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Does God
like Sport?
In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth … and God saw all that he
had made and it was very good. Genesis 1:1, 31
On a
summer’s evening in Gothenburg in 1995 Jonathan Edwards prepared to jump in
the World Championship Triple Jump final. As a world-class triple-jumper,
Jonathan had a decent chance of a medal. What happened was unbelievable.
He won the gold medal but that was not all. He jumped 18.16 metres to set a
new world record. Then with his next jump, he shattered his own world
record with a jump of 18.29.
As a Christian, Jonathan gives thanks to
God for the moment but how does God see it? Is God pleased with Jonathan?
If you want
to know the biblical view of adultery, it is not difficult to find it. God
has said it is wrong. In the Ten Commandments you read, ‘You shall not
commit adultery’ (Exodus 20:14). The same message is reiterated
repeatedly throughout the Bible. In any concordance or Bible dictionary,
you can find another fifty verses, which condemn adultery. It is a clear cut
issue.
In order to work out God’s view of sport
we have to take clear Biblical principles and apply them to sport, in the
same way as we would need to do with a host of human activities.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible and contains in the first two
chapters the magnificent account of the creation of the world. God is the
creator of every single thing in his world, which the story pronounces over
and over again “was good”! This writing is meant to evoke praise and awe! If
we understand this our attitude to God will be transformed. We will realise
that we must worship in all things and at all times.
So did God
create sport? The answer is yes and no! Of course God did not create sport
- people did. It wasn’t God who picked up the football at Rugby School and
with it invented the game of rugby. The historical evidence suggests that
it wasn’t William Webb Ellis either but that is another story. God did not
create the games we play. Yet it was God who created people and made them
able to run, jump, kick and catch. Sport is simply organized play in which
we can use these talents God has given us.
Two wrong views of sport have often surfaced
in the Christian church. From the time of the Puritans in the sixteen and
seventeenth centuries onwards some Christians have strongly discouraged any
involvement in sport. This has been either because the activity was felt to
be of itself sinful or because of sin associated with sport. That the
environment of sport was predominantly non-Christian, often associated with
drinking and gambling as well as provoking an aggressive and competitive
spirit, was enough to convince many Christians to steer well clear of it.
The other
inadequate view of sport is to see sport purely as a tool for evangelism.
It is OK for the Christian to play sport but only in order to evangelize.
The activity has no value of itself.
It is true
that the world of sport can be a very godless place: but can’t all aspects
of life be like this? As an activity in which we can use the gifts and
abilities God has give us, sport is as valuable and significant as any other
human activity. Further, it is absolutely true that within the world of
sport that there are many opportunities for evangelism – which we should
grasp with both hands – but that is not our sole justification for playing
sport. Playing sport is as legitimate as any other human activity.
What then
is the answer to the question with which we started: Is God pleased with
Jonathan when uses his body to leap further than anyone has ever done
before? Our answer is a qualified yes. God created Jonathan and gave him
the ability to run and jump – not to mention hopping and stepping.
God does
not love Jonathan any more on a day he wins than on a day he loses. As
Jonathan has put it,
“the fact that the human body can jump 18m 29 is
testimony to what a great creator God we serve. But I think it is more in
the way I come across as I win or as I lose, and in my attitude to my fellow
competitors, that God is glorified than in the actual distances that I
jump”.
If, as
Jonathan uses these talents his attitude is above all to please the God who
made him, then God can rejoice in this particular aspect of his creation.
And, of course, the fact that we use a high profile example here does not
restrict this principle to well known athletes, but is applicable to all of
us who have sporting gifts.
Graham
Daniels and Stuart Weir
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