LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: GAMBLING IS A MORAL ISSUE

To the Editor:

I'm not going to try to convince those who are in favor of gambling against it. Those in favor have already decided it is not a moral issue. I hope and pray that to Christians and people of good conscience it is a moral issue. If not, then we are all lost. To cause the fall of thousands of people on the premise it will bring 800 jobs, not only mocks God, but makes fools of those who say that sales tax revenues are up and new businesses are coming into town and business and building are booming.

Your "no" vote to riverboat gambling in June was to insure a safe family atmosphere, insure local control over decisions concerning the future of our community, to support the traditional ethic emphasizing the value of hard work over false hopes of getting something for nothing, insure less local temptation for would be gamblers and chronic compulsive gamblers, reaffirm that Cape Girardeau values people over profit. Your vote counted, but not enough Christians or morally subjective citizens voted, either way. They voted for a leader of our country in November, but could not vote to please the leader of our souls in June.

In talking to a great many Christians who did not vote, the sin of omission (not voting) was less of a sin then the sin of commission (voting in favor of the gambling issue). Was Peter, in denying Christ three times less of a sinner than Judas who sold him out for 30 pieces of silver? I have heard from Christians who did not vote that they didn't want to be vocal either way for fear of turning their friends against them, or that if their friends went on the boat, they would have to go also because they couldn't help themselves. Does that mean you care more about what your friends and family think then what God thinks? We are all sinners, but let us not go out of our way to do it.

Many Christians are guilty of supporting lotteries, bingo and racing all under the assumption that gambling doesn't really hurt anyone. That's exactly what Satan would have us believe. I once believed that, so I am no less a sinner than any other Christian. We pass our value system along to those around us -- first, to our own families, then to our friends and neighbors. If our value system is no better than the world's then truly we have been conformed to the image of this world. Like it or not, the vote on whether to allow gambling in Cape Girardeau is a moral issue.

Miki Gudermuth

Cape Girardeau