Las Vegas

We’d been to see our family there several times. At first glance the neighborhood seemed normal. Then, there were signs of problems in the greater area.

The thing that struck me while driving through Vegas is the sheer preponderance of billboards for personal-injury lawyers. Tons of lawyers trying to get business for accident/injury cases. Far more of these billboards than would seem necessary. It seemed totally unhealthy. Other cities have these billboards; Vegas has tons of them. Why?

I could not help but think it is related to some of the other negative things about that town. For one thing, most obviously, Vegas glorifies and promotes gambling. Gambling might appear to be a victimless crime, innocent fun, but some people don’t know when to stop. Gambling addiction is terrible and depressing–money gone, tensions in the home, vain hopes for one more bet to make it all back… Vegas strikes me as a place of broken dreams.

But from the advertisements you’d think gambling was a great thing; just about luck and winning and jubilant people getting jackpots. On a side note–the NFL used to have an admirable restraint to gambling. Then they crossed the line and allowed it. And it didn’t take long for all restraint to be gone. Now there seems downright enthusiasm for sports gambling, with constant commercials promoting it. It’s another way for people to go broke, but they cover themselves by listing a 1-800 number to call if you have a gambling problem. Didn’t the NFL have enough money already? Why did they have to get into this?

But far worse than the gambling is the fact that Vegas, more than any other city, actively promotes sin as a way to have fun. “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” is a line so familiar that I’m guessing that it might be part of an official promotion. There is also the phrase, “Sin City,” which no one seems to be trying too hard to rebut.

Some years ago, we were travelling on a long trip on Interstate 15. Vegas was on the way. We decided to stop and see what all the fuss was about. Back then they were trying to promote Vegas as a ‘family destination’ (apparently a short-lived promotion).

So much talk about Vegas. I was curious. What was the attraction? We stayed in a hotel a few blocks off the strip and went walking.

As we walked, there were porn newspaper stands next to the regular newspapers stands. On the front steps of one casino a man handed me a paper that advertised strippers that could come to your hotel room. So much for the ‘family destination’.

Went to MGM and saw the lion. Went to New York, New York and rode the roller coaster. Then Luxor, to see the inside of the pyramid. It seemed that themes were just different settings for gambling.

I knew that the ‘Sin City’ and the ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas’ lines are campy edgy-touristy. But that doesn’t negate the fact that there is a lot of sin there. There are a lot of broken dreams and broken lives. The glitz and glam mask the wreckage.

Vegas is a famous conference destination. I wonder if many get excited about the Vegas conferences because they think the normal rules don’t apply while there. But God will know. And the one who indulges in the sin will know and not be able to forget it. And eventually the sin may be found out by other people–like spouses.

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account,” (Hebrews 4:13). God knows. It turns out that ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ is a lie.

Obviously, only a fool would think that Vegas imparts some kind of magical shield from God knowing what goes on there. All Christians and all people would be wise to have a healthy sense of God’s omniscience–his ‘all-knowing-ness’. God knows everything.

But people still try hard to hide their sins. When someone commits a crime, they go to herculean lengths to conceal it. When someone tells a lie, they may have to tell many other lies to cover for the first one. When someone commits adultery, concealing it universal part of that sin.

But God will know, and we will know. And others may find out and probably will.

When we encounter temptation, we need to think about this. We need to think twice. If we sin, it will not go away just because we conceal it. They only way it will go away is through honest repentance to God, which includes being sorry for that past sin with a vow or intention not to do that sin again. And there may be some repenting and restitution to be made to other people.

It is better not to sin in the first place.

The sin of Vegas is not primarily the promotion of gambling but the promotion (however campy or cynical) of the lie that sins committed there are customary and somehow less sinful than elsewhere.

Can cities repent? I’m not sure (though there is the account of Nineveh in the Jonah story). Maybe Vegas will have a general repentance, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, individuals should think twice before falling for the deception that there is a place where sins are less sinful.