The Effects of Bingo Gambling
Recently the Town Council of Fraserburgh discussed the matter of too many Bingo sessions being held in the town from the point of view that some of these sessions were for charitable purposes and that these would suffer financially. Gambling and charity are not of the same ‘family’ although worldly-wise men think so. In the aforesaid Town Council, one Councillor, Bailie Tocher, although not seeming to condemn Bingo as such, yet said: “I feel there is enough Bingo going on already. We have not yet felt the full adverse effects of Bingo in this town—but I can see it coming. They are having bother in other towns. Those who have hire purchase cannot meet their commitments; rent arrears are rising; some people are out every night and have no regard for their children; houses are getting into disrepair, and children are going unfed.” This list of evil and wicked effects from a man who knows the situation is a loud condemnation of Bingo, and the Government for making it legal to further this evil plague and cancer of gambling.
Direct Financial Giving to The Church
An official pamphlet issued by the Church of Scotland on gambling deals with the question of members of the Church failing to support their Church financially by direct giving. It states that for many years some congregations had made regular use of raffles and games of chance to raise money . . . “because their members had consistently failed to provide adequately through direct giving.” It is also stated, and very properly so, that this kind of sinful practice prevents members from facing up to their Christian responsibilities. Of course, in any Church, members in full communion who profess the Lord Jesus Christ and fail to give adequately according to how the Lord has prospered them in providence, reveal a great lack of spiritual understanding as to the value of gospel ordinances, where these ordinances are kept according to the pure standards of the Word of God. We would point out further that we even object to and disown “sales of work” in churches and public halls as a means of gathering money for the cause of Christ and the gospel, instead of people giving without having to get something back for themselves when professing to give to the Church. Outright and direct giving, however much or little one can afford, as unto the Lord, will be a help and a blessing to the Church of Christ. How much would the poor widow who cast into the treasury two mites be able to buy at a modern Church Sale of Work? She put in directly all her living without getting any material thing in return. But she had the wonderful blessing of the commendation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Literal or Allegorical
In the September, 1962, issue of The Covenanter, a monthly magazine published (as we understand) by The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland, there appeared an opening article entitled “The Garden of God.” The basis of the article was Genesis ii: 8, “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.” Within the first paragraph of the article the following sentence appears, viz., “Paradise was man’s home in the beginning, and it has been his true destiny ever since. Whether the account of Paradise Lost as recorded in Genesis is to be interpreted literally or allegorically is immaterial: for us its real value lies in the fact that we understand it as a parable.” The above observations regarding the record given of the Fall of Man in Genesis are very disconcerting and dangerous, and we are surprised that they should appear in such a magazine. We believe, of course, that the Holy Spirit gives, through the inspired author, an account in the Book of Genesis of what actually took place as to the Fall of Man; that Adam and Eve as our first parents actually took of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and came under the sentence of death and were actually driven out of the Garden of Eden by the Lord God (Genesis, chapter iii). To assert that it does not really matter whether we take the aforesaid narrative as an account of what actually happened or merely as an allegory and consider it as a parable, is to teach a view of Holy Scripture calculated to undermine belief in the truth of God’s Word. It is also professed by some that they accept the Book of Jonah as a part of God’s Word but that the whole story regarding Jonah is only figurative or a parable to be interpreted in the light of what Christ stated regarding Himself and Jonah. How wicked and false this view of the Book of Jonah is! We are amazed that the joint-editors of this Reformed Presbyterian Church magazine allowed the statements we refer to to be published.
Controversy in Vatican Council
A special correspondent of “The Scotsman,” Edinburgh, reports on the Vatican Council proceedings at Rome, and states that controversy arose anent, first, on the reform of the liturgy, there being 1,200 amendments; and second, on the sources of revelation. This second item, it is said, proved so controversial that the Pope had to send it to be redrafted as an item on the agenda of 74 items. “The Scotsman” correspondent says of the Council that at the rate things are going it could take anything from 30 years to a century to get through its agenda. The view of this state of matters is that the central government of the Roman Catholic Church—the Curia—has been resisting the views of some “progressive” bishops of West European communities. So “The Scotsman” correspondent seems to infer. This Council has now been adjourned for nine months although at first it was intended to adjourn only from December until May. What so-called Protestant observers obtained by their attendance at this Council will be difficult to determine. We are sure they did not obtain any spiritual profit. Where now is the foolish cry that this Vatican Council would certainly assist present day church unity?