Posted on 10/27/2007 6:16:01 AM PDT by rhema
"When it's third-and-10, you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time." That's the authoritative word from Green Bay Packers legend Max McGee, who died on Oct. 20 at 75 after he fell raking leaves from his roof.
Many old-time athletes and sports writers have felt the same way. Didn't Babe Ruth set records while satisfying his voracious appetite for hot dogs, booze, and sex? Character counts, but runs count more, right?
That's what the Colorado Rockies thought until 2004, when fastballer Denny Neagle was arrested for soliciting a prostitute. The Rockies, who had finished in or next to last place in their division nine straight years, released Neagle and ended up paying him $16 million not to play.
Why? According to club president Keli McGregor, "God gave us a challenge right then and there. You always say you want to do the right thing, but often in this business we warp our values and do less than what's the right thing."
God? It came out that McGregor, general manager Dan O'Dowd, and manager Clint Hurdle pray together and profess Christ. So does Rockies chairman and CEO Charlie Monfort. So do players like Matt Holliday and Todd Helton: Seven to 10 Rockies attend Baseball Chapel services on Sundays and a Bible study on Tuesday afternoons.
That's not strange in baseball; I've been in Baseball Chapel services of the Florida Marlins, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, and others where almost half the team was present. But the management involvement is unusual, and so is the positive treatment that the group of Christians received from New York Times writer Ben Shpigel in a front-page-of-the-sports-section story on Oct. 23 [ Rockies Place Their Faith in God, and One Another ].
In paragraph after paragraph the Times praised Christians for being tolerant, humble, and unselfish. A cynical press-watcher might think a New York journalist fell in love with the Rockies because they were playing in the World Series the Yankees nemesis, the Boston Red Sox (a team with Christian players such as Mike Timlin and Mike Lowell that has also sent packing some philanderers). But maybe accurate reporting on the sports page will seep over to the news and editorial pages.
ping
Or maybe the NYT editors were just trying to see how easy it is to manipulate Christians, as they try to reverse the damage that Pinch has done. Can one positive article make up for the hundreds of scornful articles they published about Christians? If so, then maybe they have a chance to reverse the Schulzberger legacy.
Hiden between the lines in this article is that Christians ultimately do not win World Series because they are namby-pamby and too focused on prayer vs. winning.
Not understanding that God does not link or equate winning with worship. Although the way players publically display their faith you’d think so watching a game for the first time.
There may be more than a bit of truth to that belief.
A quick glance at the culture war tends to confirm that Christians are namby pamby folks.
Don’t forget, the meek inherit the world - in the end.
Joshua 24:15
“A quick glance at the culture war tends to confirm that Christians are namby pamby folks.”
Culture war? Perhaps. But I doubt that many NFL QB’s that had to face Reggie White were thinking “namby pamby” as they were being smacked to the turf by the ordained Baptist Minister. In fact, he probably induced a few prayers from unlikely sources.
Jesus Christ himself.
He spoke against harlotry, idolatry, bigotry, hatred, got MAD and chased people and their belongings out (of OUR Father’s house).
Frankly, TODAY’S Christians tend to be “live and let live” folk, but neither Jesus nor the apostles were. Sure, there was compassion, there was a desire for peace. That was all based on the knowledge that in the end, God handles it the way He has designed. Not them, and not us.
Amen & Amen!
Back in 63 I read this most profound statement: “If a man
knows the right way to live and does not live it; there is no greater coward.”
We all (or should) know it takes far more courage to live the right way, than to cowardly follow the crowd.
James wrote, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
When NY accepted Satan’s Bride aka, Hillary, into their lives, they ceased to win the World Series.
Ping to follow up later
Only problem with your statement is that Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian. Maybe today’s “Christians” should be more like Jesus and less like the U.S. “culture”...
yeah. say, do you ever wonder what it's like to be tied to a stake and set on fire?
Have you ever been arrested for praying outside an abortion clinic?
what about hunted by secret police so that you had to go into hiding for three months in a 5X5 bathroom with 8 other namby-pambies?
have you ever been ostracized in the workplace for going to Mass, leaving you to wonder what they do behind your back?
Do you know what a catacomb is? Gee, that makes me think...have you ever been dragged through a city street, spit on, kicked, and then nailed to a cross?
didn't think so.
What are you saying?
Since I never have done any of those things that I shouldn’t comment on the namby pamby Crristian response to the threats posed by todays culture war?
OR
Were you saying those things to illustrate the enormous difference between todays namby pamby Christians response to othe threat of evil and Christians of years ago?
I’m saying that Christians are suffering in lots of ways in lots of places over all time and if you don’t see it, perhaps it’s because you are very, very far away from it.
Oh, I read about the Christian suffering quiet often. Even WND often features such stories.
THE NYT article, as I read it, was talking about domestice sports teams, and it was from that perspective that I made my post.
To pick one culture war issue, until the church congregations themselves took the leadership role in the abortion debate, there was very little said about it. Finally, 30 years later, the ‘church leadership’ is awakening to find that they are trailing behind their congregants, and must rush to catch up, and maybe even move to a position of leadership again. Until now they have been the sheep being lead by the congregations.
Homosexuality? Must we wait ANOTHER 30 years until the ‘church leadership’ speaks up? Is it going to be up to the individual Christians to lead the ‘church leadership’ to the Christian position on this corrosive issue also? It looks that way.
While I’ll agree that Jesus is of Jewish origin, he’s also the original “CHRIST”ian. Wouldn’t you agree?
Actually, I think he would shudder at being called a Christian or literally a “little Christ”. He is the Messiah which is a synonym for Christ. To the rest of the world (besides the US and Western Europe), I have found that “Christian” means all the bad stuff about our culture- Hollywood, pornography, drug dealers, profiting from the poor, etc. I have likewise found that Jesus of Nazareth is welcome in ALL cultures, regardless of each culture’s “religion”. I often think that is what Jesus meant when he said “lift me up and all men will come”. Lifting up Christianity doesn’t seem to be working so well, in my humble experience....
Also, the only time “religion” is mentioned in a positive way (not the Pharisees and Sadduces)in the New Testament (or Injil to the Muslims) is James 1:27. Look it up- maybe that is the real religion of Jesus, not Christianity...?
More than happy to discuss and/or sort out some more...
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