BJU latest to join NCCAA

Three cheers from a BJU alumnus, and an active “jock” when in college!

If college is preparing a student for life, then life involves working and living with people outside of the Baptist bubble. Intercollegiates sports can be a great part of that preparation. I believe they should also play against some secular university teams as well if ever given the opportunities.

This a great move by the leadership of BJU.

I will be in the Greenville area next week and am tempted to stop by there and shake some hands :)

That a bigger stadium will be a Bible Conference offering soon…j/k.

I think it’s great for the students. Develop some unity and pride.

“The new intercollegiate program and now membership in the NCCAA will provide opportunities for our students, players, coaches and supporters to develop and display Christ-like character, both on and off the field.”

That quote from the BJU news release mirrors what many of us have heard and believe about the value of the involvement in sports related to Christian character. But is it correct?

David Brooks, in a recent http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/opinion/brooks-the-jeremy-lin-problem…] op-ed in The New York Times, challenges the congruity of Christianity and sports - especially as it relates to professional athletes and as it relates to Jeremy Lin. He writes

The moral ethos of sport is in tension with the moral ethos of faith… . The modern sports hero is competitive and ambitious… .He puts himself on display.

He is assertive, proud and intimidating. He makes himself the center of attention when the game is on the line. His identity is built around his prowess. His achievement is measured by how much he can elicit the admiration of other people — the roar of the crowd and the respect of ESPN… . But there’s no use denying — though many do deny it — that this ethos violates the religious ethos on many levels. The religious ethos is about redemption, self-abnegation and surrender to God.

The theory about the benefits of sports involvement for Christians as it is expressed by BJU and the NCCAA (and many others including myself) is perhaps a theory rooted in the apostle Paul’s use of sports metaphors related to the Christian life. However, it seems Paul’s purpose was to use something people could identify with as a means of aiding their understanding of what he was writing rather than for the purpose of encouraging them to participate in athletics in order to improve their Christianity or further their testimony.

The article by Brooks is an interesting read in its entirety.

You could argue against capitalism as well.

It all depends on the purpose of your endeavor into sports or business. If it is to glorify God and to further his kingdom, then being aggressive for success so your testimony can be put on a platform heard by millions could be admirable.

being aggressive for success so your testimony can be put on a platform heard by millions could be admirable.

Who would admire you for doing that? Would God?

Brooks is talking about professional athletics, and is (I believe) mostly correct. But the gap between NCCAA and professional athletics is substantial.

“The roar of the crowd and the respect of ESPN”? NCCAA? We had more fans come watch us compete in high school — in high school, our parents were all local so some of them would come to our track meets.

[JG] Brooks is talking about professional athletics, and is (I believe) mostly correct. But the gap between NCCAA and professional athletics is substantial.

“The roar of the crowd and the respect of ESPN”? NCCAA? We had more fans come watch us compete in high school — in high school, our parents were all local so some of them would come to our track meets.

Oakland City University, a General Baptist college, has dual membership in the NCAA and NCCAA. OCU’s basketball schedule this season included pick-up games with Butler University played before several thousand people at Hinkle Fieldhouse, and tiny Heritage Baptist College, Franklin, IN. I would not dismiss the idea of BJU getting invited by a mid-major team. Pick-up games have no affect on national rankings.

[Brenda T]

being aggressive for success so your testimony can be put on a platform heard by millions could be admirable.

Who would admire you for doing that? Would God?

Possibly. If it’s to glorify God then, yes. if it’s to glorify self, then no.

The life of the apostle Paul runs contrary to that author’s opinion. Paul was very tenacious. he used the athletic metaphor because he could relate to an athlete’s drive. His goal was to be scene and heard by as many people as possible, i.e. Mars Hill, because his message was that important. He took advantage of his Roman citizenship to be placed in front of the world’s leaders of that time. He desired to use any righteous method that would proclaim God’s glory.

“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

Yes, the apostle Paul was tenacious — about preaching the gospel, not elevating himself in order to have a platform for preaching the gospel. His goal was to preach Christ crucified, buried, and resurrected even though that resulted in beatings, imprisonment, etc. Consider how he characterized himself to the Corinthians. He wrote “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake… We are weak… in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless… When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things” (1 Cor. 4:9-13).

Paul spoke on Mars Hill after “some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers … took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus” and asked him to further explain what he had been saying in the synagogue (Acts 17:18-20). He was taken there by others; he did not assert himself as someone who should be given that platform. But, once there, he preached the gospel.

And, as far as what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 8-10, Paul was referring to things he was willing to give up for the sake of sharing the gospel. He went so far as to say “I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble (8:13).

So, yes, Paul was tenacious about preaching the gospel. However, that tenacity had nothing to do with elevating himself in the eyes of others in order to gain a hearing. He didn’t try to become the best, most famous, most successful tent-maker in the Roman Empire in order to gain a hearing with the populace. He didn’t use his career as a platform for his message. He simply preached his message wherever anyone happened to be and regardless of the size, or friendliness, of his audience.