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The idea that you need to research your morality (at least in this case) based on what other people have said makes me feel that, without that external impetus, you would be amoral. Now, I doubt that that is actually true, but you need to stand on your own two feet and take a position of your own, not be subservient to what everyone else says. I know that you say you found "their" arguments against gambling to be uncompelling, but why do you feel the need to know "their" opinion at all?
I believe that I am a flawed human being, predisposed to make incorrect moral choices based on what I think and feel. I do look to what other people have to say on subjects of morality because I want to hold myself accountable and I trust that they do the same. Since Christines beleive we have all fallen short in the area of morality, we know we must work together and sharpen one another if we are going to get closer to leading the lives God desires of us.

At the same time I cannot just accept "their" opinions without subjecting it to my own reasoning and reading of scripture. At the end of the day the buck stops with me and I am accountable to God for my actions, not them.

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Don't get me wrong. There are often more far-reaching results to our actions than it initially seems, and it's worth it to look and see what those non-obvious results might be and how our moral centers would react to those, but I don't get the impression that you were researching gambling, but, rather, researching Christianity, and that speaks to me the notion that you need to be a good Christian more than you need to follow your own compass
This is true- it is far more imprtant to me to be a good Christian than to follow my own compass. This stems from my belief that I will get it wrong if left to my own devices on moral issues, but that Christiantiy in its purest form is also the pursed form of morality.

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Now, I'm not sure what your basis for that last part might be. It might just be a desire to fit into the group. It might be that if they can cast valid aspersions, so could God, and it would prevent you from getting into heaven. There might be some other basis that I can't see, but none of them seem to be based on what you think is right.

(I know. You claim that God is inside you, and therefore it's not external, which I can understand, but if it's inside you, again, why are you looking outside for confirmation?)
Christians do not make moral decisions to achieve heaven- scripture tells us this is impossible. Our goal is to live lives pleasing to God, the author of all morality. Because we are fallen into sin and do not see clearly as God does, we must strive to challenge our own internal sense of morality and attempt to adopt His. God does dwell inside of beleivers and acts as a moral guide, but as long as we are still in this world we will have to struggle witn sin and be subject to its effect- namely that we do not always see clearly what is right and what is not.

When a Christian becomes a believer, he or she is declared rightouse before God. This means that the Christian will no longer suffer the long term consequences of sin and will ultimatly exist in Heaven with God for all eternity. It does NOT mean that the believer is able to cut sin out of his or her life, therefore the short term effects of sin still remain. This declaration process something like a suspected murderer going beforing a judge and being delcared innocent. That the judge made a declaration does not change the person in anyway. If he was peaceful before the declaration, he is peaceful after. If he was a murderer before, he is a murderer stil.

Fortunatly, declarative salvation is not all that God offers. He also changes believers and makes them more Holy and moral through a growth process. Unlike the declartive part of salvation, though, this is a process that takes time, so believers must deal with their fallen nature and the effects of their sin while still in this world.

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If God's in control, there's no need for you to apologize when you bump into someone in an aisle, not park in handicapped spots, etc. There's no reason not to be rude. There are a lot of atheistic bases for that attitude, as well, but this is the only one I've seen with a supposedly positive written philosophy.
This is not true because the Christian bares responisibility for his or her own actions. Christians may be saved positionaly before god in the delcaritive sense, but still will struggle with sin. This is their responsibility, not God's, and they must deal with it so. They cannot do wrong to others and then shrug it off. By treating another person badly they have comitted a crime against that person AND against God, who expects better from them. Scripture makes this concept quite clear. If anything, becoming a Christian should make life MORE difficult and decisions have to be made with greater consideration, as now you are applying a higher standard of morality- God's.

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They can help you put into words how you feel, but they don't and shouldn't define what you feel.
No one can define what I feel. What other Christians and scripture does is help me apply what I feel in a way that is consistent with my beliefs. Often what I feel and what I believe conflict- sometimes it is my feeling that is wrong and other times my belief. I can only make decisions in these cases when I try to understand scripture and what others have to say about it.

In this particular instance, I really didn't know how I felt or believed. I'd always heard gambling dealt with as a sin within Christiantiy, so I wanted to see what the real basis for that was. What I found was a lot of people trying to appeal to the things I believe to support their viewpoint, but that their appeals lacked merit. Having looked at this, I realized that enjoying poker was not inconsistent with my beliefs as a Christian.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.