OK, so I just got done watching Michael Vick’s statement that he gave after entering his guilty plea on federal dog-fighting charges and shock of all shocks, he played the religion card. You know what? I just don’t care any more. He said that he had found Jesus and that he was turning his life over to God. How novel a concept. I am not impressed.
Professional athletes are self-righteous, self-promoting spoiled brats, that’s not exactly earth-shattering news, but isn’t anybody else getting tired of how once they go pro, many athletes soon become caricatures of Christians? Can’t there be a requirement that before a pro athlete is allowed to invoke the name of God in a press conference and/or interview, he must have read the Bible and passed a comprehension test? Does anybody really buy the religious fervor that these self-indulgent money making machines display? How many people really believe it when one of these guys says that they ‘have to give all the glory to the Lord’? How many times have we all heard that very line? And this coming from the guy who has a different car for each day of the week, a closet full of $10,000 suits and a $5,000 plasma TV in every room of his $10 million mansion. Yeah, that’s the way to live in Christ’s image! Of course there are exceptions like Reggie White, who became an ordained minister and spent nearly all his free time doing charitable works. But as we all know, what do exceptions do? They prove the rule.
How many times are we going to hear how God or Jesus, or in really big games, both, need to be thanked for watching over the athlete who is speaking. “And first, I want to thank God, because without him, none of this would have happened.” Really? Your ego is so inflated as to think that God (giving your professed belief the benefit of the doubt) is concerned with YOUR individual success? If you truly believe in God, then you must believe he is a fair and just God – SO WHY WASN’T HE WATCHING OVER THE OTHER TEAM??????? (And don’t try and tell me that you are speaking in the larger sense and that you are just thanking him for creating the world, that’s NOT what you mean!) Isn’t it kind of antithetical to one of the basic tenets of Christianity, you know, that one about God being a fair and just God, to think that he would be rooting for one team or that he would do anything to influence the outcome? If you want to thank him for you keeping you safe and free from injury, I guess that’s okay, but what about the players who did get hurt, did they just not pray hard enough?
If that’s not un-Christian enough, wouldn’t that also technically be ‘taking the Lord’s name in vain’? Maybe not in the way most people think of it (cursing/swearing) but it could be a more literal interpretation of what that actually means. I am certainly no Bible scholar, but it seems to me that using God’s name to promote one’s own athletic prowess (self-promotion is certainly vanity) is just as much ‘taking the Lord’s name in vain’ as somebody saying ‘God damn it’ or ‘Jesus-fucking-Christ’. It may not be as offensive to sensitive ears and eyes, but is it not just as vain?
So, why should I believe Vick when he says that he has turned his life over and will become a new man? I don’t, at least not yet – I hate to end a rant about how cliché professional athletes are by using a cliché, but I think it’s very fitting here; actions speak louder than words, Michael, show the world how you’ve become a changed man, don’t just throw around the words ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ and expect people to just forgive you for your actions, SHOW people how sorry you are. Anybody can say the right words, but it takes the right person to SHOW that they gave their all to become a better person.
Speaking of clichés in sports, I sure hope he doesn’t have to give a hundred and ten percent, but we’ll save that for another time….
Professional athletes are self-righteous, self-promoting spoiled brats, that’s not exactly earth-shattering news, but isn’t anybody else getting tired of how once they go pro, many athletes soon become caricatures of Christians? Can’t there be a requirement that before a pro athlete is allowed to invoke the name of God in a press conference and/or interview, he must have read the Bible and passed a comprehension test? Does anybody really buy the religious fervor that these self-indulgent money making machines display? How many people really believe it when one of these guys says that they ‘have to give all the glory to the Lord’? How many times have we all heard that very line? And this coming from the guy who has a different car for each day of the week, a closet full of $10,000 suits and a $5,000 plasma TV in every room of his $10 million mansion. Yeah, that’s the way to live in Christ’s image! Of course there are exceptions like Reggie White, who became an ordained minister and spent nearly all his free time doing charitable works. But as we all know, what do exceptions do? They prove the rule.
How many times are we going to hear how God or Jesus, or in really big games, both, need to be thanked for watching over the athlete who is speaking. “And first, I want to thank God, because without him, none of this would have happened.” Really? Your ego is so inflated as to think that God (giving your professed belief the benefit of the doubt) is concerned with YOUR individual success? If you truly believe in God, then you must believe he is a fair and just God – SO WHY WASN’T HE WATCHING OVER THE OTHER TEAM??????? (And don’t try and tell me that you are speaking in the larger sense and that you are just thanking him for creating the world, that’s NOT what you mean!) Isn’t it kind of antithetical to one of the basic tenets of Christianity, you know, that one about God being a fair and just God, to think that he would be rooting for one team or that he would do anything to influence the outcome? If you want to thank him for you keeping you safe and free from injury, I guess that’s okay, but what about the players who did get hurt, did they just not pray hard enough?
If that’s not un-Christian enough, wouldn’t that also technically be ‘taking the Lord’s name in vain’? Maybe not in the way most people think of it (cursing/swearing) but it could be a more literal interpretation of what that actually means. I am certainly no Bible scholar, but it seems to me that using God’s name to promote one’s own athletic prowess (self-promotion is certainly vanity) is just as much ‘taking the Lord’s name in vain’ as somebody saying ‘God damn it’ or ‘Jesus-fucking-Christ’. It may not be as offensive to sensitive ears and eyes, but is it not just as vain?
So, why should I believe Vick when he says that he has turned his life over and will become a new man? I don’t, at least not yet – I hate to end a rant about how cliché professional athletes are by using a cliché, but I think it’s very fitting here; actions speak louder than words, Michael, show the world how you’ve become a changed man, don’t just throw around the words ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ and expect people to just forgive you for your actions, SHOW people how sorry you are. Anybody can say the right words, but it takes the right person to SHOW that they gave their all to become a better person.
Speaking of clichés in sports, I sure hope he doesn’t have to give a hundred and ten percent, but we’ll save that for another time….
