Sports Part 2 - Valuable Lessons

In part 2 of my thoughts on sports, I will tackle (get it? Tackle…football…sports) the life lessons that can be learned from sports. In the book “A Guide to Biblical Manhood”, Dr. Randy Stinson lays out his list of life lessons that he learned from baseball that he has shared with his children. While I would have picked a different sport (soccer or golf), many of these ideas are true in all sports. Here are the ones that I think are the strongest lessons from sports:

 

• Authority – If you ever notice, the umpire or referee always wins the argument. Regardless of the sport, the umpire/referee has the authority to eject anyone he thinks have gotten out of hand. Thus, the life lesson is that you accept the ruling without arguing. Another aspect of this is that you do not blame the outcome of the game on the umpire/referee since they are part of the sport you decided to play. This does not mean that the person doing the officiating is perfect. They will make mistakes and we will be treated unfairly. Guess what? Jesus was treated unfairly and he showed love and forgiveness to those who mistreated him.

 

• Self-sacrifice – When you play a team sport, the individual players need to think as a team. This means that sometimes, certain players need to “take one for the team”. In other words, a player might need to do something that they do not want to do in order to help the team. The life lesson here is that we need to think of others before ourselves. Since the coach has the responsibility to guide the team, this also means that when the coach asks you to do something, you need to obey. Again, there are times where the coach’s ideas will not be the same as yours. In the garden before Jesus was arrested, he pleaded with his “coach” if there was another play that would be run. His “coach” told him no and Jesus then went and was obedient. He ran the play that ended up killing him because he knew that was the best for us.

 

• Failure and Humility – In my one year of HS baseball, my batting average was .000, in other words, I did not get a hit all year (I was on the team for my fielding). While I failed all the time, even the best hitters fail 2 out of 3 times at bat. Whether it is a batter that is in a slump or a pitcher that cannot throw a strike, sports makes us face our failure. How will we react? Will you get mad? Will you blame others? Will you work hard so it doesn’t happen again? Peter failed Jesus when he denied that he knew Jesus and he left crying. Did he give up? No, he learned from his mistakes and was the leader of the church after Jesus went to heaven.

 

• Grace, Mercy, and Honor – Your opponent is someone that God loves and is made in God’s image. When they are cheating or playing in a way that you do not like, it is hard to see that. Regardless of our opinion of them, we are called to honor and respect them. Sportsmanship is a lost art these days. Too many times, the trash talking and taunting are accepted as normal but they show a lack of respect for the other players. You never know what opportunities may come up. Maybe that other player may visit your church. Did you show them respect and honor in the game? Please hear me: this does not mean you do not play hard! This means that you play hard but you do not insult them, humiliate them, run up the score, or get “chippy” when they are winning. Bottom line is that the people on the other side are more important to God than winning. There is no problem with playing to win but what is more important?

 

Stinson outlines more in the book and I do recommend it to you to read. This section is pages 90-96 in the book. The book has sections on how to be a Godly Father, a Godly Husband and a Godly Leader. One lesson that this book makes clear is that in all that we do, we are to become more and more like Christ. What would Jesus do…in our families? In our marriages? In our jobs? In our fun times? And in our sports?

Sports Part 1 - Dangers of Sports

Sports have been a large part of my life for as far back as I can remember. From being a lifelong Minnesota Vikings and Twins fan, to scorekeeping for the church softball team when I was 12 years old, playing softball and broomball (think Field Hockey on ice with no skates - best sport ever!) with my brother and his friends, to coaching Bryce and Tyler, and many more. I enjoy sports. 

As with anything, there are good things and bad things about sports and competition in general. This week, I want to talk about some of the dangers of sports/competitions and next week, I will be talking about the Godly lessons that can be learned through sports. 

1. Win at all cost – The first danger is when winning the game is all that matters. There are many examples of this: a coach telling his team to play dirty, a player getting mad at his teammates when they make a mistake, a fan whose day is ruined when his team loses, and others.

As a Christian, we can play to win the game but the way we play is more important than the outcome. If we look at the competition, does it really matter? Is it worth losing your Christian witness over? This also applies to parents. Here is a test to see if your behavior is appropriate: If your son or daughter was sitting next to you doing what you do, would you stop them? Would you act that way if your pastor/teacher/boss/mother was sitting by you? Remember, it light of eternity, it is just a game. Let’s treat it that way.

2. Revenge – many times when someone does something to a player on the other team, either that player or others on the team will try to get back at them. In Baseball, the pitcher is “supposed to” hit the batter with a pitch in certain situations. In Hockey, they have “goons” that are on the team for their ability to fight. If any of the star players get hit hard, these goons go after the other team as pay back. You hear about games getting “chippy”. This means that teams are taking turns doing something to the other team and each play is getting worse and worse.

As a Christian, the Bible says that vengeance belongs to God. Also, Jesus commands us to “turn the other cheek”. But the best verse for this is Romans 14:12 “So then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God.” How silly does it sound for a little child to say: “He started it!” If that does not work for kids, it will not work for us before the Almighty Creator God.

3. Disrespecting other team, coaches, and/or referees – This is the one that I see most often. Parent’s and the some fans feel that it is acceptable to insult, call names, and be rude to anybody that disagrees with them. “Idiot”, “retarded”, “buffoon”, and “cheater” are all things that I have heard this year said to referees and the other teams. At one game this year, I saw one team’s fans stand up and turn around when the other team was introduced. To some extent, trash talking and /or taunting falls into this area as well. 

As a Christian, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. We need to remember that everyone is made in the image of God and since God loves them, we are supposed to also. Is this easy? No but God did not say life would be easy. He said that He would help us do the impossible…including loving that “jerk” on the other team.

There are more but these are the three dangers that I see the most and are the most harmful to the Christian. The Bible tells about sports and how they are similar to our life as Christians. The biggest warning I can give is that we need to watch our witness for Christ in the stands or on the field. God is watching you and you never know who else is watching. Will you be able to tell others about the love of Jesus after the way you behaved at the game?

Christians need to speak against Divorce, also

While same-sex marriage has been in the news lately, many religious leaders have been public about their opposition to it. The Bible is very clear that the act of homosexuality is a sin. As President Mohler states, the Bible also forbids many other sins including divorce. In his article on CNN, he ends with this admission:

"The church failed miserably in the face of the challenge of divorce. This requires an honest admission and strong corrective.
At the same time, this painful failure must remind us that we must not fail to answer rightly when asked what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. Love requires us to tell the truth." (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/21/my-take-the-bible-condemns-a-lot-but-heres-why-we-focus-on-homosexuality/)

Today, while perusing the headlines, I came across one that caught my eye. "'Should I Divorce?' 10 Ways To Tell If Your Marriage Is Over" was posted on Huffington Post's website. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/should-i-divorce_n_1542985.html) In reading this article, all 10 things, except for #5 "One of you cheats", occurs in most, if not all, marriages. For example, item 6 is that there is selfishness in the marriage. Duh! Every marriage is made up of two incredibly sinful sinners. If you ever spend much time in a nursery, you will learn quickly that no one needs to teach kids to be selfish. It is bred into them from the start. We spend the rest of our lives trying to control our selfishness and think of others before ourselves. Thus, every marriage will have selfishness involved in it. Should society tell them to throw in the towel just because one of the spouses is selfish? NO, no, a thousand times NO!!!

But this article says that this is a sign of a marriage that is not worth saving. Thank goodness for the comments. If anyone bothers to read the comments, they would find many people pushing back and calling this article "Bull", "silly article", and "PSY101 nonsense". Unfortunately, most will not. They will take the article at face value. Marriage is hard work but the blessings that come from it are unmeasurable. Our society has turned marriage into a commodity that can be accepted or discarded at the whims of the participants. (Huffington Post also has an article "You've Decided To Leave Your Spouse -- Now What?" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-gordon/youve-decided-to-leave-yo_b_1547142.html?ref=topbar that tells you what to do when you will split with your spouse).

Divorce is a symptom of a society with an over-active consumer mentality. "I want what I want and when I do not get it, I will go find it." Instead, the Bible tells us to be content with what we have (Philippians 4:11-12; Hebrews 13:5), love God first and love others before ourselves (Matthew 22:34 - 40). These verses, taken to heart by both spouses, would fix 9 out of the 10 items listed in the article (and it would do a lot to take care of infidelity as well). As Christians, we could condemn divorce. I think a better approach is to foster better marriages, both before they happen and after.

The Bible speaks against homosexuality as well as divorce. Christians need to speak against both when given a chance.

Am I becoming a Molinist?

The debate between Calvinism and Arminianism has been with the church since the early 17^th century. Part of the reason is because the whole problem revolves around trying to fit our feeble finite minds around the attributes of God. On the other hand, God did give us minds to use in our learning about who God is.

Ever since I heard about the 5 points of Calvinism through TULIP, I struggled with see how that fits with the full Biblical account. There are parts of that formulation that are hard for me to accept with the commands to us on how to live and choose Christ. On the other hand, the other side of the debate is equally as unsatisfactory to me in how it deals with the election references.

One of the things that I dislike about this debate is the “us-them” mentality. Case in point: In my Church History class, we were talking about Arminius and the Synod of Dort. One of my classmates asked a question about Arminius. She started out saying “I grew up with believing what I believe is Arminianism. I am now a Calvinist so nobody freak out!” I turned to someone sitting next to me and said “Like there is anything wrong with not believing in Calvinism?”  There are orthodox views that stress man’s free will like the Arminianists do and there are orthodox views that stress God’s providence like the Calvinists do.

For many years, I thought they were the only games in town. You either were one or the other. In Philosophy class, we learned about some views between the two sides. Luis Molina proposed one of these around the time of Arminius: Middle Knowledge. While I am in no means an expert, this view intrigues me and resonates with me in how it deals with the struggles that I have be wrestling for a long time.

Here is a summary (taken from Salvation and Sovereignty by Kenneth Keathley from Southeastern Seminary):

1. God has what is called natural knowledge. This is the knowledge of all necessary truths in all possible worlds. For example: the number 3 will exist, a triangle has 3 sides …
2. God also has what is called free knowledge. This is the knowledge of everything in this world. For example, I will have blue eyes and like to play golf.
3. Molina proposed that God has middle knowledge. That is the knowledge of what people (actually, it is more generic by using the term “free creatures”) will decide to do in each and every circumstance.

This breaks up God’s omniscience into 3 logical parts (not set in time). God’s will to make our world is set between the middle knowledge and the free knowledge parts. Thus, God knows all of the worlds that He can create (Natural). In all of those worlds, He knows what free people will do in each situation (Middle). Then He chooses which world to create to accomplish His plan, our current world. In this world, he knows all that will happen (Free). With this concept, God preordains those that will be saved and those that will not without any merit on our part. This is done, though, without removing the freedom that we as humans seem to enjoy to make right and wrong choices.

The more that I am reading about this, the more I am agreeing with it. There are many questions and difficulties with this view but this seems more plausible than the other alternatives. I liked the quote that William Lane Craig said at the end of the chapter on Molinism in his book Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom: “Indeed, the account which middle knowledge affords of God’s Providence is so compelling and intellectually satisfying, as well as biblically unobjectionable, that I am inclined to regard this doctrine as true.” I do not think I am there yet as I have not studied this enough. So far, I am starting to see why people are inclined to this view and I will continue to look into this view.

Conviction from Pilgrim's Progress

This week is Fall Break at school. During this break, I have been trying to catch up with my schoolwork (namely my Greek). In addition, I decided to read The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. It is not the easiest reads because of the old English style in which it was written.

That being said, there is a reason why this book has been so widely read. The book reads a sa history of a pilgrim named Christian as he tries to walk in the way (according to the commands of God). Bunyan wrote with great insight into the human journey through this world and thus there are parts in this book that deal with whatever situation the reader is in.

For me, I had just had a bad day where some of my old sins got a hold of me (again). As Providence would have it, I read about the encounter with Talkative, a character in the book that likes to talk about things instead of doing. One like in that section convicted me hard this week. Talkative asks "What difference is there between crying out against, and abhorring of Sin?" The character Faithful replys "Oh! a great deal: A man may cry out against Sin, of policy, but he cannot abhor it but by virtue of a godly antipathy against it". Not only do you need to talk the talk, but you need to walk the walk as well. Unfortunately, I failed at this this week and need to confess my error.

One other note, in this section, they tied the dietary laws of Lev. 11 and Deut. 14 to this part of human nature and God's command against it. Both of these passages give the distinction between clean and unclean land animals: "Whatever parts the hoof and it cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat." Lev. 11:3. The chapter goes on to say that they need both to do the right thing with their mouth AND have the right type of feet; having just one is not enough. The application is that Christians need to use our mouths correctly and have the right feet. We need to be able to talk to people about what is right but we also must be able to put it into practice. I had never thought of it that way before.

Now, if only someone could tell me why we cannot boil a young goat in its mother's milk (Deut 14:21b).

Timely Message in Chapel today

For the past week and a half, I have been pondering one concept: the nature of predestination. It is clear that predestination is a doctrine that is taught in the Bible but there is very little that is included about the nature of it. My mind was stuck in the nihilism that results from humans not having any impact on our eternal destination. Taking this to the extreme (and I am NOT recommending this!!!), why should we bother living a good life if God has our life mapped out? Someone may respond that God commands us to spread the Gospel. My reply is that I cannot effect the eternal residence of myself, let alone someone else. Thus, God will make it happen without me. God says he is preparing a place for us in heaven. Even if my place is under the bridges in heaven, it is better than in Hell. And since I cannot determine where I go, why suffer pain, hardship, and disappointment in this life? While I do not hold to this belief myself, I am trying to be ready to answer objections to this belief.

I was very encouraged by the chapel message today by one of the professors here at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS - it reminds me of "The Ohio State Buckeyes" when NFL players say where they went to college). The text was Galatians 6:7-8.  

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (ESV)

The sowing is obviously our choices that we make in our lives. At first, I thought that the reaping is the consequences in our life but since the "good" result is eternal life, that must mean the reaping is the final judgment. That puts a different spin on things. The speaker also did a good job of saying that this is in Galatians, the book about grace. Does this text contradict the doctrine of grace? No. Grace saves but doing good works is evidence of the grace of God in your life. If we do not clean out the sin in our lives, we will not be saved (see Gal 5:19-21)

Sometimes we get caught up in our own squabbles and use arguments that may go to far. For me, this made sure I did not get lost in the fatalism that I was pondering. The Bible says we are predestined but it also says that from the perspective of humans, it is an active choice to trust Jesus or not. While this did not resolve the original question in my mind, it pointed out that the Bible uses the language of both sides of this debate.

Starting out on a new Adventure

I thought I would start a blog to put some of my thoughts down. I am not sure if anyone would be interested in them or not but I wanted to start a journal of the different things I will be considering through out my life and, currently, my life in seminary. I am not sure how often I will be posting but my goal is once a week.

To start out, I took my first Greek test this week. I did not do as well as I could have but that is the life in seminary: learning to balance your life. My wife and two boys come before school. I know that may sound backwards but during orientation, one of the Deans of my school said "For some of you, it will be a sin if you do not get an A. For others of you, it will be a sin IF you get an A."

Two more tests next week so we will see how they go.