Ok, here is my attempte to re-create the deleted post:

The Bible does not address gambling directly. Some pople point to the casting of lots, but the examples in scripture never say anything about the morality of the practice. Some pro-gambling Christians cite the examples of God making his will known through the casting of lots as supporting gambling, but really it is just the medium of God's message at the time and says nothing about the practice of wagering on chance. There are several arguments anti-gambling Christians make, and others that I have come up with on my own (because I think about this stuff). Here are a few and my responses.

Gambling is an exchange of money for nothing of value
This is a suspect argument to begin with, because it is an economics question more than a morality one. The Bible does tell us that a man should not eat if he doesn't work, which tells us something of the way God views the work ethic. I still think this is a tenuous link at best to gambling, especially if you are not persuing it full time. But even if you are, both parties are still receiveing value when they play poker (or any other gambling activty). The value they received is "fun", or the potential for fun at the least. Most people play poker for fun, and almost all of the losing players feel like the value they are getting for their money is worth it.

True there are some addicts out there who are just trying to hit it big and get lucky. For them gambling is not fun- it's an addiction. However, I do think this is not the rule and most people play poker because it is fun. The addictive, "I'm going to get lucky and hit big" types are going to find a place to feed their addiction- if not poker then somewhere else.

It is true that poker does not benifit society much. It produces nothing of value beyond entertainment value. But then that is true of almost every entertainment we enjoy. I ceratinly do not produce anything playing computer games or going to a movie. We don't want (nor does scripture adovcate) a society of individuals who only work to produce and never take advantage of the wonderful world God has given us to enjoy.

Poker is a preditory game where the strong prey on the weak
This is true, and moreso of poker than any other form of gambling since there is so much skill invovled. This is also probably the strongest Christian argument against poker. In many ways, poker is a game that dupes less talented people into giving their money to stronger players who understand the game better. Christians are supposed to live at peace with the world and certainly not try to deceive them, so engaging in an activity that explicitly seeks to fleece others is not reallly consistent with the Christian life.

Actually, this one does bother me a little, and if I were ever to stop playing poker (other than it being illegal of course), it'd be because of this reason. Still, this is not an aspect unique to poker- it is the very nature of our economic system. A free market is economic darwinism, where the strong survive and the weak fail. Strong business succeed by making better decicions than weaker businesses and getting lucky at the right time. It is no suprise that a game like poker would evovle in a place like the United States. To indite poker in this regard would be to indite our whole system of economics, possibly rightly so.

All that being said, when I enter a poker game with others we all have the same information available. If my opponnents are a losing players, they either know it or haven't lost enough that they care. Their willingness to continue playing (usually) indicates a belief that the money they are spending is worth the enjoyment of the game. I am really not deciving anyone when I step up to the game- I AM trying to take their money, just like they are trying to take mine. If I have a skill advantage I am not hiding this fact, nor would they believe me if I told them.

Gambling is anti family values
Yeah, I know everyone's sick about hearing about "family values", but Christians believe the family is something God put together and as such it is an institution that should be honored and protected. I believe this too, though let me clarify and say that by "protected", I mean from within by the choices family members make, not externally by passing laws and such. I don't believe government passing bans on homosexual marriages, banning poker, or anything else "protects" my family. However, I do feel that it is important for me to make good decisions for my family as a husband (and some day as a father) that helps it to become all that God wants it to be. Many Christians say that gambling impeads in this indevor.

I do not find this to be the case at all. If I am wagering my house or savings on wild gambling sprees, that is certainly anti-family values. However, I am not doing that. I practice good bankroll management and have a seperate account for all of my poker winnings and buy ins. In fact, as silly as this is, learning to respect my poker bankroll has led me to be better with money in general (which just goes to show how amazingly bad I am with money). Poker can certainly be a time suck away from my wife, but so can "World of Warcraft" or any other entertainment I might engage in. Once again it all comes down to the choices I make and how I persue my hobbie.

It is true that there are a lot of things that tend to go along with gambling that are definitly anti-"Christian Family Values". Prostitution, greed, etc. The deeper I've gottn into poker, the more I've seen how many people tend to get sucked into these things. But I've also seen those who don't. Eric Lynch is an online poker player who has continually and public put his family first, and even sites spending mroe time with them as one of the reasons he decided to go pro. Sure there are a lot more cases of some guy runining his family through gambling that guys like Eric Lynch, but it's all in the approach. Guys (and gals) who self destruct at the poker table have larger issues that gambling is merely highlighting. But if they didn't find away to destroy their families at and around the poker table, they'd find elswhere to do it. To blame poker and gambling is to ignore the real issues I think.

There are more arguments, but I think they mostly fall into these categories. I don't see gambling as being inherintly sinful, but there are aspects that can lead to sin, just like anything else we do in a fallen world. I look at it as an area to be careful; there are similar issues surrounding watching movies, playing computer games, etc. The scripture advocates to live "in the world and not of it". I don't believe this means avoiding watching moves, gambling, etc. but rather being aware of the pitfalls and not accepting everything that comes my way. I must be consistently on guard and make decisions that are Godly, whether I are dealing with business entertianment, relationships, and anything else.

On the flip side of all of the above, poker is a great game that is a lot of fun to play. The randomness of the cards makes it more exciting than chess, and the skill involved makes it more interesting than blackjack. It is a simple and unique blend of mathmatics and strategy that is hard to find anywhere else. My temperment is well suited to the game and I find it extremely gratifying.

I really love poker tournaments over cash games. The rush of making a final table with big payouts is huge- I can understand why people get addicted to gambling. The cool thing about poker is that with skill you can increase the frequency of these payouts, which is not true for playing slots or other big payout games.

It is sad for me to think that I might not be able to play poker any more because it is something I enjoy very much. I enjoy going over hands, thinking about strategy, and improving my game. Taking my bankroll from $50 to over $1,000 in the past 9 months has been an amazing ride, and I hope to take it even further. Truth be told, all of those hours I could have easily put into someting else (like side work programming) and made much more, but I'd not have had near the fun doing it.

It'll be intersting to see how this all shakes down. I really think (hope?) that poker will probably be legalized and regulated in the next 10 years, and this might just be a bump in the road. It is still very dissapointing to have to possibly give up something that I've invested a lot of time in and done well at simply so Frist can make points with Christians (many who don't even care about this issue) for his presidential bid in 2008.