By Ezekiel Kimosop
Gambling goes with several related acronyms and synonyms such as betting, gaming, lottery or wagering. My response to the above question is informed by two primary questions as follows:-
1. What is the primary objective that drives people to addictive gambling?
2. Who is the ultimate owner of the resources that addicted gamblers apply in gambling?
In my view, the answer to first question is thus: the addicted gambler covets big money which they hope to make in a quick and easy way by sheer luck! They seek to strike it rich without any economic effort!
Regarding the second question, my view is that since all resources at our disposal ultimately belong to God (Psalm 24:1-2; 50:10), we are merely stewards of any material resources that God has graciously provided to us, including our incomes and returns on our investments. We ought therefore to apply these resources in a manner that glorifies God.
This then begs the next question: is gambling evidence of responsible stewardship in the eyes of God? Can a Bible believing Christian gamble from a clear conscience?
My answer to these two questions is in the negative!
I will back my view with the following relevant texts of Scripture which, in my opinion, should inform our moral prudence on this controversial issue:
Exodus 20:17 proclaims "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s"
A covetous person is one that is driven by raw envy and consuming jealousy. They cannot imagine that the neighbor can surpass them in material prosperity and will expend all their energies in outwitting them.
A gambler cannot legitimately deny that they are seeking cheap and disingenuous means of getting rich? These quick jackpot riches must be drained from someone else, another source... 🙄. It is a plus and a minus, in simple arithmetics.
What has the gambler done to earn a jackpot prize? What investment have they expended in the process? How can his material gain, if any, be explained? Who lost the millions that fell to him?
Ecclesiastes 5:10 says "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity." (NKJV).
There is no end to the burning desire for the accumulation of millions of dollars in a person given to avarice and cheap means of gaining resources. When should a gambler stop playing lottery? A million dollars? Is there true satisfaction in gambling?
1 Timothy 6:10 says "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (NKJV)
Paul's statement in the above Scripture is a timely advisory to God's people to refrain from ungodly love for riches.
Gambling is driven by unbridled greed for quick riches. Millions of gamblers have sold their family fortunes under their compulsive addiction to gambling and driven their families to economic and moral ruin. Is this truly what God desires of believers? Think again...
Hebrews 13:5 says" Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you." (NKJV).
What moral conduct or testimony does a Christian gambler project inside that dark gambling room where he spends hours trying his luck? Would one truly bear faithful witness to Christ when spinning that roulette wheel? Does gambling require a prayerful strategy? Is God in the picture?
CONCLUSION
I am deeply persuaded that it is immoral for a believer to employ their resources and time in gambling and wagering. We should earn our keep by legitimate and godly means. This is God's ordained method for raising a living for ourselves and our families.
Let me now close with what I consider as a befitting exhortation and caution from Scripture that aptly speaks to this issue:
The Bible says "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread." (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, NKJV).
The above Scripture promotes hard work and condemns laziness in the Christian community. Gambling belongs to the religion of Mammon where luck rather than skill and talent rules. Believers should refrain from the allure of gambling. We should be content with what we can, by God's enabling grace, achieve by meaningfully engaging our skills and talents.
There are no two ways about it, in my view.
Shalom
Blessed season.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2023
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