Whenever Mega Millions jackpot enters uncharted territory, mushrooming to $830 million last week, after COVID ripped our economy, many previously disinclined to “gaming,” joined the gathering throng. Not only are they willing to pay the piper, it’s inestimable how many who haven’t prayed since the second grade, may be cameoed briefly closing their eyes, muttering a supplication, before purchasing “that winning ticket.” There’ll be a load of genuflecting, finger crossing, chanting incantations, and assorted God-words, when the odds of winning are at 1 in 88 quad-trillions. Nearly the same as Elizabeth Warren being Native American.
Years ago, a savvy Wall Street investor was asked in a survey, “Would you ever pray?” He unapologetically replied, “Of course! If there was something I couldn’t buy.” Does that sound familiar? Offsprings intuitively learn to parrot such fatuous rhetoric. What are we willing to risk for what we want? At what cost? In our age of immediate gratification, too many belatedly discover that the Infinite Personal God, isn’t like the lottery, after offering a small perfunctory deposit, and we win the cosmic jackpot.
One’s personal credo of “I believe in the Man upstairs” is dangerous ground to tread upon, when religious mumbo-jumbo is eclipsed by existential reality and life’s vicissitudes. Of course, you could so much good with that bonanza. According to the National Endowment for Financial Education, 70% of lottery winners end up broke, and a third go on to declare bankruptcy.
It’s hard to ignore the prototype prayer of this second-grader, “Dear God, Please, please, help me remember my spelling words for this test…that I didn’t study…and please make my annoying little brother disappear into thin air. Amen.” Fortunately, many have moved beyond this self-serving level. God apparently ignores such selfish supplications. It may be “cute” on a human plane, when one is seven. It’s shameful for would-be adults, just lounging back, arms folded, impatiently waiting for God to promptly dispense, from heaven, desirous stuff, like “winning lottery tickets” at our beckoned whim. An impoverished mentality that’s reinforced by a culture dominated by cupidity.
Where do we get such notions? Apparently, it’s more like a contagion, and nearly as deadly. The bitter fruit of this trend leaves our culture void of objective faith in a historical, Biblical God, when estranged from Scriptural moorings. Familiarity with a “favorite verse” is wholly inadequate. It’s not happenstance that the secularized academy, with a vested interest in a “Scienceocracy” artifice, clinging to a denial of a bonafide place for historical, theological principles to compete with the market place, relegating it to the realm of fable, myth or sacred hallucinations.
In one’s feeble defense, its origin is ancient. Don’t forget, Christ’s desultory disciples, who were in the inner sanctum and traveled with Him for a span of three years, were, at times, woefully ignorant of His ways. When Jesus foretold his impending death, His disciples appeared clueless in Jerusalem. His scourging reply, “Have I been with you, and yet you have not come to know me Philip?” His disciples lacked our advantage of the printed canon at our disposal.
A recent survey by the Barna Group reported that 88% of Americans own at least one Bible-stored somewhere. For those who vaguely remember a verse about “casting lots” take a closer look. There are nearly fifty verses in the Old and New Testament referencing “casting lots.” In most cases, the outcome is determined by the Lord, like Prov. 16:33. Or, in the case where there are two choices, either choice was righteous, or fulfillment of a prophecy. Sorry. It wasn’t a lottery.
At the pinnacle of Evangelical thought is our conviction to “share the Good News of the Gospel.” In so doing, we point to the inexorable teachings of Christ, His life, death on the cross, and Resurrection, as historical proofs of His claims. Our progressively secular culture, and the alarming rise of cults, have numbed the spiritual senses of millions of Americans. This troubling trend, where unbridled skepticism reigns, has predictably led to generations as theologically vulnerable as an unarmed London Bobby in a Islamic Terrorist attack.
Individual experience plays an important, even indispensable, role in a personal verification of truth. Yet, is insufficient apart from the veracity of what the New Testament reveals about Christianity. Otherwise, Man’s Fallen state prevails. History’s rife with distorted and bizarre religious views that plague us to this day. Since the death of the first generation of Christians, we’ve no chance to interview first hand eyewitnesses of Christ thirty-three years. That’s why we’re dependent upon the residue of written testimony found in Divine Scripture. These writings are utterly reliable and trustworthy, as attested by first century Roman historian Tacitus, a valid and authentic non-christian confirmation of the Gospel, and Jesus’ crucification.
Some recoil, asking, “What difference does it make in this sophisticated society?” The destruction and evisceration of historical objectivity challenges our Christian apologetic and orthodoxy. In a culture increasingly hostile to a body of possible Divine revelation, on which one can rely, responding rather to a “faith in anything” approach to redemption, that encourages an insatiable appetite for alarming doctrinal latitudinarianism. Absent existential content or legitimate theological boundaries, the door’s left ajar for sophistry, cults and philosophical meandering, clamoring to fill the vacuum, once dominated by orthodox Christianity.
Even secularists, who warn of a “far right religious theocracy,” will sardonically tolerate a small dose of impotent religion. Some recall at the 2020 Democrat presidential debates, when eight out of the top twelve candidates, invoked a Bible verse, as part of their campaign strategy, appealing to a dwindling audience.
Should one pray earnestly for a winning lottery ticket? Ask Him next time you talk. What does this all mean? Future generations will surely mimic our theological inclinations. Be sedulous, not disarmed by any spiritual ruse, marked by odorous rhetoric, wholly impervious to historical examination. One mustn’t fall prey to a secular portrayal of “Providence” that’s capricious and spurious, like a cosmic lottery. False hope’s a cruel taskmaster. Our opportunity’s plenary. We spend an inordinate amount of time asking God for what we want. After all, aren’t we obligated to discover what God wants from us? What do you think?
Mike Pyatt’s a Natrona County resident. His email’s mikepyatt44@gmail.com
Just a quick comment. I’ve played the Publishers Clearing House thing for years and years. Yet I never expect anything out of it, just enjoy piling up tokens. Over the years I’ve garnered 3 checks for 10 dollars each. The odds of winning the PCH scam is about the same as the lottery! LOL