5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Christians should be known not simply as a voting bloc, but a force of God's love in the earth. We have been entrusted with God's irresistible love, and by demonstrating His character, we can be effective ministers of the truth of God. God's love, delivered in His way, can result in the change of hearts, and that can lead to a change in the culture. We should have a healthy relationship with our authorities, and we can strengthen that by behaving in a manner that is consistent with Christian character.
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In these verses from 1st Peter 2, we can see clearly the call of the Church and the Biblical role of
government:
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
Next week, the Alabama Legislature goes back into session, and after last year's debacle in trying to get lawmakers to come to an agreement about how to fix the state's revenue woes, exhausting one regular session and two special sessions, our lawmakers will once again consider how to operate government responsibly in Alabama. Be aware - you will hear talk about using gambling as a fundraising tool for the state. But, also be aware - it's an immoral, deceptive, and ineffective solution.
Last week, in a Front Room commentary, I highlight that gambling is poor stewardship, it also takes advantage of poor people, and it is poor public policy. I highlighted John Piper's recent piece highlighting seven reasons that a person should not gamble.
One proposal that you will hear about is to make Alabama, one of the last seven states to not have a state lottery, join the ranks of government-sponsored gambling. John Stonestreet, in a Breakpoint commentary recently, quoted Jordan Ballor of the Acton Institute, who cited polling data that confirmed lottery critics’ worst fears: He said, “The poorest among us...are contributing much
more to lottery revenues than those with higher incomes.”
In fact, one poll found that “people who played the lottery with an income of less than $20,000 annually spent an average of $46 per month on lottery tickets. That comes out to more than $550 per year, and it is nearly double the amount spent in any other income bracket.” Those in the $30-50,000 per year bracket had the second-highest average, of $24 per month. Bailor says that state-run lotteries are a “betrayal” of the citizenry. They're highly-regressive taxes on those least able to afford them, and, Ballor adds, though lotteries are usually promoted as a way to pay for education and other human needs, “revenue is often diverted for new purposes through legislative and bureaucratic chicanery.”
And, it is highly probable that some in the Legislature will attempt to expand casino gambling in the state as a revenue-raising measure. The organization, Stop Predatory Gambling, headed by Les Bernal, who has been a guest on my radio show, offered a blog post about the regressive nature of casino gambling. The piece cited findings from the Center for Thrift and Generosity at the Institute for American Values, a New York City think tank with a focus on addressing America’s personal debt crisis. One of the respondents, Cornell University economist Professor Robert Frank said, "Legalized casino gambling encourages people to pin their hopes on games of chance that are stacked against them,” adding, “Those who are determined to gamble will find some way to do so, but why lend government’s imprimatur to predators’ efforts to exploit people who can least afford to bear the inevitable losses?”
The article states: "Research increasingly shows that the costs of casino gambling far outweigh any economic benefits derived from its legalization."
David Frum, in a CNN piece, writes:
How heavily does gambling weigh upon the poor, the elderly, the less educated, and the psychologically vulnerable? It's difficult to answer exactly, because U.S. governments have shirked the job of studying the effects of gambling. Most research on the public health effects of gambling in the United States is funded by the industry itself, with a careful eye to exonerating itself from blame. To obtain independent results, the Institute for American Values was obliged, ironically, to rely on studies funded by governments in Britain and Canada.
But here's what we can conclude, in the words of the Institute:
"[S]tate-sponsored casino gambling ... parallels the separate and unequal life patterns in education, marriage, work, and play that increasingly divide America into haves and have-nots. Those in the upper ranks of the income distribution rarely, if ever, make it a weekly habit to gamble at the local casino. Those in the lower ranks of the income distribution often do. Those in the upper ranks rarely, if ever, contribute a large share of their income to the state's take of casino revenues. Those in the lower ranks do."Frum also points out: "The industry as a whole targets precisely those who can least afford to lose and earns most of its living from people for whom gambling has become an addiction. The IAV report cites a Canadian study that finds that the 75% of casino customers who play only occasionally provide only 4% of casino revenues. It's the problem gambler who keeps the casino in business."
So, as you hear this talk about relying on an unstable source of income that places a financial burden on those who can least afford it, you can be motivated to pray for our leaders to exercise wisdom that is consistent with a Biblical worldview that reinforces our state's values. The moral of the story for us today is to keep the story moral. Our lawmakers simply should not rely on immoral means to fund state government.
But, I certainly wish that we, as the Church, would go on offense. I would pray for Godly people to be placed in strategic positions to positively influence the operation of government. I think of Franklin Graham's call for people of faith to consider running for office. It seems that we are spending way too much time trying to defeat bad legislation, when, if we had the chance, we could be involved in promoting good, solid legislation that enhances our institutions and provides a good moral foundation for our families.
I believe that the Biblical role of government includes reinforcing good and punishing evil - and stronger families, injected with the influence of the Scriptures and the power of the Spirit, can make for a more stable, orderly, moral climate. So, those in leadership should be devoted to strengthening the family and not passing legislation that could weaken this precious commodity.
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