In August of 1996, I headed off to college as a freshman with a “hi-tech” word processor in tow and little awareness or understanding of the Internet, much less access to it. Equally, I was largely unaware of or affected by the temptation of pornography. Sure, I knew of magazines or movies containing such material, but thankfully, I had limited access to it and was too embarrassed to even try.
Unfortunately, by the time I graduated four years later, I was stuck in a hidden addiction to pornography. Though shame told me otherwise, a majority of my generation was, in retrospect, in the same predicament.
A pattern of addiction
Humanity’s struggle with lust and pornography is just about as old as time. Sexual temptation has seemingly affected each generation within every culture.
But something clearly happened in the late 1990s with the advent of the internet. Pornography’s cultural explosion followed a predictable pattern:
- Access: material goes from sparse to abundant
- Acclimation: repeated (inundating) exposure normalizes what once shocked us
- Anonymity: private consumption creates the ability to hide/isolate
- Addiction: isolation leads to destructive, unconfessed habits
In a matter of a few years, seemingly an entire generation of young men, along with many young women, fell into the trap. And subsequent generations have fared little better.
To make matters worse, the Church was either initially unprepared, unresolved, or potentially too addicted itself to speak into the cultural rise of pornography. By 2000, we were already late to the game in discipling, warning, and encouraging authenticity and transparency around the topic of pornography.
Today, I believe there is another vice following the exact same pattern: gambling.
And this time around, the Church needs to learn from its past and be ready to respond as a gambling crisis rises in our culture.
How gambling has grown
Humanity’s struggle with gambling is also just about as old as time. This is not a new vice.
Now it’s important for me to separate the mindset of gambling from the vehicles behind it. For many of us, when we think of gambling, we think of casinos, shady poker games, or sports betting. In reality, a gambling mindset is the desire for quick, outsized reward through speculation or chance rather than patient work/stewardship.
These urges or compulsions can turn just about anything into gambling, like investing in meme stocks, fantasy sports, day trading, etc. Many of these activities are not sinful in themselves, but our motives and the manner in which we engage them can reveal a heart increasingly shaped by a gambling mindset.
So what has happened with gambling in the last few years that has elevated this millennium-old vice to new levels?
Access
There have been small cracks in the dam limiting access to gambling in America over the past couple of decades, including the rise of daily fantasy sports apps like DraftKings and FanDuel. But I believe the dam collapsed in 2018.
In May of that year, the US Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), giving states the freedom to legalize and regulate sports gambling.
Before 2018,interest in sports gambling lived on the margins, with access to legal sports betting limited to small corners of the U.S. . But in just 8 years, 39(!) states have legalized sports betting in some form, with most allowing full online/mobile betting through apps.
PASPA’s repeal did for sports gambling what the internet did for pornography.
Acclimation
Access began to increase, but the meteoric rise of gambling needed acclimation, a cultural desensitization. It got its fuel just two months later.
In July of 2018, the NBA announced the first-ever partnership between a major North American sports association and a betting platform, MGM Resorts International. Before long, all the major sports associations would follow suit. Seemingly overnight, gambling went from something surrounding sports to something increasingly woven into the experience of watching them.
Now, live betting odds and prop bet suggestions are highlighted throughout the broadcast. Sports websites, podcasts, and other media are inundated with all sorts of gambling ads.
At the same time, crypto mania, meme stocks, and day trading began to take off, with prediction markets only recently coming onto the scene. Today, on platforms like Robinhood, you can make long-term investments, day trade, and speculate on everything from sporting events to elections.
For this generation, the cultural lines between investing, speculating, and gambling have become increasingly blurred.
Or to say it differently, we have been desensitized.
Anonymity/Addiction
One no longer has to walk into a casino or brave a visit to a bookie. Today, all we must do is open one app on our phone in the privacy of our home and find dozens of ways to feed a gambling mindset.
The current ramifications, specifically on young men (and women), are particularly devastating. You don’t need me to drum up stats. Others are already highlighting the plight facing our 18-29-year-olds, in particular.
See Matt Walsh to Rachel Cruze (Dave Ramsey’s daughter), to Bloomberg, and how all are noting the effects that the cultural normalization of gambling is having on an entire generation of young men.
The access has led to acclimation, and there is now little doubt that the anonymity is leading to addiction.
I admit, because of my past, I’m extra sensitive to this rise in gambling than most, and so I try to temper my cultural concerns of its recent proliferation, realizing my struggle is not everyone else’s. But my ears especially perked up about three years ago when my son came home from his Christian private school, lamenting how many of his friends were now day-trading stocks during class.
My son’s friends are good kids who love Jesus. But it’s here. Gambling has come for them.
What are we going to do about it Church?
Three ways to help
In his book “Thoughts for Young Men,” 19th-century English preacher JC Ryle wrote, “the devil uses special diligence to destroy the souls of young men.” There is little doubt that gambling might just be the drug of choice used to take out our youngest generations.
The Church though, uses special diligence to steward the souls of young men. So what must we do?
Disciple (Prov 13:11 | 1 Tim 6:10 | Heb 13:5)
We must start talking about this in our churches. A large part of education and discipleship is acknowledging the realities of the culture we live in and how to thrive in such a world. Young adult ministries and leaders can lead the way here. You have the ears of this generation that is under attack. Use it.
If you need a place to start, I encourage churches to look at re:generation’s info sheet on gambling, as well as its link to additional resources.
The other aspect of discipleship is discipling people to want something different than what the world promises. For example:
Gambling says: more, quickly.
Scripture says: enough. (Hebrews 13:5)
Gambling says: chase the windfall.
Scripture says: gather little by little. (Proverbs 13:11)
Gambling says: what can I gain?
Scripture says: what have I been entrusted with?
Gambling says: money can change my life.
Jesus says: life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15)
It is good to teach people to flee youthful lusts, but the best way to do that is to spur them on to chase life to the fullest (2 Tim 2:22). We don’t overcome disordered desires merely through stronger prohibitions. We help cultivate better desires in ourselves and our people.
Warn (Ezek 33:2-4 | 1 Cor 6:12 | Luke 21:34)
Good shepherds are good watchmen. Acclimation dulls the conscience. Good shepherding reawakens it.
We need to ask our young adults specific questions: What apps are you using to manage your money? Have you gambled recently? Are you using prediction markets? Are you day trading? Is there anything you are hiding in the area of money?
As a parent, I often talk about this with my kids. For the family dedicated to fighting through the embarrassment of talking about pornography, parents, you need to add these gambling questions to the conversation as well. For our young adult ministries, it’s past time to lean in here.
Encourage Transparency (Eph 5:11-14 | Jam 5:16 | Gal 6:1-2)
I know something about the power of anonymity. I spent seven years lying about my gambling. What began as a specific indulgence eventually required other sins like lying, hiding, and eventually stealing to protect it. Sin rarely stays neatly contained inside the category where it began.
But I also know what happens when people step into the light.
Good shepherds create space for their people to be vulnerable and authentic. And when sin is confessed, they meet the sinner with empathy and compassion.
We must also be prepared to walk deeply with those who have become entangled. Gambling often brings other sins and consequences with it—stealing, hiding, lying, debt, self-loathing, and broken trust. Confession may happen in a moment; restoration often takes much longer.
To the person struggling in this area, sometimes it takes one brave soul to strengthen the spines of others to do the same. Your confession will honor God, and it just might spur others on to imitate your faithfulness.
Anonymity and addiction have power. Power to kill. But bringing sin into the light isn’t the end goal; it’s the beginning of freedom. The promise of the gospel isn’t simply that we can admit what has mastered us, but that in Christ we can actually become free from its mastery.
Thirty years ago, the Church was late in recognizing what pornography was doing to my generation. Eventually, we learned to talk about it. We learned to ask uncomfortable questions. We created places where confession could happen and where men and women could walk toward freedom.
Today, gambling is wreaking similar havoc. We don’t have to be late this time.
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