Al Mohler on Gambling

Al Mohler on state-sponsored gambling:
The most insidious dimension of the problem is the role of government in legitimizing and promoting the gambling enterprise. Though outlawed until 1964, state lotteries now represent the most popular form of legal gambling. Turning vice into an economic virtue, these states take advantage of their most gullible citizens, while touting benefits the gambling revenues supposedly make possible.

Source: Al Mohler, "When the Accounts Are Called: A Christian Understanding of Gambling"  20 Feb. 2012, Accessed,
http://www.albertmohler.com/2012/02/20/when-the-accounts-are-called-a-christian-understanding-of-gambling/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlbertMohlersBlog+%28Albert+Mohler%27s+Blog%29

Quote of the Day

I first learned about Jeremy Lin, a Harvard graduate NBA basketball player who's a Christian, last week.  I love this observation from a columnist.
"It’s not just Lin’s ethnicity and improbable story that set him apart. There’s a joy to his game. He can’t help smiling after a good play. He’s having fun. The typical NBA player proceeds with a studied coolness. Lin wouldn’t be able to hide his happiness with a lampshade."

Source

Rick Morrissey, "Jeremy Lin bursts through the preconception barrier"  Chicago Sun-Times. 13 Feb. 2012.  Accessed 13 Feb. 2012. Available: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/10624746-452/jeremy-lin-bursts-through-the-preconception-barrier.html

Combating Poverty - For the Right Reason

A great quote in a Christianity Today article:

"In pragmatic America, we are often enamored of and motivated by pragmatism rather than simple obedience to Jesus. We are too often tempted to justify our existence on this planet by doing something "significant," by "making a difference in the world," so that we can go to bed at night feeling good about ourselves. But the Christian message is about a God who judges and loves us in our insignificance—that is, when our selfcenteredness has sabotaged our ability to make any fundamentally sound contribution to our lives or to others'. This God speaks to us the frank word that not only do we not make a difference in the world, day to day we threaten to make the world worse by our sin. But in Jesus Christ, he has judged and forgiven us through the Cross, and now he uses even our insignificant efforts to witness to his coming work in Jesus Christ.

What is that coming work? Among other things, it is the end of poverty. No,we cannot end poverty, but God can and will. From this perspective we see that our efforts to stem poverty have significance not because they make us feel better, but because they point to Jesus' final antipoverty program."

Source: Mark Galli, "The Best Ways to Fight Poverty - Really" Christianity Today. 10 Feb. 2012.  Accessed 11 Feb. 2012. Available: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/february/best-ways-to-fight-poverty.html