1. THE QUESTION WAS: Which of
the following is NOT sinful by nature?
C.
gluttony
D.
slander
E.
racism
THE
ANSWER IS……. A…..Gambling in moderation is not considered a sin assuming
the money does not go to an evil cause and assuming it is not an addiction and
assuming you’re not using money set aside for your family’s food, and assuming
you’re not lying to your spouse about it, and assuming the casino operation is
operating legitimately and honestly.
If Joe wants to spend his
$50 from his entertainment budget on a fancy dinner, and Jane wants to spend
her $50 at Disney World, and Jill would most enjoy spending it playing black
jack, then…..so what? Please don’t slander the Aunt Myrtle at the retirement
home for her annual bus trip to the slots in Atlantic City. Personally, I’d
rather spend the money on something culturally enriching, like tickets to the
ballet or a pig race.
Here’s what the Catechism says
about gambling:
“Games of chance
(card games, etc.) or wagers are
not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when
they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of
others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers
and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is
so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it
significant.” (section 2413)
SLAVERY, on the other hand, is
condemned by the Catholic Church:
“The seventh commandment forbids acts or
enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or
totalitarian - lead to the enslavement
of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like
merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the
dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to
their productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a Christian
master to treat his Christian slave "no longer as a slave but more than a
slave, as a beloved brother, . . . both in the flesh and in the
Lord." (Catechism section 2414)
GLUTTONY is considered one of the capital
sins
“Vices can be classified according to the
virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished,
following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called
"capital" because they engender other sins, other vices.138
They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.” (Catechism
section 1866)
SLANDER is also evil. Please do not slander
me, or I will tell everyone you’re a gambling drunken cannibalistic hooligan.
Just kidding.
SLANDER/OFFENSES
AGAINST TRUTH IN THE CATECHISM
2475 Christ's
disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in
true righteousness and holiness."274 By "putting away
falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and
insincerity and envy and all slander."275
2476 False
witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to
the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness.276
When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to
condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased
punishment of the accused.277 They gravely compromise the exercise
of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions.
2477 Respect for the reputation of persons
forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.278
He becomes guilty:
- of rash judgment who, even tacitly,
assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
- of detraction who, without objectively valid
reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know
them;279
- of calumny who, by remarks contrary to
the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false
judgments concerning them.
2478 To avoid rash
judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his
neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
Every good Christian
ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's
statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other
understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct
him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable
ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.280
2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor.
Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a
natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus,
detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity
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