BiblicalInsights.net

     The voters of the state of Ohio approved casino gambling in the last election (Nov. 2009).  The result is that four new casinos are slated for construction in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo.  Community Research Partners (CRP) recently released research on the social impacts of casinos.  The research was undertaken for the Columbus Human Services Advocates.  The most direct impacts are those associated with increases in gambling problems, which are double for a person living within 50 miles of a casino.
     Here are some of the findings:
     1.  CRP estimates that when a casino is built in Columbus there may be over 22,000 new problem and pathological gamblers in Franklin County.
     2.  Using figures from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, CRP estimates that the ongoing annual costs to address this increase in problem gambling could be $28 million.
     3.  One time/lifetime costs for events such as divorce and bankruptcy could be $223 million.
     4.  Problem gamblers and Pathological (requiring treatment) gamblers are many times more likely to be involved in:  poor health, mental health services, emotionally harmful family arguments about gambling, drug use, job loss, bankruptcy, and criminal activity, than non-gamblers.  The real costs are impossible to estimate.
     5.  These social costs will be borne by human services systems, businesses, government, individuals and families. 
     6.  The estimates given above are for the casino to be built in Columbus.  Remember, there are three other casinos scheduled to be built.  This mutiplies the costs!
     Did the Ohio voter really count the cost of bringing casino gambling to Ohio?  The allurement was jobs.  However, the CRP found that most casino jobs are low-pay unless unionized.  Jobs are lost due to the number of restaurants, bars, and shops around casinos declining in number.  The amount of tax revenue generated by the casino will not be sufficient to account for the overall costs of the casinos.  Who profits?  The casino owners! 
      In 2009, the country watched the effect of greed/covetousness on the banking industry and most people’s retirement accounts.  We were on the brink of disaster and still have not recovered.  When will we learn that the pursuit of sinful practices will always cost more in the long run.  Sure, sin produces immediate gratification and pleasure, but it always produces detrimental results.  I have said this before, we cannot  afford our sins!  Casino gambling in Ohio is another example of this fact.

     What would you allow to come between you and God?  Jesus asked, “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).  What is worth more than your soul?  What holds you in relationship to God no matter what happens?  What force is powerful enough to keep you in covenant relationship with God?  A force more powerful than persecution.  A force more powerful than death?  A force more powerful than life? 
     In Rom. 8:35-39, two loves are brought together for the preservation of relationship to God and the glorification of man.  One is God’s love for us and the other is our love for God.  Together, these two forces can withstand anything!  Together, these two forces make us and God inseparable!  In Rom. 8:35, Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”  One of the first aspects of this statement that needs to be answered is: does this phrase, “love of Christ” refer to Christ’s love for us or our love for Christ?  I believe this phrase describes the love we have for Christ.  Consider the following:  1)  The word separate comes from a Greek word (chorizo) meaning “to put asunder.”  It is in the middle voice which indicates that the subject participates in the results of the action.  Who does the departing?  The saint separates himself from God.  2) The seventeen things mentioned in v. 35, 38,and 39 are all external to the Christian.  These are outward pressures, powers, beings that can cause a Christian to give up on God and separate himself from God.  3) Christ’s love for the Christian is absolute.  Christ will never abandon His own.  4) The Christian’s love for Christ is going to be tested, but it can stand the test.  Christ’s love for the Christian is not tested by the 17 things mentioned.  Is your love for God strong enough to pass the test?  Consider that the apostle Paul’s love for Christ was strong enough because he faced all of these seventeen trials and never broke relationship with God.  If Paul can do it, you can do it.
     Love beareth all things (I Cor. 13:4-8).  Love is strong, tough, and resiliant.  Love connects us to God!  God loves us and we love Him and consequently, we are more than conquerors!  Love connects us to the greatest Being in the world.  Love connects us to the most powerful Being in the universe and beyond the universe.  His love meets our love and forms a bond so strong that it cannot be overthrown.  This type of love is the grounds upon which Paul has great confidence–I am persuaded–that none of these things will separate us from God.  Why?  Love is powerful enough to prevail. 
     The ultimate glorification of the elect of God comes from the meeting of two loves in one life.  When these two loves come together, the result is an inseparable relationship.  Mutual love is a strong bond that can bring us to eternal glory.  Love for God means: adoration of God, complete attachment to Him in covenant relationship, fidelity to Him, unspeakable gratitude to God and fullness of consecration to Him.  God’s love for us will never fail and continually supplies His grace to us. 
     The problem we face in our churches, homes and communities is a lack of love for God.  Love for God is the first and greatest commandment.  If we don’t get this one right, nothing else matters (Matt. 22:36-39).  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.”

     The inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Scriptures are vital topics to the Bible student.  Many have given up on the doctrine of inerrancy which affirms that the Scriptures are without error and thus present the truth of God to man.  Some scholars affirm that the Scriptures are inspired and inerrant in the original autographs, but hesitate to comment on the apographs (copies of the original documents and translations of the copies).  With regard to the original documents of the New Testament books (27 in all), we do not possess any of the original manuscripts.  We have copies of those manuscripts and we have translations of those copies in various languages of men today.  The question before us is this:  “Are the Apographs Inspired?”  I would like for you to consider the following thoughts.
     First, Jesus referred to a copy of the book of Isaiah as Scripture.  In Luke 4:16-21, Jesus is in a synagogue in Nazareth on the sabbath day.  He was given a scroll of the book of Isaiah (v. 17).  Was this the original autograph of the book of Isaiah?  Or, was it an apograph?  Most scholars believe that the original OT autographs were not in existence in Jesus’ day.  Also, Moses was read in every synagogue on the sabbath day and consequently many copies of the Old Testament scrolls must have been in existence.  Jesus is reading from a copy of the book of Isaiah.  What is His attitude toward that copy?  In v. 21, Luke records, “And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”  Jesus referred to an apograph as Scripture. 
     Second, in Acts 8, the evangelist Philip joins himself to a chariot with a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who was riding in it.  The eunuch was reading from the book of Isaiah.  Was this an original autograph of this Old Testament book or a copy of it?  It was a copy of the book of Isaiah.  Luke, the author of Acts, does not hesitate to call this apograph, Scripture.  In Acts 8:32, God says, “The place of the scripture which he read was this…”   The word Scripture is found 52 times in the New Testament and it always refers to a divinely inspired document and never to a secular document.  Isn’t this proof that the apographs (copies of the original documents) are inspired? 
     Third, I am currently involved in a study of the Old Testament quotations in the Gospel of John.  There are fourteen specific quotations in John’s Gospel that are recognized as quotations while there are as many as 79 allusions to the Old Testament in this Gospel.  Three of the fourteen quotations are from the Septuagint transation.  The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made approximately 250 B. C.  The three passages are: 1:23, 12:38, and 12:40 (see The Greek New Testament, UBS, 3rd ed. p. 899).  John, an apostle, wrote this Gospel account and used these passages from the Septuagint authoritatively to prove his thesis: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (John 20:30,31).  Here is an inspired apostle, using a translation in an authoritative manner to prove the identity of Jesus Christ.  He could not do this, if the translation is not recognized as the Word of God.
     I offer the above information as proof that apographs (where accurately made) are the inspired Word of God.  To say otherwise would mean that we do not have the Word of God today.  Many are affirming this very point.  However, I believe that we have the Word of God today and that we have it in accurate and faithful translations whether English or otherwise.  How could we fulfill the Great Commission if we didn’t?  Consider Rev. 14:6, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”  How can you proclaim the everlasting gospel to every tongue (language) without translation of the Word of God into the different languages of men?  Either we have the truth or we are all lost and without hope.  I believe that we have the truth of God’s Word today!