Is a Christian allowed to buy tickets and play the lottery or should he rather not? That is the topic of this article. And as is so often the case, there is no clear answer, since the Bible does not contain a single passage directly about lotteries or even gambling.
But the simple answer, if you want it, is this: as a Christian, you should avoid playing the lottery. This actually only shows that you still have to work a little on yourself.
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What does the bible say about the lottery?
But why is that? What does the Bible say? The Bible talks about working with a certain attitude towards money. We are not to hoard it. We are not to accumulate it. We are not to deceive anyone and that we are not to accumulate money very quickly. That’s what the Proverbs say, for example.
Otherwise, many letters also warn us that we should not be greedy for money.
The big question, of course, is: why is that? Why should we, by a fast money blessing, not become particularly fast happy?
On the one hand, of course, it is because God alone, and God alone, is supposed to be our source of happiness. Of course, we are human – and the source of happiness thing doesn’t necessarily work all the time, of course.
Still, we should avoid, as Christians at least, looking for other “happiness pills.” (This topic would also drag into the area of narcotics or similar. But that would be too wide a field now, which we would have to land here.
Why shouldn’t Christians play the lottery?
What we can learn from this, however, is this: Those who want fast money should consider whether their relationship with God is still the one it ideally should be.
Either there is no reliance there on God’s provision, or money is more important than God. Neither is ideal. Winning the lottery or playing the lottery basically already indicates that there is something wrong here. The big question that arises here is this: Can God animate me to play the lottery through the Holy Spirit? Does God want to make us rich through a possible lottery win? Is it plausible that God would have me fill out lottery tickets every week or not?
My personal opinion on this is: No.
I am pretty sure that he would not do this. The really least people can do real and serious good with a sudden high amount of money, as can happen with the lottery. There are many reports of sudden lottery millionaires getting greedy and breaking their promises.
There are certainly people who would invest this money in God’s kingdom, but many would rather buy more luxuries and then think less of other people.
That is, the very fact that we should not run after money makes us humble toward God. Now this sounds quite silly to some and discouraged that God does not give away a lot of money for our own squandering.
But I wanted to do something good with the lottery winnings…
And immediately opens the next question: if someone, a Christian, wants to help another and thinks there only a lottery win can evade; so I would almost say: This is in the very rarest cases, practically never, seriously necessary.
One can successfully build God’s kingdom even without winning the lottery. After all, God is personally building it, if you let him! This can be done by, for example, practicing charity. Especially in the New Testament there are many how God’s love and message can go around the world. A pile of money was very rarely needed there.
Summary: Can christians play lottery?
Let us come to the conclusion. A lot of money at once, as is common when winning the lottery, can turn us away from God. Therefore, it can be strongly assumed that a Christian should not play the lottery. Likewise, we can assume that God’s provision does not depend on successfully filling out a lottery ticket. However, anyone who still dreams of winning the lottery should consider whether money is more important to him than God.
Bonus: If I play the lottery, will I go to hell?
As a bonus question, I would like to answer the following question: If I played the lottery once in my life, whether as a Christian or not, do I have any chance of going to heaven?
The answer to that is: of course. It is not crucial what you have done, but that you have Jesus in your heart and trust that He, and He alone, is the Savior who can take you to heaven. This means that even if you, as a Christian, have played the lottery once, even though it is not so good, Jesus can forgive that act. It is not an obstacle to going to heaven. Nevertheless, after such a deed, you should see to it that you get right with God. How this looks in detail, you should clarify with the Holy Spirit in a prayer.
