PART I
The New York Times (Erik Vance)
A New Generation of Gamblers Searches for Help
Young, Male, and Addicted: Many of Our Young Men are Enslaved to Sports Betting
Should Christians Have Burials or Funerals for Miscarried Children? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
What Makes a War Worth Fighting? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From a 17-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing
How Do I Evangelize My College Roommate Without Making Her Feel Like My Project? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From a 18-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing
It’s Friday, November 14, 2025.
I’m Albert Mohler. And this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
Well, who would’ve thought? It turns out that sports betting scandals are just continuing to ricochet. In this case, the latest casualty is major league baseball. And you have two players who have been suspended, and they’re likely, if found guilty, to be banned from baseball for the rest of their lives for another gambling scandal. And so it is really interesting, we’ll have to come back to this because it’s a huge story, but on this Friday edition of The Briefing, I want to look at the human cost. But I want us just to understand for a moment when you ask the question, “Who saw this coming?” The answer should be, “Every sane person.”
Who saw this coming? Anyone who had eyes to see. The great delusion here is that anyone thought that you could add vast billions and billions and billions of dollars in gambling, and it would not lead to perverse effects. These perverse effects are already showing up. They’re going to show up in sport after sport after sport.
And what’s really interesting is to hear a lot of people say, “Well, it was only professional baseball.” As if, “Well, at least it wasn’t collegiate sports.” But the betting mechanisms could just as easily apply to collegiate sports as to anything else. And with collegiate sports, you’re just going to have domino after domino fall.
One of the big issues is that in this latest scandal, it was prop bets, as they’re called, that were at the center of it. These are proposition bets, and this allows betting on even individual plays. Now, this is why baseball is particularly vulnerable. It’s because prop bets don’t work well when you’re talking about a team. They work better when you’re talking about a player. And so conceivably, it could apply to a quarterback in the NFL or a quarterback in the collegiate context, and you could say, “Is it going to throw a wild pass?”
But it’s kind of hard to actually predict that because there’s so many people in motion at the time, that could be a risky bet. But in baseball, if you’re talking about pitches, “Well, what could go wrong?” The answer is, “Everything.” Because if you’re going to bet exactly what will happen with a pitch and you have a crooked pitcher who’s in on the bet, then you can have a pitch right into the dirt. And it’s not like that’s under pressure from a defensive line coming at him. The pitcher’s just done it single-handedly. So, that’s why these prop bets are particularly insidious when it comes to sports where an individual acting, that action could be corrupted in a particularly direct way.
Okay, so the answer, by the way, of major league baseball and the gambling industry to this new scandal is, “We’re going to put a limit on how big prop bets can be.” So, it’s basically an acknowledgement, “All right, cover’s blown. This can go really badly, so let’s just reduce the maximum bet for every individual gambling context here.” It’s just ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
It’s sort of like opening the jail and letting all the inmates out and then saying, “Okay, let’s invite everybody back in and ask them to stay.” I mean, it’s just absolutely ridiculous. And there are also micro bets, and that’s a subset of a proposition bet, and it’s just a sign of human nature. And this is where Christians have to remind ourselves that we are the people who have been told in advance by Scripture, that the last thing you should do is provide incentives for people to do the wrong thing.
And that’s just a basic principle of the Bible. It’s a basic principle also of common sense, which is consistent with Scripture, which is if you don’t want something bad to happen, don’t create an opportunity for someone to get paid for doing the bad thing. Don’t make the bad thing profitable, and don’t allow incentives to destroy something that shouldn’t be corrupted by money.
And at least for the longest time, the professional sports leagues made that argument. There have been gambling scandals in sports at various levels, and the athletic organizations had done their very best to create distance from themselves and those scandals. And now you know the allure of this giant money.
And you say, “What’s changed?” I think two things have changed. One is the moral landscape. I think that’s changed. I think that state-sponsored lotteries and so many other things, legalized forms of gambling, have broken down the moral instinct amongst the American people when it comes to gambling. I think if you were to ask this question in the 1950s, the average American could say, “Gambling’s wrong.” I think you talk about it now, and they say, “Well, my kid actually got a tuition discount at the state university because of the state lottery.” So, I guess it’s just kind of. there could be downsides to it, but the upside is really big.
I think the second thing that’s changed is the emergence of digital technologies. Digital technologies allow for instantaneous bets everywhere, and that includes the fact that you don’t need a casino anymore, you got a smartphone. And that’s exactly why so much of this is spreading.
But the reason I’m talking about it today, on Fridays, I try to focus specifically on things I think Christian families and Christian pastors and churches should be concerned about. That’s why I’m bringing this issue up today, and it is because of a headline article that appeared in the New York Times on Wednesday. And I think pastors, parents, those who work with college students, especially college age young men and boys in high school, you better pay attention to this. Here’s the headline, “Young, Male and Addicted: A New Cohort of Gamblers Finds Help Can Be Scarce.”
So, here’s the big problem, and it’s a spreading plague. You have a combination of young men, an interest in sports, an interest in gaming, an interest in, well, I’ll just say a quick satisfaction of winning a bet. You add all this together and you create the context for what can easily, I think, be honestly defined as an addiction.
Now, one of the things Christians have to be concerned about is the overuse of the term “addiction” because people can basically say, “I’m addicted to this,” or, “Addicted to that.” And the Bible would basically say that we’re addicted to sin. That’s just a part of our corrupt human nature. We’re addicted to sin. But we also know there are some specific things, some specific sins, some specific vulnerabilities that do take on rather commonly the shape of an addiction. And so we look at substance abuse, we look at alcohol abuse. We can also look at the abuse of gaming, in this case.
And by the way, there are some physiological explanations for this. Dopamine hits, a certain level of adrenaline, a certain level of excitement. And quite honestly, I think another thing that we, as Christians, have to recognize is that there are similar physiological processes going on when it comes to illicit sexual stimulation or illicit stimulation by this kind of gaming. The kind of thrill that comes with this.
I don’t think it’s an accident that the three words used here in the headline at first are, “Young, Male, Addicted.” And the article is pretty honest, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s about the particular vulnerability of young men to these gambling behaviors. And it can happen so quickly, it can happen so easily.
And so the article begins by telling us about a young man who got into this, just betting a little bit, he’s interested in sports, he’s interested in gaming. And by the way, a lot of these gambling mechanisms and technologies now sort of look like video games, and the prop bets in particular, they’re sort of like a video game. And so there’s a lot of interest in these things.
And the big thing is that it’s an appetite that’s very hard to satisfy. It’s an appetite that only grows. And here again, is a biblical picture for us, it seems sometimes in classical Christian art, there is sometimes a picture of the temptation of demons. And you can sometimes see this, and then gluttony or lust, and you’ll notice that it is appetitive. In other words, it’s impossible to satisfy. The appetite simply grows.
The bets get higher, the bets get more often, and winning a little bit actually doesn’t satisfy. It just fuels the desire to win more. And so it’s a perverse wheel of temptation, And frankly, risk that young men are getting into.
Eric Vance of the Times reports, “Since 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down a law prohibiting sports betting in most states, sports gambling has transformed into a high-tech, multi-billion dollar industry, but the spaces for support and treatment have remained largely the same. Experts say not enough people are calling the toll-free numbers meant to help and fewer go to therapy or make it through recovery programs.”
You got to love this. You talk about a moral cop-out, “Therapists, researchers and recovering gamblers have begun to wonder if it is time to consider different approaches to addressing the problems specific to online gambling.” You think? You think? Again, who saw this coming? Any sane person is the answer.
The article also makes clear that there is a unique vulnerability to young men, “Many young men in particular are still struggling to find people who understand the particular challenges that sports gambling apps present.” That statement came from a spokesperson for the National Council on Problem Gambling.
There is a very interesting picture that’s drawn here in this article, and that is many younger men who do seek help, find that the existing programs to help a person struggling with gambling are largely directed at much older people, and that means overwhelmingly much older men. And so let’s just say it’s a very different temptation to drive and go in a casino than it is to open your smartphone app and put a big bet in from your bedroom or your dorm room. It’s a different kind of temptation, and it’s a different kind of phenomenon.
“And sin is sin, but sin is so insidious,” a biblical theology reminds us, “that it takes on different and continually devious forms and deformations.” There’s something else that I think is important here for parents, and frankly for young people, young men in particular, to pay attention to.
One of the big problems here is that this kind of gambling takes place in almost total isolation. And so it lacks even the kind of face-to-face contact or person-to-person contact that you’d have in a casino or in another form of gambling. Even in the old classical situation when there’s a neighborhood bookie though, this is just extremely different. And this temptation is just a click away. And it can come with devastating consequences.
And of course, I think the first thing most people would think of is the financial consequence. But Christians understand, as real as financial consequences might be, the spiritual consequences are far higher. This is an addiction. And in other words, it’s giving yourself over to a sin that takes control of you. And I think we need to recognize that an awful lot of Christian young men, young men in Christian homes that we care about, would be very vulnerable to this. I think there are an awful lot of parents who aren’t having some of the conversations you need to have and you’re not exercising some of the oversight that is your responsibility to prevent this from happening.
I think that’s also true for churches. We just need to recognize that an awful lot of young men are very vulnerable to this in a way that previous generations of Christians didn’t have to worry about. Now, I want to make a very strong argument here that might not be what you would expect. Clearly, one of the things that parents and other Christian leaders have to do is just do our very best to set the rules and the parameters so that this doesn’t happen. But I think we also need to recognize that just not doing this is not the full answer. So, I want to make a statement here, and I want this to be the conclusive statement that I could offer to this.
We need to get young men involved, Christian young men, involved in Christian work, involved in doing good in the name of the Lord, and for the glory of the Lord, doing things together, younger men and older men, boys and men doing things together, constructive things together, being in work together that serves the Kingdom of Christ, honors God, and frankly keeps everybody busy and everybody accountable.
Now, that’s not the answer for every single hour of every day, but you look at this, and a large part of this problem is the solitude added to the technology added to the opportunity of time. And there are needs that I think are underlined here and there’s a need for thrill, a need for meaning, a need for excitement.
One of the things that Christians can do is to make certain that young men learn thrill and excitement in doing the things that please and honor the Lord, and that make them set up for success rather than for failure, that will make them more attractive and more faithful as husbands and fathers, rather than less. More able to be fully deployed for the glory of God rather than less. If the secular world is concerned about this, my point is this: Christians should be far, far more concerned. I’ll just, for this day, leave it at that.
Okay, now I want to turn to questions. And once again, I just express appreciation for listeners who entrust these questions to me. And I want to thank listeners for the quality of the questions that are sent in. Sometimes they’re hard, and a husband sent in a question that’s kind of hard. I think we all need to hear it though. He writes as a husband. He said he was listening to a song and the song made him think about a miscarriage that his wife had experienced between their first and second children, who came to life in birth.
He says, “Neither of us was ready for that. A DNC was performed.” He went on to ask if he and his wife should have had a funeral for this miscarried child. And clearly, this is on this father’s mind, husband’s mind, he says, “I believe life begins at conception, both Scripturally and scientifically. If that is true, then where are my son’s remains? I believe he’s in the presence of our Lord spiritually. Physically, however, I believe I failed my son. Any counsel on this matter would be greatly appreciated.”
Okay, I want to speak to this husband and father. Number one, I think you’re absolutely right to take this as a very serious issue. And when you ask the question, “Should Christians have funerals or burials for miscarried children?” I think some kind of very clear, even formal response will be very helpful to Christian parents because Christian parents understand this is not just the loss of a pregnancy, it is the loss of a child. And I don’t think I have to say that to moms and dads who’ve experienced this.
And I think, as Christians consistent with our belief that life begins at fertilization, it’s right for us to commemorate this and to go through a formal observation of it in some way. I will not say it needs to take the shape of a funeral, but some kind of formal process. And I have often been asked about that in the midst of the grief experienced by a couple.
But then this father goes on to say, “Where are his son’s remains?” He says he feels he failed his son. I want to say, here’s the thing. I want to say that, right now, the very fact that you are thinking of this child and you are thanking God for the gift of this child and you are grieving this child, I think you and your wife together are honoring this child and you’re honoring God, and you say you have other children who are living, and I’m very thankful you have those children.
As for your son’s remains, I would say that’s not inconsequential. I think it’s very healthy for Christian parents to be able to have something even to bury, but that’s not always available at all. And I’ll just simply say, I don’t think you should be worried about that at this point. If I can relieve any burden from you, I don’t think that the bodily remains of a miscarried pregnancy here, I don’t think that is the most important issue. I wouldn’t want you to feel a failure in that.
I appreciate the fact you say that you know will see your child in Heaven, and what a blessed promise that is. And I think you are honoring your child, you and your wife, by even thinking about this in a way in which you wonder, “Did we handle it rightly?” And I’ll simply say, I believe that you’re godly in the inclination to even be reminded in this way. And I pray for you and your wife’s souls, even in the memory of this miscarriage, and joy in the children in your home. And I think just as you might have the opportunity to minister to others who are undergoing a miscarriage, you can speak to them of the fact that it would’ve been helpful to have had perhaps even a formal way of bringing about some closure in a way that honors the Lord.
All right, next I want to turn to a question. This comes from a younger man, a 17-year-old young man, and he has a really good question. He’s a believer and he writes, “As a male and about old enough to join the military.” So, those are two crucial criteria. He says, “I have felt two opposite pressures. On the one hand, I feel pressured to be patriotic and join the army. It’s manly,” he says, if you know what I mean,” and I do, and I think that’s a God-honoring insight. He says, “But on the other hand, I’m warned that the way our country is right now, joining the military is liberalized and likely to fight wars that we shouldn’t have ever been involved in. This leaves me wondering what makes a war worth fighting? What is Just War Theory and how can we tell if a war is just?”
Okay. Wow, just a lot of great questions. It really encourages me, again, that a 17-year-old young man would have these questions, and also to have the impulse. I think it’s a good, godly impulse. This patriotic impulse is, I think, a good and godly impulse.
One of the most important questions the early Christians had to come to consider is whether or not it is right to talk about the honor of a Christian soldier. And very quickly, the Christian Church came to the conclusion that it was. I mean, even when you look at, for instance, Cornelius in the Book of Acts and you come to understand he is not dishonored for his role.
You ask, “What is Just War Theory?” Just War Theory is a classic Christian form of reasoning that Christians have worked at over the centuries to try to figure out when a war is just and how a war is fought justly or rightly. And there’s more than we can pack into this answer. But the basic thing is that the war has to be defensive rather than offensive. It has to be declared by legitimate authorities. It has to be also one that discriminates, in such a way, that you seek to kill only combatants and not innocent civilians. It also must be proportional in terms of the response. And again, defensive in its proportionality.
This is very important. In other words, if a nation invades us, we have full right to fight back against that invasion and to defeat that foe. That does not mean we have the right to claim that nation’s territory as our own simply because we won that war. So then that proportionality, limited aims, all that’s really important.
Just War Theory also has to do with how a war is fought. And again, that means discriminating so that civilians are not targeted, but rather only legitimate military targets are targeted. But you know what? I think the bigger issue here may be the concern of this young man that the army is liberalized. I’ve got concerns about that. I can also tell you that some of the finest Christians I know are serving in the United States Armed Forces right now, some of them in Special Forces. It is an honor to know them.
And I can simply tell you that there are also some of the most patriotic people, some of the most God-honoring people, some of the most seriously-minded Christians I’ve ever met are in and have been in the United States Military. And I think one of the most important things that a young man can do in the military is find some fellow soldiers, sailors or airmen or other personnel, I don’t mean to leave anybody out, who are also believers and you can strengthen and encourage one another.
I’ve had the opportunity to be in some of the most unique contexts, and that includes even some active involvement with academic supervision of some who’ve been involved in some of these special teams. And I can simply tell you, I’ve been introduced to some of the folks on these teams, and I can tell you they are remarkably faithful, incredibly mature, seriously-minded Christians. And I’m thankful that there are such folks who are still giving their lives in patriotic service.
And it’s simply true. We count on them. And so I appreciate this question from this 17-year-old young man. However the Lord leads you in this, I am thankful you’re such a seriously-minded young Christian man. That really encourages me.
Speaking of good questions, I got just an incredibly good question from an 18-year-old young woman who is a freshman at a public university and has a non-Christian roommate, she says, of her roommate, “She does not know Christ and has not expressed interest in discussing spiritual things.” And this young woman goes on to ask, “Do you have any advice for me as I balance my desire for her to be saved, but also not wanting her to feel as though she’s just a project for me to feel good about converting her?”
Very sensitive way of asking the question. And I will simply say this, I think the fact that you are roommates is an opportunity for you to share a witness, but that also means you’re developing a relationship, you’re developing a friendship, and that’s in a context in which, hopefully, the relationship and the friendship affords you the opportunity to bear witness of your own faith in Christ and also for you to hope and pray that there will be an opportunity for her to indicate a receptiveness to hearing you talk more and more specifically about Christ.
And the fact that you are there and you’re a Christian and you represent Christ and you hold to your Christian beliefs, and those things will show in conversation. They just will. You have opportunities to make reference to these things without appearing to make her a project. And she will come to know you, I hope and pray, as a friend and with deep trust to know that when you have the opportunity to be even more direct in terms of a conversation about the gospel, she will know that this is in the context of friendship, and that you don’t see her as merely a project.
I can only wish there were more Christian students in dormitories who had this concern, both ways. By the way, the concern, first of all, for the urgency of sharing the gospel with an unbeliever. That’s absolutely right. But you haven’t been given the opportunity for one conversation with her. You’ve been given the missiological opportunity for a sustained relationship with her. I would build that relationship, without ever compromising your witness and take every opportunity that you’re afforded to bear witness to Christ.
But the other thing is that I think it’s really very encouraging that you want to make certain that your roommate doesn’t think you see her as just a project, because that’s not the way the gospel works either. We do not see persons lost, dead in their sins and in desperate need of Christ, we don’t see them as projects. We see them as persons made in the image of God. Sinners who desperately need to hear the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re very, very, very happy when we see a sinner come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. But regardless of the context, we ought never to see such a gift from God as merely a project. Very sensitively asked.
All right. I received a good number of questions about a couple of specific issues clearly that need to be addressed, and I’m going to take full account of that as we head into next week’s editions of The Briefing. In the meantime, thank you for sending these letters. You can send your own by just mailing me at mail@albertmohler.com. And as always, thanks for listening to The Briefing.
For more information, go to my website at albertmohler.com. You can follow me on X or Twitter by going to x.com/albertmohler. For information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu. For information on Boyce College, just go to boycecollege.com.
I’ll meet you again on Monday for The Briefing.
PART I
The New York Times (Erik Vance)
A New Generation of Gamblers Searches for Help
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
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