JW's and the lottery

by cheen 32 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  NYCkid

  I don't know of any JW who won the lottery. We all know that gambling was one of those forbidden acts but JWs probably did it in secret, like my Dad the Elder who always sent in the Publishers Clearing House entry. :-)

  I've been playing the lottery like a fiend since leaving the JWs and so far the big jackpot has eluded me. Once I had 4 numbers (out of 6) and won $70.00 and another time I won $170.00 at the slots at Alantic City. The lottery aside, I'm not a big gambler, I have too many other vices ;-)

  J
• 

  undercover

  Awake 1994 August 8 p.15 Is Gambling for Christians?

  What if a person is offered a free lottery ticket or free money to use for gambling? In either case, accepting such an offer would still be supporting a gambling operation—an operation out of harmony with godly principles.

  That quote has always bothered me, even while still in.

  I had a family member that gave us lottery tickets from time to time. We never won anything, but I always hoped we would. I was worried though, that if we did, how we would explain it to the elders. In my fantasy, I pictured paying off houses and cars, taking care of parents, in-laws and siblings and then...(oh how embarrassing this is to admit) we would give a donation to the WTS ( I guess to ease that guilty conscience. God, I was stuuuupid.

  Now, I buy tickets from time to time and if I ever hit the big one, I'm going to do the same as before...pay off debt, help out respective families and enjoy life...oh, but not one red cent to anything to do with the WTS. And when the elders come crawling out of the woodwork like so many roaches, I'm gonna challenge them to prove from the Bible and the Bible only that I did anything wrong. Until then they can just shut the f*** up and leave me alone (not that I accept the Bible's authority or anything, but it works like a roach motel...elders check in but they don't check out).
• 

  mrsjones5

  I should ask my mother if she's still playing the California lotto
• 

  willowmoon

  And when the elders come crawling out of the woodwork like so many roaches, I'm gonna challenge them to prove from the Bible and the Bible only that I did anything wrong. Until then they can just shut the f*** up and leave me alone .....

  You don't need to win a lottery to do that.

  willow
• 

  Atlantis

  http://www.adherents.com/people/pn/Viv_Nicholson.html

  The Religious Affiliation of Famous British Lottery Winner
  Viv Nicholson

  Viv Nicholson

  Source: "You Ask the Questions: Questions and Answers with Viv Nicholson," London Independent, October 20, 1999, page 8
  URL: http://witnesses.about.com/religion/witnesses/library/news/excerpts/bl_99-10-20_you-ask-the-questions.htm

  Viv Nicholson became the biggest Pools winner in history in 1961, collecting pounds 152,319 - the equivalent of pounds 5m today. She promised the nation she was going to "spend, spend, spend".

  A factory worker and mother of four, Viv lived in her home town of Castleford, Yorkshire, at the time. She bought a large bungalow with her second husband, Keith Nicholson, they sent their children to boarding school, and turned to a life of constant drinking, partying and shopping.

  Over the next 15 years, her husband died in a car crash, she remarried three times, dyed her hair to match her cars, and travelled the world spending all her money. Eventually, she was reduced to stripping in a club, and consoled herself with alcohol.

  Since then, Viv's life has changed dramatically. She has returned to Castleford, lives with her granddaughter, Brooke, and is now a devout Jehovah's Witness. At 62, she lives on a state pension, and has a job as a perfume sales assistant. She still loves to shop. A musical about her life, Spend, Spend, Spend, is at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, starring Barbara Dickson.

  Do you buy lottery tickets now? And what's your favourite scratchcard?
  No I don't buy lottery tickets or scratchcards. I am a Jehovah's Witness now and have been for 21 years. Gambling is not allowed.

  What do you think of those lottery winners who say the money won't change their lives?
  You read about them every other week and they say that their lives will not change. Then you read about them later and their lives have changed. It makes some people lonely. One winner went to live in Spain and had to come back because he was drinking too much. Some people's wives leave them. I think it's silly to say that the money won't change your life.

  Did people treat you differently when you had lots of money?
  This was strange. When we won the money, we were sent to Coventry by the people in Garforth, where we lived. They didn't want me on the same housing estate. No one spoke to us and it was hard for me to speak to anyone. Had someone moved next door I would have made myself known to them and been friendly. It was very lonely. After about four years, people started being OK, but it was too late by then. Even my old friends left me. They said they didn't want people thinking that they were going about with me because I had money. It's sad, because they were lovely people.

  Were you worried about having a musical made of your life?
  I was. When I gave my consent, I never really thought anything would happen with it. I just left it with Justin and Steve [Justin Greene and Steve Brown, who wrote the lyrics and music for Spend, Spend, Spend]. Then, two years later, they'd done it and announced that they were going to the Leeds Playhouse. I was saying to myself, "Oh no, what have I done?" I was living a quiet life as a Jehovah's Witness and was happy. I was worried that it would rake up my past again.

  Do people recognise you when you knock on people's doors as a Jehovah's Witness?
  Yes they do. Some look at me and say: "I know who you are." Then they close the door on me. Others are happy to see me. They say: "Hey, you're Viv Nicholson, aren't you?" But I never think of who I am at all when I knock on people's doors. I go as myself, rather than as a famous person.

  Are you at all bitter and twisted, or quite happy with your lot?
  I'm quite happy with my lot. I'm a happy chappy. I can make any situation happy. You don't have to have money to be happy....
• 

  Plummet

  There is a Dub Family near Corpus Christi, Texas, that won a big lottery. They are in good standing as far as I know. My In-laws keep telling me about them. My Brother In-Law mentions about how he loves going out in service in their Nice car. One of their sons, a 27 yo keeps going after my 14 yo sister In-law. She tells me that she wants nothing to do with him because his mother is a control and money freak, always threatening family with loss of funding if they don't keep her happy.
• 

  Clam

  Do people recognise you when you knock on people's doors as a Jehovah's Witness?
  
  Yes they do, but they still tell me to sod off and where to put my magazines LOL.
• 

  undercover

  And when the elders come crawling out of the woodwork like so many roaches, I'm gonna challenge them to prove from the Bible and the Bible only that I did anything wrong. Until then they can just shut the f*** up and leave me alone .....

  You don't need to win a lottery to do that.

  This is very true...

  ...but, in the time that I have faded away, the elders for the most part have left me alone. I like laying low and keeping my JW family but yet live my life and as long as they (the elders) leave me alone, it's all good. But if they come out to give me hell about something, be it the lottery or voting or taking blood, then there'll be a fight.
• 

  willyloman

  
  On a three-hour road trip once with another elder (en route to a two-day e school), we fell into a discussion about this topic. It stemmed from a publisher who had approached him and asked if it was okay to buy lotto tickets -- something the publisher had been doing for quite some time. The elder said he counseled the pub about gambling and greed and the person expressed remorse and said they'd buy no more tix. It didn't occur to either one of us that some judicial action was necessary. I think that indicates how low on the radar this "sin" is among dubs.

  However, this sparked a conversation about what would happen if a JW actually won the lottery. It was his opinion that what would happen depended on the circumstances. If the publisher came to the elders and "confessed," said he felt sorry about his actions, was remorseful and would never buy another ticket, there might not be much the elders could do. It would depend, he suggested, on whether the publisher had made it "a practice" to buy lotto tickets, in which case he might be DF'd for "greed." However, if buying the ticket was a one-time thing, this elder felt there was little a judicial committee could do. Another consideration would be what effect this had on the congo.

  I told him about a lawyer who told me that if someone ever won the lotto, the first thing they should do is call an attorney, create a blind trust and establish a power of attorney, and protect their identity. That way the law firm would collect the lottery winnings on behalf of the the blind trust and the client would not be named. This would create a situation where the client would not be bothered by salesmen and all the slimeballs that come out of the woodwork when somebody wins a big lottery. He said if he ever won, he'd do that and then go to a financial advisor and invest the money in something that would give him a good safe return. Then he'd simply explain his wealth by saying he'd inherited some money and invested it in the market and was doing very well. I suppose a dub could do that, if his/her conscience would permit. Then no one would ever know.
• 

  anewme

  Willy, that's what I am going to do when I win! Yup!
  
  Oh Satan, not the lotto, please dont tempt me with a lotto win, anything but that!!!!! Waaaaaa!!!!
  
  
  Seriously, winning the lotto would be a wonderful chapter in my up and coming bio.