Chapter 9. SportsIn 1955, NBC broadcast the World Series for the first time. There is an incredibly high interest in sports (even on many Christian based television channels). It is considered by many to be good, clean fun and hardly anything to get upset about. We need to look at the underlying teaching that is going on with regard to the various things we watch on TV. We need to open our minds and hearts and, in all honesty, determine what preoccupation with sports on TV (or in real life) feeds us.I was very pleased to find the website of Raymond Lloyd Richmond, PhD, out of San Francisco, CA. It is an enormous site and it covers all sorts of aspects of the Christian walk from a psychological/mystical/Catholic point of view. I shared some of the site with my wife and we enjoyed his view of sports. It hit the nail right on the head5. I will share his thinking now, from his site on the Internet: "Our Christian walk is about giving love to the world. God gives His love to us and we must give His love to others.
1Pe 3:8 And finally, all be of one mind, having compassion on one another, loving the brothers, tenderhearted, friendly."We cannot give love (the genuine agape love of Christ) in the spirit of competition and anxiety.
1Co 13:4 Charity has patience, is kind; charity is not envious, is not vain, is not puffed up;"In today's world," says Dr. Richmond, from his website, "sports have become a ubiquitous cultural institution, and so, on the surface, it may seem that sports are all for 'fun' and that they teach 'fair play.' Nevertheless, their underlying values derive from the ancient Greek pagan adoration of strength, prowess, and human glory. When parents kill each other over arguments about children's sports, you know something is seriously wrong; so just imagine the corruption underlying organized amateur and professional sports. Do you think you will find in sports any hint of holiness? Any hint of humility? Our cultural adoration of sports teaches us instead to put our trust in power, mastery, and competitive strategy—and to kill, whip, trounce, or trample anyone who gets in our way. And all of this sportsmanlike frenzy stands completely opposed to Christian values." It glorifies the flesh.
Gal 5:26 Let us not become glory-seeking, provoking one another, envying one another."Saint Paul, moreover, who clearly understood the truth about Christian life, had no use for puffing up his ego by boasting about a favorite sports team:
2Co 12:9 And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may overshadow me.
"Now Paul, in his attempt to become 'all things to all' (1 Corinthians 9:22) for the sake of preaching the gospel, used the metaphor of 'running the race' (1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Hebrews 12:1) to illustrate the virtues of discipline and perseverance in grace. But if you read his words carefully you will realize that, in contrast to the vain, perishable prize of human glory sought by athletes, he sought the eternal, imperishable crown of God's glory. If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote a cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports. By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (2289) "The truth is, if you learn to love others as God loves us, it will simply break your heart to compete with anyone for any reason. And until you do learn this kind of love, and as long as you cling to the illusions of your own athletic prowess, you will be like the rich man who walked away from Christ. Whereas Christ demanded self-sacrifice, the rich man wanted to go for the gold." God and His miracles can appear anywhere. Mighty miracles can occur on the playing field, on a basketball court or hockey court. God can appear wherever a prayer is prayed and wherever a heart opens up to Him. But the general tone of sports seems to leave God in the lurch. What value is there in spending so much time watching sports? When you choose to quit watching it, replace it with prayer. Do not be afraid to allow some void to come into your heart as initially your mind will be craving your addiction to the games. Let God's Holy Spirit fill that void, which is left in your heart, when you give up sports or TV in general. God will change your life and make a way for you to have a great time with your new interest: prayer. Hopefully, if you'll stick with prayer in place of sports for three months, you'll never want to go back to sports to "kill time" again. When you begin to know the truth (as Jesus told us in the word), you will feel the large TV icicles, formed when all these decisions were made to watch TV, begin to melt. Videotape is introduced by Ampex Corp. in 1956. The three networks place orders for the recorders. This enables east coast evening news to be taped and fed to the west coast channels three hours later. Suddenly the entire continent was seeing Douglas Edwards broadcast the news at the same time in all the time zones. Video tape recorders later became available to consumers and I jumped for joy, once I was able to record my favorite shows, then play them back at my convenience. The moment they became available, I had to have one. I bought one for around $700 (wholesale) through a record and tape distributor that I worked for in the early 80s. It could record one event in 24 hours. I was in TV heaven, able to rent movies without needing to cart the player home any longer (as we used to do when renting movies first became a business). Our minds belong to Christ and Him only. I am saddened when I think of all the time I devoted to TV, in my younger days. I sold my soul to it and, over time, it gave me nothing in return. Our minds have a tendency to remember how we have been hurt, slighted, misjudged, and put down. We, on our own, have the ability to re-play these events in our minds. Sometimes, this can get out of hand as we re-play an event, giving it much higher precedence than we should, even throwing our lives out of balance by our obsession with it. Man seems to have the ability to create anything his mind is capable of imagining—hence the development of the video tape and recorder. Now, anything we like on TV can be recorded, kept, and re-played over and over again. Our minds, however, belong to Christ. It is He we should be focusing on, it is He we should be listening to, it is His wisdom we should be allowing to flow through us, to permeate this dark and cold world with His love. Can we get the picture? Paul said:
Phi 4:8 Finally, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things. (MKJV)Paul didn't say, "One day you will have a device that will enable you to record and play back anything you want to on your TV. Make sure you record anything that tickles your fancy and play it back often. It is an invention that God gave you and you may use it as often as you like, even forsaking prayer time. God will understand your preoccupation." God has given us free will. The world has enslaved our free will. With every device that draws us deeper into the world's clutches, it appears our Father drifts further away from us until, alas, it appears He is nowhere around…and we're alone with our devices, our entertainments, our diversions. But it isn't our Father who is drifting from us. It is we who drift from Him. Our free will appears to be satisfied as we march through this world, enjoying its temporary delights, but every one of these carnal delights eventually leads to depression and wailing and gnashing of teeth (just like hell). Not one enticement of this earth will ever lead you to the personal peace and joy that Jesus Christ gives us. To know Jesus Christ, you have to spend time with Him. Just as with any friendship, you must develop it and nurture it. Our wills are free to embrace the world and its goodies OR Christ and His true freedom. We can't have both as is attested in a previous verse I quoted, Matthew 6:24. "But," you say, "I've tried sitting still and praying to God. I just can't get into it. It is kind of boring, sitting there. All these other thoughts come to me and I can't control them." Will you observe what is true for you and share it honestly with the Holy Spirit? Will you attempt to pray (even if you don't feel like it or don't know how)? Will you ask God's Holy Spirit to help you pray? Don't expect instant results. Just take the time to want to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to pray through you, and relax and let it happen. Start with 15 or 30 minutes a day. That's all. Devote it to God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us. He is also known as the Comforter. As you pray, be comforted and assured. You are God's child once you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. He has promised that He will not leave you comfortless. You have tainted your heart and mind with all the choices you have made to watch TV so much, for most of your life. Now you must persistently desire that past incorrect choices be eliminated from your mind and heart. God will work with you to purify your heart. Is it worth it? Oh, my, yes! Doors will begin to open for you as you pray correctly. Stick with it. Do not let the world pull you back down into its dark chasms and evil ways. Walk with the Lord as He stills the storm raging in your mind. Allow Him full charge in your life. He's not just all the people in the world's Savior. He is your very own personal Savior. In 1960, 90% of all homes in the US have television sets. Did we see this coming? Do we really want to continue to invite this one-eyed monster into our homes? This monster is really a very unholy marriage between production companies and advertisers. We are the experiment. We are the ones who respond to the ads favorably, thereby keeping this unholy marriage so healthy. Perhaps it would be possible to set aside a week of abstinence from TV. Just say NO to it. Do you start to get nervous just thinking about doing that? "What if a big disaster happens during the week, how will I know what is going on?" you ask. Let's talk about disasters and TV. Do they really tell you what is going on?
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