From: Darrell128@aol.com Subject: NR 006: Highland church hosts community forum on gambling NR #1997-006: Highland Community Reformed Bible Church Hosts Community Issues Forum on Gambling In recent years, the Dutch Reformed have often attracted the most media attention for bitter fights over women's ordination, homosexuality, abortion, and similar issues. Now that its members have left the Christian Reformed Church and its internal struggles, Community Reformed Bible Church of Highland decided to return to an earlier Dutch Reformed emphasis begun by Dutch prime minister and Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland founder Dr. Abraham Kuyper of emphasizing active involvement in bringing Scriptural principles to bear on social issues. On November 26, the Highland church received widespread local media attention for its post-election forum on legalized gambling which brought together Dr. Nelson Kloosterman, Mid-America Reformed Seminary professor of ethics and New Testament, and Rev. John Wolf, coordinator of the Indiana Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, to critique the increasing tolerance for Donald Trump's riverboat gambling in the metro Chicago area. Organizers also invited Trump, who declined the invitation. NR #1997-006: For Immediate Release Highland Community Reformed Bible Church Hosts Community Issues Forum on Gambling by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service HIGHLAND, Ind. (January 8, 1996) URNS -- In recent years, the Dutch Reformed have often attracted the most media attention for bitter fights over women's ordination, homosexuality, abortion, and similar issues. Now that its members have left the Christian Reformed Church and its internal struggles, Community Reformed Bible Church of Highland decided to return to an earlier Dutch Reformed emphasis begun by Dutch prime minister and Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland founder Dr. Abraham Kuyper of emphasizing active involvement in bringing Scriptural principles to bear on social issues. On November 26, the Highland church received widespread local media attention for its post-election forum on legalized gambling which brought together Dr. Nelson Kloosterman, Mid-America Reformed Seminary professor of ethics and New Testament, and Rev. John Wolf, coordinator of the Indiana Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, to critique the increasing tolerance for Donald Trump's riverboat gambling in the metro Chicago area. Organizers also invited Trump, who declined the invitation. "More people turn the turnstiles at casinos than at baseball games; that is a significant cultural fact," said Kloosterman. "Today's casinos are little more than theme-decorated warehouses; they have no more commitment to the community than any other robber might." According to Kloosterman, there are three main reasons that more people do not oppose gambling, two being that gambling promoters bill casinos as a method of urban revitalization and that many of the costs are hidden factors such as increased crime rates and family breakdowns. A third and much more sensitive factor is that gamblers rely on the church for legitimization, citing bingo games and church sweepstakes when gambling opponents argue that gambling is immoral. "Churches are resorting more and more to gambling; we as churches are more and more giving legitimacy to those who want to promote gambling," said Kloosterman. "Christian schools, Christian organizations, have to get out of the business of raising their revenue through gambling." "These two words, work and stewardship, are the answers to gambling," said Kloosterman. "The need is for a dream, the need is for a goal for living. One of the fundamental problems has to do with people who are willing to place their trust in something other than the God of the Bible." After Kloosterman's speech on the moral principles involved in relying upon luck rather than hard work to earn money, Wolf took the podium to give practical advice on fighting legalized gaming. "This enemy is like an 800 pound gorilla; you let it out of the cage and it will take over," said Wolf. "We've got to get it back in the cage." Despite the local successes in getting gambling in metro Chicago, with five riverboat casinos on Lake Michigan and five based at Illinois ports on the Mississippi River, both groups catering largely to a Chicago constituency willing to drive to gamble, Wolf said only one of 20 state referendums on legalized gambling won in the November elections -- that being in Michigan where the Dutch Reformed constituency of West Michigan did not mount a well-organized campaign against a well-funded and heavily advertised proposal to legalize gambling in Detroit. "That doesn't help us very much here in northwest Indiana because their goal is to make us the gambling capital of America," said Wolf, noting that a gambling center in metro Chicago would be within a day's drive of most of the population centers of the Midwest, and area that had previously been out of reach of the main gambling centers in Nevada and Atlantic City. "If any of you think that Donald Trump came here to save Gary, Indiana, I hope you settled that; Donald Trump came to Gary, Indiana to save Donald Trump," said Wolf. "Donald Trump knows more about how to extort money out of you than any stewardship committee of any church, and he knows how to make you smile while he's doing it." According to Elder Bob Hart, chairman of the Missions Committee at the Highland church, said the community forum was intentionally designed to educat e the community about where the church stood on an issue of significant concern to people not only in but outside the church. "As a church we want to reach out, take a stand, and we want to make the community aware of these things," said Hart. "A lot of the churches have been lax in that and haven't taken a stand." "As a new church in our community we wanted to make the community aware of us and where we stand at the same time," said Hart. According to Hart, the church hopes to put on other forums in 1997 focussing on the issue of euthanasia and Dr. Jack Kevorkian's assisted suicide quest. "This affects everybody, it's not just Christians or non-Christians, it affects the whole community," said Hart. Wolf, who has led a number of similar community forums and is a former district superintendent in the United Methodist Church, said he was surprised by the 130-person turnout on a Thanksgiving week without an upcoming election. "This is an excellent turnout," said Wolf, whose organization was founded in 1993 when the gambling issue first hit the area. "The Indiana Coalition is most visible where it is needed; wherever a fire is, we go." Cross-References to Related Articles: #1996-004: More Christian Reformed Churches Secede from Denomination Contact List: Elder Bob Hart, Missions Committee Chairman, Community Reformed Bible Church 2158-45th Ave., Highland, IN 46322 Dr. Nelson Kloosterman, Professor, Mid-America Reformed Seminary 229 Seminary Dr., Dyer, IN 46311 O: (219) 864-2400 * FAX: (219) 864-2410 Rev. John Wolf, Coordinator, Indiana Coalition Against Legalized Gambling 456 W. Glendale, Valparaiso, IN 46383 O: (219) 462-4851 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-006.txt