Gambling

Why do we enjoy gambling? Where does it come from? Is it sinful when it goes as far as an addiction? Or are all forms of it derived from sin?

Let’s consider addiction first. It is wrong to be addicted to gambling but what does it mean to be addicted? Addiction is a blanket term used more broadly now than ever before. The term addiction now covers more than its definition. The actual definition is “being physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance, and unable to stop taking it without incurring adverse effects.” Note here the dependence on “substance”. We used to only have physical addictions, things like drugs and smoking, these are substances that change your chemical makeup in a way that tricks your body into feeling like it needs that substance to survive. You need it like you need food. Often the need is real and causes you to experience real physical effects (withdrawal). Now we look at the new terms that have only existed since the 1980s. The behavioral addictions include sex addiction, porn addiction, addiction to your phone, video game addiction, shopping addiction and gambling addictions. These (and many more) are all listed as behavioral addictions. Even medically these are understood as separate to the category of physical addictions yet we talk about them as if they are all part of the same category. As Christians we should see them removed totally from the list of addictions and placed in their rightful place as overwhelming sins. Behavioral addictions are sins that we have fallen into to such an extent that it controls our lives. A sex addict has not been given a chemical that makes him need to sleep with many partners. He is dealing with the sin of lust and he has given it victory over his life. Similarly, addiction to gambling is in reality a lost battle with the sins of greed, pride and a love of worldly pleasure.

Greed is the clearest sin in gambling. The love of money is not just a sin of the gambler but one that can be just as heavily infecting others without them appearing as “addicts”. From the businessman who does nothing but work to the banker who hoards away anything they can. If the greedy gambler quit his gambling “addiction” today he would likely trade it for another expression of greed tomorrow. The greedy gambler does not need to stop the addiction of gambling. He needs to right his heart towards Christ that the sin of greed might end its reign in his life.

Pride often is a cause for greed but it has its own traps as well. The love of self affects more than just the gambler, it is the most accepted sin of our generation even among Christians. The prideful gambler chases the feeling of winning. He craves the ego boost that comes with competing with others and being victorious. He searches for the adrenaline rush that comes with putting it all on the line. The prideful gambler does not need to stop his addiction to gambling. He needs to right his heart towards Christ that the sin of pride might end its reign on his life.

Worldly pleasure is the expertise of the casino. The love of worldly pleasure is the enemy of contentment and the casino is the picture of its opposite. Everything in a casino is designed to prey on the gambler’s desire for worldly pleasure. The casino knows their market, they know the sin that brought the gambler there and they capitalize on it. From indoor smoking to alcohol, from excessive buffets to high end cuisine, from entertainment to lustful desires, the casino is delivering pleasure because the gambler is easy prey to it.

But we have been talking about gamblers here. People with real, visible, life altering problems. What about those who gamble casually? They know their limits and they do not let these kinds of sins reign over their lives. We are quick to put addiction into its own category away from sin so we can say that gambling is fine as long as we do not enter the imaginary category of “addict”. I have made the argument that it is not addiction but overwhelming sin in the gambler’s life and if the gambler is dealing with overwhelming sin then surely we should be on guard for regular sins, maybe even the respectable sins that we are all too easy to miss. Sin is placed on a scale and in our fallen state we are always on it somewhere. We do not enter the sin of greed and pride only when we cross over to addiction. We are called to fight all sins in all its forms. I know pride, greed and worldly pleasure are all sins in my life that I succumb to every day.

Gambling is a gateway to temptation that we need to watch carefully and seriously. We constantly fail to see and banish the sins in our lives. Why would we allow temptation to test us? We should remember Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Unlike Jesus we are tempted and we do sin, we should not trick ourselves into thinking that we have the wisdom to play with temptation and not come out unscathed.

Is it possible though to gamble without sin?

We find ways to put sin in everything so we should always be on guard. We tend to focus on our big sins and then refine down. A Godly man who spends his life hating sin and loving Christ should find himself in a position where the sins he is working on seem pedantic and less important than the grievous sins a young man may be fighting but that is not how God sees them. As we grow in Christ and remove sins from our life we are not to be satisfied. We simply reveal the next layer and continue peeling. The layers keep going and our work does not end until Christ throws all the layers away when we pass into glory. Our efforts, rightly so, should be focused on our greatest sins and avoiding our greatest temptations but we must not allow ourselves to trade truth for a lie by believing it is just the sins that are currently our greatest battle to be the only sins we have. Once those are gone more layers will reveal themselves. In his book Respectable Sins Jerry Bridges discusses his sin of worldly pleasure. He said that every week he would eat ice cream at his favorite ice cream shop but he realized that his desire for ice cream was a love for the world and he needed to practice restraint in that. That is a man who is deep in his layers. I know I would not feel my desire for a weekly snack to be a sin I need to work on. So too for gambling, my walk is not yet at a place where I would deny a night of bonding with my friends while playing a bit of light poker but I pray that one day I will be so close to Christ that even ice cream might weigh on my heart.

Lastly, consider who you would be comfortable inviting along. Would you invite your pastor to the casino? Would you invite Jesus to a casual night of poker? Of course you wouldn’t but why not? No matter how small a sin is we must still recognise it as sin. As fallen sinners we will fall into temptation. On occasion we will lose the fight against greed, pride and a love for worldly pleasure. Let us not add to the battle by giving sin an opportunity to rear its ugly head.