Therefore St. John rejects a false and feigned faith; he demands a genuine faith which will openly confess before the world the two things it has learned, namely, that Christ is the Son of God and of Mary and that He became our Savior. If this Christian confession stands, other good works will follow. If you were a fornicator, an adulterer, or a drunkard, you will now be that no longer; for if you are redeemed from sin, you will henceforth desist from sin. Consider how you could harmonize a sinful life, greed, anger, hatred, and fornication with a claim to Christianity. No faith can exist where sin abounds. You must cease your fornication and marry; you dare not steal or bear false witness against your neighbor. If you do wallow in sin and commit adultery, unchastity, fornication, gluttony, carousing, and gambling, you are not yet redeemed from sin. For wherever sin still holds sway, there is no forgiveness of sin and no faith in Christ.
Martin Luther Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 22: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 393–94.
Editor’s Note: Be sure to watch the upcoming Heidelvideo miniseries on gambling.
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Hey, Heidelblog.
What do you think about stock trading and crypto?
Victor,
To be honest, crypto currency looks like a scam. I may be entirely wrong but it makes no sense to me and it seems to be incredibly volatile indicating a high degree of risk. That raises questions about whether it is a truly valuable good or service. This is a wisdom question. It is wise to risk the resources with which one has been entrusted by investing in digital currency the value of which is created by mere scarcity and privacy?
The dollar, by contrast, though no longer connected to gold, is at least backed “by the full faith and credit” of the USA. We may reasonably question what that faith and credit is worth when the USA owes 38 trillion but by what is digital currency backed?
As to stock trading, that is an investment in a company that produces a product or service that is valued by the market. Obviously, there are stock (e.g., penny stocks) that are more risky and less wise but making a reasonable investment in a valuable good or service (within the boundaries of the moral law) is a good thing. Trying to time the market and beat the odds does not seem very wise.