"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
Sin
Sin is crouching at your door (Genesis 4:8)
If we were asked to sum up the message of the Bible in three words, you could hardly do better than - Creation, Fall, Redemption. If we are to have a Biblical perspective on sport it must take account of creation, fall and redemption. When Cain is told that his offering is not acceptable, God says that sin is crouching at his door. What an amazing image!
If Genesis 1 tells us about the creation of all things, Genesis 3 tells us that sin is real and it spoiled God's creation. Sin has continued to be part of the world and of human life ever since.
Sin destroys every-thing, spoiling our prayer life, our Bible reading. It ruins our relationships, our sexuality, our sporting life, our friendships - sin breaks everything.
The world of sport is full of sin, selfishness, ruthlessness, cheating, attempts to deceive the officials, strategies to gain an unfair advantage over opponents. There is so much greed in the negotiation of player contracts and often on both sides an unwillingness to honour contracts. [I am applying the doctrine of sin to sport because that is where we work. I do not believe that the world of sport is any more sinful than the rest of the society.]
So sin has ruined sport. Is it doomed forever? Is there an answer? Find out next week. It sounds like one of those children's TV programmes!
Stuart
Stuart Weir