Man who lost homes in Katrina claims $97M Powerball prize

the rest of the story

So what would YOU do with $97Million? I'd buy a gallon of gas for my car...

Well after I picked myself up off the floor and put my jaw back, I'd start listing out all the donations to be made. Oh and I'd make sure my name wasn't given to the press. Can you imagine all the creepies who will now be contacting him for a share in that pie? Then I would think about buying the farm I always wanted. And then put the rest in savings.

Pay off mortgages for my parents, parents-in-law, brother and sister-in-law, and our new church building...

Maybe update my little car, buy myself a bass flute, finally have the garden cleaned up and landscaped, take a year off work...

But after that? Who on earth could need all that money?

Maybe keep it aside and wait for needs to arise - disaster in Burma, someone going on a self-funded evangelism mission, someone in need of emergency funds...

I would love to have a fund for emergencies sitting in a bank account somewhere.

aldona

I always thought it would be cool to donate money anonymously to people or various organizations in need. Sort of like a modern day version of the old TV show, "The Milliionaire."

[quote=rudywoofs]
Man who lost homes in Katrina claims $97M Powerball prize
[quote]BATON ROUGE, La. -- A construction company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won off a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk.

From the moment his name was announced his life would become a "living Hell".
Th only thing for him to do now is set up a foundation to handle whatever charities he wishes to benefit then pack up and go live in another country where nobody knows him.

What would I do with $97 million?

Look for ways to give it away where it would do the most good.

At the moment material possessions don't hold the attraction they once did, so I would find great happiness in being able to help others.

I don't know how He could do it, but if God managed to give me a large sum of money then I am sure He would have a specific purpose for it. It would be my job to ascertain that purpose.

Graeme

What would I do with $97 million?

Look for ways to give it away where it would do the most good.

At the moment material possessions don't hold the attraction they once did, so I would find great happiness in being able to help others.

I don't know how He could do it, but if God managed to give me a large sum of money then I am sure He would have a specific purpose for it. It would be my job to ascertain that purpose.

Graeme

What would I do with $97 million?

Look for ways to give it away where it would do the most good.

At the moment material possessions don't hold the attraction they once did, so I would find great happiness in being able to help others.

I don't know how He could do it, but if God managed to give me a large sum of money then I am sure He would have a specific purpose for it. It would be my job to ascertain that purpose.

Graeme

I can think of a zillion mission projects I would pour money into as well as make some dreams come true for my family. But yes, it could be a real problem to have that kind of money. I think one would almost have to adopt a new identity or something or everyone would hound you or want to kill you or something.

me too Taylor. I would start many many projects...unfortunately i don t have the means...

Planey,


If you got 97 Million, does this mean you would post 3 times as much?

.....and that you would have to say it 3 times over?

me three!!! I would first payoff my house and my mom's home and my brother's home. Than I would be free to help out in all kinds of mission's, plus even go on mission trips myself, that would be my ultimate goal.

pkrause

HEY ALL

WELL if I had 97 million dollars I WOULD
go to differnt countries that had SDA
chruches and visit them and help them out

that way I WOULD be traveling around the
world seeing new places but also helping
my brothers/sisters out....

:-D :)


dgrimm60

No one has pointed out that these kind of stories encourage people to gamble. I know I would lose my salvation if I allowed myself to gamble, therefore I wouldn't gamble for all the money in the world, not because I'm such a good person, but because I want to inherit eternal life.



I guess I'm trying to get my ban from this site over with ASAP, so I don't get too attached.

Are you guys Rock 'n' Roll Adventist or what. Stuck in a jive to some funky rhythm?

Not sure why that would ban you..????

97 million is a large sum of money. And large sums of money that are procured in such quick fashion are usually from lottery winnings. The lottery is a entertainment device used to detract a person from the cares of this world. The $1 invested in such entertainment is usually worth the price as one dreams of what s/he can do with it. And one can usually pay far more for less time consumed in this distraction. Just look at the cost of a miniture golf ticket.



I am glad that you are able to figure out that you would loose your salvation over the price of a $1 ticket to a lottery. Perhaps you know that once you spent one dollar, it would open the flood gates to habitual spending on games of chance.

However, I doubt very much that anyone who occassionally spends a $1 on a lottery ticket would for entertainment purposes

A] loose thier salvation,
B] would be encouraged to spend thier money on habitual games of chance.

Oh yeah, those biblical texts....better re-evaluate them...Men who obtain thier riches/blessings are men who make calculated risks with thier money...And that is gambling in the allowable sense....

Not trying to advocate for gambling, but the Biblical case against it specifically as the one evil "get rich quick" idea is rather thin. There are other ready avenues to getting and accumulating wealth that are not condemned by the church even though Scripture takes an equally dim view. The context of the Mark 8:36-37 quote is a successful farmer saving and setting aside his wealth and retiring. The church certainly doesn't discourage either saving for the future or retirement. In fact the church tends to strongly encourage working hard and being successful in ones business and career even thought the same author of the Proverbs 28: quote also said in Proverbs 23:4 "Do not wear yourself out to get rich..." And the church encourages good estate planning and doesn't discourage accepting even large inheritances even though the author of Proverbs expresses a very similar warning to the 28:20 quote about that. In Proverbs 20:21 it says, "An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be a blessing in the end."

It is not wealth, or how one necessarily acquires wealth that is the evil to be condemned that might jeopardize our salvation. It is our attitude toward money and what we do with it that counts far more than the amount we have. One does not have to look too far to easily find greedy, stingy and selfish poor people hording what little they have and lusting for more including envying the wealth of others. And likewise it is not hard to find very generous unselfish rich people.

So does everyone think it impossible to gamble without being greedy? Would it be any more difficult for a lottery winner to manage and be generous with his wealth than anyone else for whatever they have?

Tom

Posted by Tom Wetmore: "Would it be any more difficult for a lottery winner to manage and be generous with his wealth than anyone else for whatever they have?"

IMO the answer is "Yes"... Usually lottery winners are not wealthy people and have no concept of how to handle large amounts of wealth. I understand that about 1/3 of them are bankrupt within a very few years.

I appreciate your logic, Neil D. That does make alot of sense. You could suppose maybe God wants to bless you, so go ahead and buy a ticket and perhaps it will happen.

If I go past a Casino and see old women there pulling that stupid arm over and over again, I blush. I would not want a business that feeds off of the people whom Christ died for, and holds them tight in the bondage of such addiction, so they cannot be saved.

If you produced a cure for the gambling addiction, those casino owners would have you murdered and destroy any knowledge of your discovery. The business of gambling depends upon and encourages gambling addiction. Can you share the sins of such a business? Would you take stock? Do you not see that it's evil?

I have to pretend that it doesn't exist in order to keep myself innocent. "..Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven..." (Mt. 6:10).

I will not begin to produce quotes from Ellen White about gambling, lest I burden you, but if you have WhiteEstate software, just look up "gambling", or go http://www.whiteestate.org/ . You get 80 hits, and none of them positive.

Do a study on that and tell me if you'd risk your salvation for a very slim chance to win $97M, or even for a sure thing, if that where possible.

So, are all gamblers addicted? Is the problem addiction or gambling? Do we condemn and avoid all things to which people become addicted?

EGW condemned pretty much all forms of amusement including playing checkers and bicycling. The rationale of much of what she condemns is that it may lead to excess. Playing checkers leads to gambling!?!?


Tom

Now you are putting words in my mouth that I never put there...

Don't misunderstand me...



So let me get this straight....You assert that a person who pulls the lever on a game of change is addicted to the game....If the are addicted, they can not be saved.

Whoa! that's two pretty big assertions...and they
are ones that I am not willing to agree with.



I see addiction, in any form, as evil. Even the addiction to theology. And yeah, I do believe that those who are most zealous for Christ, are addicted to a type of control/power, especially when they suppress the urges of growth and freedom.



Then you will never grow out of the addiction that you have...And I believe that Christ Hisownself had some very stringent comments on the slave that did not use his talents-

So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.Matthew 25:25-28



Tell me, do they refer to gambling as an addiction or to the occassional lottery? Do they apply to people who are taking a risk in business ventures or to every circumstance of gambling?



Yeah, well, most people who play the lottery do so out of entertainment...not the urge to gain riches...And let's face it, addiction to gambling, is a powerful addiction...and, thankfully, one that can be overcome and an addiction to which, I am sure, every one of those EGW quotes do apply.

But since you are asserting that ANYONE who plays is automatically addicted, is an assertion which you would be hard pressed to show by experience as true.

And let's also face it...God may be asking you to purchase that one $1 ticket to support some ministrys that He has, because He knows He can count on you to support them.....after you set aside enough for your childrens college education, 401K, and support those people in the church who are struggling....That's between you and God, me thinks....

I would give 9.7M to my local church, buy a modest home and a new car, invest some and give away the rest.

Playing checkers is just a waste of time imo. If she said it leads to gambling, I believe it.

I think she was talking about bicycle racing as an exhibition, similarly, today we have race-car races. They where also very expensive then:



To say she condemns "bicycling" is not justice. That word is not found in E.G. White writings. Bicycling for exercise or transportation is ok. What she was talking about was an "exhibition".

But do you feel deprived 'cause you're not allowed to play checkers?

Does anybody else recall the case that happened about 1-2 years ago in a South American or Central American nation (can't recall exactly which one)? It was discussed on this forum at the time.

An Adventist person won a large sum of money in a lottery. He (I believe it was a "he") gave 10% to the church as tithe. The church accepted the money, and then disfellowshipped him for gambling.

Thoughts, anyone?

aldona

Pretty hipocritical I would say. I think that they should have not accepted the money.

pkrause

The church is totally within it's rights to disfellowship someone for gambling. The #2 listed reasons for discipline in the church manual states the following reasons ...

"stealing, profanity, GAMBLING, Sabbathbreaking, and willful and habitual falsehood."

These can all be reasons for disfellowship.

But ... I could not find any mention of accepting monies from gambling as a reason for disfellowship. So, the church is within it's rights to accept the money as I read the manual.

Spending time on internet forums is a waste of time too... But are all non-productive time consuming activities sinful and do they lead to gambling? Exactly how does one go about doing a time spent/moral benefit analysis in order to determine the moral merit/time value of doing (or not doing) anything? And by the way, how often have you actually witnessed (or even heard of) gambling on checkers?



Actually no. She was most concerned about the waste of money to buy a bicycle. ($40-$100 - which actually cost less than a good horse.) And the bicycling craze in Battle Creek she was specifically addressing was bicycling for exercise which was being promoted by JH Kellogg over at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. One example of the "exhibition" quite possibly was Kellogg riding endlessly in great circles out in front of the Sanitarium. (See - Kellogg history) Or quite possibly it was the "exhibition" of women riding bicycles in their bloomers... EGW took a dim view of any recreational exercise, whether sports or exercises in a gymnasium. Her view was that productive physical labor in the fresh air was the best way to get exercise.

And yes, the bicycle was in fact considered to be a good and economical transportation alternative for the working man of the day. (Do a bit of research on the history of bicycling...)

Bicycle Club - Battle Creek - circa 1895 (Doesn't look like a bicycle racing club to me.)

If it was only about bicycle racing then why not be equally fair and say that one should not spend money on a horse since horse racing ( and gambling on it) had been around for centuries. Riding a horse leads to racing and gambling more so than playing checkers does...

Tom

I always think about this. I would do it anonymously, or if they kicked me out I would go start my own church.

Hmmmmm......maybe to be good and fair, **IF** I should win the lottery, maybe I will set aside some money, to be willed to the church after I die....

Maybe that way they will keep me around for some 'small' projects....

Neil. I am sure they would keep YOU around just for the humor of it. You wouldn't need to bribe them with your money. And Neil ... You are more than just a 'small' project.