More than 100 million Americans will tune in to the Super Bowl to see which team will hoist the Lombardi Trophy, to check out the new commercials that will debut, and/or to watch Bruno Mars’s halftime show. Millions of Americans will also place bets on the Super Bowl. It is estimated that people in the United States bet $10 billion on last year’s game. Scripture doesn’t say much about gambling, but it says plenty about using our money and resources faithfully. For that reason, among others, many Christian churches have taken a stand against gambling. LinC looks at gambling from a Christian perspective. We’ll consider the dangers of gambling and talk about how the church can help those who suffer from gambling problems. Key Scriptures: Jeremiah 17:9-11; Galatians 6:1-10; Ephesians 1:3-14. Next Sunday the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will face off in Super Bowl XLVIII. While football is, by any measure, the most popular sport in the United States, research into the brain injuries suffered by athletes who play football and other contact sports have raised questions about whether the game is safe, particularly for young people. Scripture tells us that we have been created in God’s image and that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. So how we treat our bodies is a spiritual matter. Next week we’ll look at physical fitness as a spiritual discipline and the importance of staying safe as we exercise our bodies.
