a need for the action. Because it contains the elements of tension and release, some observers have made a comparison with orgasm, and decided that, as an experience, gambling has more in common with breaking and entering than sexual intercourse.

If you must have the action and, win or lose, cannot leave it, then, because the odds are against you, you must lose till it hurts. This leads some, mistakenly I think, to say that compulsive gamblers are masochists. It is certainly a humiliating experience. It makes compulsive gamblers swear that they will never gamble again. They do though because their dream world capacity obliterates bad memories.

This dream world enables a compulsive gambler, on his way to the action with money in his hand, to know without any peradventure, that today he will advance, win after win, to that glorious consummation of the ultimate win which will cut down to size the man who broke the bank of Monte Carlo." Read More Here...

Gambling violates God's legitimate laws of obtaining money. The Bible contains legitimate ways for man to obtain moneys. There is the law of labor (Gen. 3: 19, Eph. 4: 28), the law of exchange (Matt. 25: 9), and the law of love (gift, Eph. 4: 28, Jn. 3: 16). Gambling, stealing, etc. do not come under any of these legitimate methods; hence, gambling is wrong. Gambling bespeaks the mentality of "something for nothing."

Gambling involves tragic waste. Material things are to be used for the glory of God, not squandered away in gambling (Lk. 16: 9, Eph. 4: 28). John Gates, once a multi-millionaire, advised: "Do not gamble, do not bet on cards, do not bet on horse races, do not throw dice." Gates played bridge for $1,000.00 a point and matched pennies for $1,000.00 a turn. He lost all he had and died broke in 1911. A sign advertising a business close to my house reads, "Win 25 percent of the time." Of course, that means you lose 75 percent of the time!

Gambling involves covetousness. Epithumeo, one verb translated covetousness in the New Testament, is a compound word consisting of epi, upon and thumos, passion. Hence, to fix passion upon. Epithumeo vividly describes much of the mind-set which often surrounds the gambling climate. Appreciate the fact "thou shalt not covet" is mentioned in the same sentence as "thou shalt not commit adultery…kill…steal, and …bear false witness (Rom. 13: 9). Greed and avarice characterize gambling from the tossing of dice for gain in a dark alley to the multi-million dollar well lighted gambling palace.

In other words, the foregoing is the truth about gambling. Striped of all its euphemisms and white-wash, it is a practice which continues to destroy lives and reap havoc on families in a country which once vehemently denounced gambling for the vice it is..

More or less I have found the answers to my questions. Now its time for you to read and realize about the truth in gambling. The way I understand it , It's a never-ending Wheel of Misfortune.