Title: Life at the Crossroads: Perspectives on Some Areas of Public Life Sports and Competition
1Life at the Crossroads Perspectives on Some
Areas of Public LifeSports and Competition
- Living at the Crossroads
- Chapter 9
2Sports as waste of time
- World negating gospel leads to a degraded view of
sport - Among the various things we can relax with,
athletics are low on the scale of demonstrable
significance (Christianity Today).
3Sports as creational gift
- World negating gospel leads to a degraded view of
sport - Gospel of the kingdom leads to
- Seeing sport as gift of creation
- To be received with thanksgiving
- God made me fast. When I run I feel his
pleasure. . . . its not just fun. To win is to
honor him (Eric Liddell).
4Sports Rooted in Creation
- How created us as human beings
- Cultural calling He gave to enrich our lives
5Rooted in who we are . . .
- As social creatures
- As imaginative creatures
- Sport part of our artistic and imaginative
impulse (Giammatti) or aesthetic potential
(Holmes). - Sports feed a deep hunger (Novak) because
of the way God made us.
6Rooted in the task God has given us
- Genesis 126-28 215
- Formative power to explore, discover, develop
potential of creation in diverse ways - Sports one cultural product
7Gods Good Gift of Competition
- Morally wrong because it pits one . . . against
another in rivalry . . . - Basic ingredient of sport
-
- Martin Zuidema
8Competition is . . .
- Based on co-operation not rivalry
- Co-operative agreement on goals, rules, and
obstacles of game - Co-operative agreement to contest one another for
mutual enjoyment
Obstacles provide hindrances which prevent the
player from using the most efficient way of
accomplishing the goal. The joy in the game is
in creating tactics to overcome the obstacles and
accomplish the goal (Frey et. al.).
9An opponent is . . .
- Not first of all a rival
- Loving neighbor who provides opportunity for more
delightful experience of sport by providing stiff
competition
. . . competition can bring out co-operation,
celebration, respect, and even love (Zuidema).
10Destructive Potential of Competition
- Very powerful impulse
- Twisted by sin
- Need to discern healthy competition
- Opponent neighbor in image of God
- Treated with love, dignity, respect, and
appreciation
11Unhealthy Competition
- I dont care who Im playing. I want to win
more than they do. (Quote in Olympic Tower,
Sydney) - Intimidation is the key. You can have the
other beaten before they hit the water. (Quote
in Olympic Tower, Sydney) -
- Winning isnt everything it is the only
thing. (Vince Lombardi) -
- To play this game you must have fire in you,
and there is nothing that stokes fire like hate.
(Vince Lombardi)
12Two Conditions if Sports is to be Good
- One sound in the symphony of creation
13Sports as One Sound in the Symphony of Creation
- Sports and competition have their own sound
- One valid (good) God-given activity alongside of
others
14One Sound in the Symphony
- Attempts to justify sports by a more noble
utilitarian purpose - Sports needs no justification
- Does not need to be justified because it
- Brings physical fitness
- Provides refreshment for work
- Builds character and self-discipline etc.
- Essentially sport has no purpose at all it is
an end in itself . . . its possible uses are
incidental like art, religion, and friendship
(Edward Shaughnessy).
15Sports as One Sound in the Symphony of Creation
- Sports and competition have their own sound
- Harmony with other sounds in creation
- Play suffers when other aspects weakened
- Other aspects weakened when play suffers
16Two Dangers
- When sound of play and leisure is too weak
- May be caused by
- Sacred/secular dualism
- Body/soul dualism
- . . . games are of the body, and thus of a lower
order than things of the spirit (Wilson).
17Two Dangers
- When sound of play and leisure is too weak
- When sound of play and leisure is too loud
- Hedonism Sports is the fastest growing religion
in America (Prebish) - Pursuing pleasure we lose the gift of joy (Our
World Belongs to God)
18Two Conditions if Athletics is to be Good
- One part of the symphony of creation
- Conforming to Gods design
19Conforming to Gods Creational Design
- Conforming to Gods creational design
- Wisdom Divine and human
- Identifying how sin has corrupted it
- Looking for healing ways to allow it again to
conform to Gods design
20Contribution of Scholarship
- . . . academic inquiry into what is going on
during leisure time is both legitimate and
important. It can be helpful in deepening,
enriching, and broadening our critical insight
into recreational practices. . . . it can also
help in correcting and reforming this dimension
of life (Spykman).
21Delighting in Gift of Sports
- Athletes know the beauty of intensity of
effort, the motivation of pursuit of goals, the
feeling and being of fitness, the expressiveness
of movement, the creativity of play, the
excitement of total involvement, and the joy of
sport (Zuidema).
22Delighting in Gods Good Gift of Competitive
Sports
- Emotional intensity
- Thrill of victory, agony of defeat
- Way out of proportion with importance
- Absorbed intensely and utterly in serious pursuit
of non-serious activity (Huizinga, Frey) - Joy, emotional vibrancy spills into life
- Play relativizes our over-seriousness toward
life, filling us with a spirit of joy and delight
that carries over into all aspects of our
existence (Johnstone)
23Delighting in Gods Good Gift of Competitive
Sports
- Emotional intensity
- Physical satisfaction
- Social bonding
- Aesthetic enjoyment
- Religious deepening
24Sport and Competition Matter
- Nothing matters but the kingdom ...
- but because of the kingdom everything matters
- Treasures of sound, healthy sports
- The treasures of the nations will go into the
new Jerusalem. Among those treasures . . . is
good, sound, healthy leisure (Spykman).