Gambling, war & peace: Read our principles

Frankly, I am glad to be a United Methodist and am thankful for the positions we have hammered out together over the years. I call upon United Methodists of the Holston Conference to read, study, discuss and embrace our social principles. We are not all things to all people. But I offer to you again our denominational stance on two crucial issues, gambling and military service/war and peace. This is from The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church:

¶163. G) Gambling – Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government. As an act of faith and concern, Christians should abstain from gambling and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice. Where gambling has become addictive, the Church will encourage such individuals to receive therapeutic assistance so that the individual's energies may be redirected into positive and constructive ends. The Church should promote standards and personal lifestyles that would make unnecessary and undesirable the resort to commercial gambling – including public lotteries – as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.

¶164. G) Military Service – We deplore war and urge the peaceful settlement of all disputes among nations. From the beginning, the Christian conscience has struggled with the harsh realities of violence and war, for these evils clearly frustrate God's loving purposes for humankind. We yearn for the day when there will be no more war and people will live together in peace and justice. Some of us believe that war, and other acts of violence, are never acceptable to Christians. We also acknowledge that most Christians regretfully realize that, when peaceful alternatives have failed, the force of arms may be preferable to unchecked aggression, tyranny and genocide. We honor the witness of pacifists who will not allow us to become complacent about war and violence. We also respect those who support the use of force, but only in extreme situations and only when the need is clear beyond reasonable doubt, and through appropriate international organizations. We urge the establishment of the rule of law in international affairs as a means of elimination of war, violence, and coercion in these affairs.

¶165. C) War and Peace – We believe war in incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as a usual instrument of national foreign policy and insist that the first moral duty of all nations is to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among them; that human values must outweigh military claims as governments determine their priorities; that the militarization of society must be challenged and stopped; that the manufacture, sale, and deployment of armaments must be reduced and controlled; and that the production, possession, or use of nuclear weapons be condemned. Consequently, we endorse general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

There is a temptation to form subjective opinions about current issues. We are far better served to remember the guiding principles that should inform our conversations and shape our convictions.

I pray God to help us as we seek to live out the Gospel. It is never easy. Cross bearing will forever be costly.

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Bishop Ray W. Chamberlain
Resident Bishop

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