Some people think of gambling as a harmless leisure activity, while others think of it as a sin, but what does the Bible say about gambling? That’s what you will discover as you read this article.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GAMBLING?
Gambling isn’t mentioned in the Bible at all. It does, however, provide a number of guiding principles that reveal God’s thoughts on gambling.
Gambling can take many forms, including playing the lottery, betting on football games, and visiting casinos. As a Christian, you should be able to tell if what you’re doing is right in God’s eyes. If you’re still not convinced, here are ten things the Bible says about gambling.
1. The Bible warns that “those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge men into destruction and ruin.” (1Timothy 6:9)
2. Gambling is rooted in greed, and greed is so corrosive that the Bible lists “greediness” among several behaviors that should be strongly avoided. (Ephesians 5:3)
3.Greediness breeds discontent, leaving people unsatisfied with their financial status and robbing them of their happiness. “A lover of silver will never be satisfied with silver, nor a lover of wealth with income.”(Ecclesiastes 5:10).
4. With its focus on easy wealth, gambling nurtures a love of money—something that the Bible identifies as “a root of all sorts of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
5. Figuratively speaking, the Bible describes those ensnared by the love of money as having “stabbed themselves all over with many pains.”(1 Timothy 6:10)
6. God is sovereign and will provide for the church’s needs through honest means. Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Would God be honored if he received donated drug money or money stolen in a bank robbery? Of course not. (Proverbs 13:11)
7. One proverb states: “An inheritance obtained first by greed will not be a blessing in the end.” (Proverbs 20-21) Problem gambling has plunged addicts into debt or even bankruptcy and has cost many of them jobs, marriages, and friendships
8. Gambling’s basic nature—winning money at the expense of others—contradicts the Bible’s warning to “avoid all forms of greed.” (Luke 12:15) Greed is the driving force behind gambling.
9. The Bible also cautions against viewing luck as a mystic force that might bestow blessings. In ancient Israel, there were some who lacked faith in God and began “setting a table for the god of Good Luck.” Was such devotion to “the god of Good Luck” acceptable to God? No, he said to them: “You kept doing what was bad in my eyes, and you chose what displeased me.” (Isiah 65:11,12)
10. Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
