Zach Johnson, Masters champion, is a professed Christian, and I’ve always liked the way he’s made it known in a forthright though low-key manner.

Still, I wonder how he reconciles his religion with what is essentially a gambling game, the LG Skins Game.

Johnson and Brett Wetterich gave a press conference recently, and of course, the moderator never asked him that question.

But I will: Zach, what gives?

Johnson admitted playing skins with some of his “buddies back home,” and “throwing some money in the pot, that sort of thing.”

All the players donate at least a portion of their earnings to charity, but does that make it right in the eyes of Christians?

I’m all for gambling, I do it every chance I get, but wasn’t it Isaiah who made it clear that trusting in God and trusting in luck cannot co-exist?

And – yea, might thee rebuke me if my tongue speak mischief – but I’m pretty sure it was William Temple, the late Archbishop of Canterbury who said: “To attempt to make a profit out of the inevitable loss and possible suffering to others is the antithesis of that love of one’s neighbor on which our Lord insisted.”

On the other hand, Joshua cast lots to determine the allotment of land to various tribes, and Nehemiah did the same to figure out who would live inside the walls of Jerusalem and who wouldn’t.

Just wondering.

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