The Sin of Putting God to the Test
by Phil Johnsonere's a third characteristic of gambling. Remember, Gambling involves 1) Something valuable that is placed at risk; 2) Something belonging to someone else that is staked as a prize; and:3. Gambling involves an element of chance that supposedly determines the outcome. This is a practical denial of the doctrine of divine providence.God is sovereign over our prosperity. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "It is [the Lord] that giveth thee power to get we

Grateful for the revelation of the one Creator God (Thanks from Genesis 1:1, part three)
by Dan Phillips[Sorry, the RefTagger program messes up the title. In this third Valerie-inspired series on thankfulness, we dig further in Genesis 1:1.]In our first reflection on Genesis 1:1, we saw that the words "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" teach us that God first produced the universe out of nothing.

A good question
by Phil JohnsonA reader sent me this excellent question:Do you think your principle ["if you merely participate in a gambling contest with a desire to win, you are guilty of coveting that which belongs to your neighbor"] applies exclusively to gambling, or does it apply to any and all forms of competitive activity? For example, if I enter a boxing match, or any other competitive activity, I am entering i

Does 'Mutual Consent' Eliminate the Evil in Gambling?
by Phil Johnsone are looking at four essential characteristics in a standard definition of gambling. I have argued that each of the four characteristics involves a violation of one or more vital biblical principles.In other words, gambling is sinful for more than one reason. It's wrong on several counts. When you gamble, whether you win or lose, you violate God's moral law—quite possibly on multiple levels.My previous post began this arg

God's Perfect Law
Your weekly dose of Spurgeonposted by Phil JohnsonThe PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from "The Law's Failure and Fulfillment," a sermon originally preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday evening, 1 March 1891.HE law of God is perfect. You cannot