Football "investment will pay dividends for generations because it will shine a light on our core mission to train champions for Christ"

In whatever we think, say and do there is a spirit at work. What ever we approve of is based on spiritual understanding or complete lack of it.

”In football, beauty, violence and sex are mixed. The game is beautiful to watch in replay – there is violence in almost every play and then they cut to half-naked dancing girls shaking pom-poms. It’s a uniquely American television spectacle”.

”It’s all about aggression – that’s the essence of football. If there were no rules these guys would just kill each other. Two teams face each other on the line of scrimmage and try to move into their opponents’ territory. It’s like a battlefront – trench warfare without weapons. All the rules – offside, penalties, motion rules and passing rules – make it complex but the essence of it is very simple: We’re going to go as far as we can toward a goal and you’re trying to stop us”.

Is the above quote in any way related to the Holy Spirit?

”Champions for Messiah”? show me where or show me how that this could be the case.

So now we are debating whether or not football is “Christian”?

I was privileged to play football at both a Lutheran high school and a Bible college, and learned more life lessons from each than I have yet to put into practice.

As someone said, more than any other sport, football is the game that is identified with and explains the success of America. I think it also teaches many things about the Christian life.

One thing I have to say for Liberty – when they do something, they do it all out. Another lesson from football :)

Sports like football are loved by the world. The sports men become idols and so do the teams. If the amount of money spent on sport in America was diverted to the homeless and the hungry it would be a far better investment. If the energy used on the field were like directed it would be a testimony indeed.

”Do not love the world or the things in the world”. I suppose I’ll now be accused of twisting scripture.

I for one am not accusing you of anything. I have some dear friends who can’t stand football either. However, I could not sign on to your application of that Scripture, or to your logic about sports. The hypotheticals you raise are, I’m afraid, quite unlikely to occur, so I’m not sure that’s really part of the equation, either.

BTW - What is the source of the quotes about football in your first post. Did I miss something in the Liberty story??

[Huw]

Sports like football are loved by the world.

…

”Do not love the world or the things in the world”. I suppose I’ll now be accused of twisting scripture.

• Coca Cola is the world’s most popular beverage. Source. The world loves Coke!
• It is my favorite beverage. I love Coke!
• Therefore I must be worldly!
• I invite everyone to agree with me! Retro (1971) commercial. (Watching it may make one thirsty … and worldly!)

There is nothing impure in what we eat and drink. But there is a damnable impurity in idolatry.

I’ve been checking some facts this evening and discovered the spend on sports in the US in 2012 is $435 billion. That is without the waste man hours of time spent watching it. It’s equivalent to the GDP of a dozen small/medium African countries. Redeeming the time?

I find it strange that you would want to mock the scriptures in this way, but I’m not surprised that you do.

When I’m researching something I just cut and paste notes and where they come from I don’t know most of the time. I’m sure the author was quoting someone who said something that they had over heard…etc.

It’s not that I can’t stand sports. Before I was saved I loved everything the world had to offer, but as Paul says the old is gone and all things become new. I can say without fear of contradiction that once I received grace I began to hate the things I once loved, and loved the things I once hated. I found it strange at first because people in the churches and chapels were telling me to carry on and do the things I was being saved or delivered from. All my life I was competitive, but once I was saved I found I didn’t need or want to be first.

My father died yesterday and I was thinking about him and what went on between us. When I was 14yrs old he asked me what I wanted to do in life and I replied anything to do with fly fishing. He lost it completely, which was a default emotion for him, and screamed that fly fishing was a hobby and that men needed a ”job”.

When he developed cancer a number of years ago I wanted to spend some time with him and so took up fly fishing again after many, many years. It was the only thing he enjoyed and so after a lot of prayer and soul searching I equipped myself with the best equipment and off we went. Three years into this while we were having lunch one day my father suggested that I become a professional fly fisherman/guide.

It was 38 years to late, because now I wouldn’t want to win the competitions and see others disappointed.

Thanks for your reply.

So sorry to hear of the loss of your father.