Gambling: The Bible Doesn’t Say It’s Wrong?

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

There are many that see nothing wrong with gambling, After all, the Bible doesn’t expressly forbid it. In fact, the word “gambling” doesn’t even appear in the Bible, but neither do the words, “rape” or “drug dealer”. So is it biblical wrong to gamble?

I had a woman telephone me the other day seeking advice for a friend who is married to an addicted gambler. His addiction had already forced them into bankruptcy. He could no longer meet his monthly obligations because he needed their money to fuel his addiction and was now stealing from his employer to pay his gambling debts. He had allowed his disease to consume him.

“Okay,” you say, “That’s an obvious example of when gambling is wrong. But come on. Gambling, in and of itself, is not wrong, morally or biblically.”

When I was in college, I played poker to help make ends meet. And on the golf course, I saw nothing wrong with a small wager to help me on my game. While I could not afford the luxury of gambling, no one was getting hurt. I never lost (or won) very much, and I never saw anyone else lose (or win) too much either.

When I graduated from college, I finally had enough of an income to increase the stakes. I mean after all, if it doesn’t hurt a little, it’s not going to do much for you. You know, “No pain, no gain.”

It wasn’t too long before I was playing for high stakes. In fact, an eighteen hole round of golf was no fun anymore unless hundreds of dollars passed through someone’s hands, on the way to mine.

Anyway, in 1990 it all came to a screeching halt. I had lost thousands of dollars gambling on football and basketball and no longer had the ability to pay my monthly bills. You see, I knew exactly what that woman was talking about when she described her friend’s husband because I, too, had started out playing for the fun of it and ended up gambling with my life.

I have wanted to tell this story since I writing this column but never had a sense of peace that the time was right. That woman’s call to me was a wake-up call that others need to hear what God has taught me about such a destructive habit.

Gambling may not get center stage in the Bible, but the principles that I sacrificed in order to gamble are covered from beginning to end.

For example, I realized the other day as I was preparing for a Sunday School lesson that gambling used to be my God. You see in a right relationship with God, we submit our whole serves to God. In other words, we realize that we cannot allow a bad habit such as gambling to control us. Instead, we must recognize that he is the one who controls. That’s what God means when He says, “You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) The gambler worships the “almighty dollar” instead of the “almighty God”.

The desire to gamble is also an outward and visible sign of a serious spiritual problem. It represents in its most basic form the desire to covet. In other words, the gambler is greedy and gambling is a greedy and covetous act that amounts to taking something from someone that has not been earned or without their permission. I shudder when I read what Paul says about such habits: “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person-such a man is a idolater-has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5:5-6)

I cannot think of a single biblical principle that is served by gambling, But whenever I am unsure about what the Bible says with regards to something I want to do, I ask myself, “Will I glorify God by that action?” Jesus put it another way, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”(Matthew 15:8-9)

Let’s put it this way, Do you think Jesus would gamble if he walked among us today?