When you read the word Nevada, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? Is it …
Hover Dam? – “Constructed during the Great Depression, not only does the dam protect Southern California and Arizona from devastating floods but it also irrigates over 1.5 million acres of land, supplies water to over 16 million people, and provides enough energy to power over 500,000 homes! The dam is as tall as a 60-story building with a base as thick as two football fields long. It was once the world’s largest dam!”1
Lake Tahoe? – This tourist destination draws skiers and snowboarders in the winter and fishermen, windsurfers, and swimmers during the summer.
Area 51? – Nevada is home to this military installation which allegedly houses all the alien spaceships and extraterrestrial bodies found visiting our world.
Silver and Gold? – Yes, Nevada’s history is filled with major strikes in both gold and silver mines.
Nevada is also known for its deserts, beautiful landscapes and scenery, and a myriad of other things. However, when you say Nevada, most people will immediately think Las Vegas, The Strip, and gambling around the clock.
On this day in 1931, gambling became legal in the state and Las Vegas became synonymous with casinos and entertainment, earning it the nickname Sin City. Interestingly, later in the same year, divorce was legalized in the state.
The biggest gamble many people take in Las Vegas, though, isn’t with money. It’s marriage. “Around 120,000 marriage ceremonies are performed each year in Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. Las Vegas plays host to an average of 10,000 marriage ceremonies each month. That’s over 300 weddings a day. Compared with Nevada ‘s relatively small population, the number of marriage ceremonies performed is disproportionately high.”2 While gambling produces $10.66 billion in revenue each year3, the wedding industry produces another $2 billion in revenue.4
Why are marriages so prevalent in the state, especially in Vegas? It’s because getting married is easy, cheap, quick, and the atmosphere of Vegas is all about indulging in impulsive behavior. Is it any wonder that Vegas also boasts the highest divorce rates?
Maine attorney John Groove writes, “Las Vegas is the city with the highest divorce rate; a study called “American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates” found that 12 percent of all males and 14.6 percent of all females living in Vegas are divorced.” Reno was once known as the divorce capital and their “quickie divorce.”5
Gambling is sin regardless of what form the gamble may take. Many verses in Scripture make this clear. Proverbs 13:11 says, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.” The person who gambles reveals the covetous bent of their heart very quickly. Proverbs 28:20, 22 says, “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. (21) To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. (22) He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”
If gambling is this wrong and dangerous, why would you gamble on the person you are to be with “for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?” Why would you impulsively say, “Let’s get married quick!” without considering the DECADES that lie ahead?
Marriage is hard work. But it shouldn’t be a gamble. We shouldn’t look at it and say, “You win some, you lose some.” Instead, we trust God to bring the right person into our lives and allow Him to direct the timing of all things, including the marriage.
Marriage is not a gamble. It’s a lifetime investment.
1https://heyexplorer.com/what-is-nevada-known-and-famous-for/
2https://drrsvcs.com/nevada-marriage-records/
3https://www.statista.com/statistics/418686/nevada-casino-gaming-revenue/
4https://mainedivorcelawblog.com/what-percentage-of-vegas-marriages-end-in-divorce/
5Ibid.
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