Does God intervene in sports? Should Christians pray about football? How does Christianity relate to athletics? Brett answers this week’s challenge:
Challenge Response: Does God Care About Sports?
Posted: February 9, 2012 by Brett Kunkle in Weekly ChallengeComments
STR Place Blog 
Nice answer, Brett. That was my thinking. The Steelers logo get taken down from your computer screen (by God perhaps). All for His glory.
You’re lucky to have so many willing kids.
Sam, who says they’re willing?
Hi Brett,
While I can’t speak for anyone else I didn’t comment when the question was posed because I really don’t care about sports or the results thereof, sacrilege?. Furthermore when I see people like Tebow (or whatever his name is) carry on like that in public all it does is remind me of Mathew 6:5 “”When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners and in the football fields and on the TV so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”
Just my 2c. 😉
Jack, thanks for commenting here! Two thoughts. First, even if you don’t personally have an interest in sports, as a believer you ought to be concerned about the larger issue of how a Christian worldview informs all areas of our lives (including sports). Yes, I think there is a Christian view of sports, just like there is a Christian view of science and psychology and politics and entertainment, etc., etc. On a worldview level, you ought to care.
Second, the admonition in Matthew 6:5 does not preclude all public prayers, just those that are offered in a hypocritical manner for the purpose of being seen by others. Otherwise, we’d have to rule out praying at a restaurant, at a graduation ceremony, or any prayer done with or in the company of others, because those prayers are offered publicly and not done in our private prayer closet. I did a lot of research on Tim Tebow for a talk I gave last Friday night and the evidence clearly shows he does not “carry on” and pray in order to bring glory to himself. He’s actually pretty cool brother-in-Christ.
Thanks Brett,
Of course I agree, there is a Christian view of sports, and if I’m actually playing any particular sport then I do so in the fairest most honest way possible, which of course flows naturally from who I am in Christ rather than just acting in some way I think I should because I’m a Christian and should set some kind of example, if you get my drift. And I while I understand the role of spectator sports in distracting and entertaining the masses while providing a culture of tribalism that may have some importance for some people I stand by comments that it really doesn’t matter to me. While I appreciate your interpretation of Matthew 6:5 I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree to disagree on that point. Though I also have to confess that I don’t understand prayer very well either, I’ve only been a believer for 30 years so while I have spent a lot of time studying prayer I still have a long way to go in figuring it out. So on your second point there may be a chance of me shifting my position in the future.
Cheers
Jack
(BTW I never meant to imply that your buddy wasn’t a ‘cool guy’ 🙂 )