October 21, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following are some of the responses I have received in connection with the three articles we have published recently on the topic of sports (the articles can be found at the Way of Life web site under the Fundamental Baptist Information Service daily articles section) --

EXAMPLES OF THE POSITIVE RESPONSES

"Thanks for your thoughts on Christians in professional sports. Here's something else you might consider. Watch the men and boys who play church league softball (or whatever). Other than their offering a sanctifying prayer front and back, there is little to distinguish many church league teams from teams sponsored by bars or car washes. On the sports field, Christians yell at the umpires just like everyone else. On the sports field, Christians give vent to their basest emotions and frustrations just like everyone else. On the sports field, Christians discard love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance in order to play just like everyone else. Sports-minded Christians should adopt a hard and fast rule: If you have to clear your conscience in order to witness to the umpire AFTER the game, your sports are far too important to you."

"You really hit a nerve with that one. I bet you don't despise sports as much as I do. My husband is a sports addict. I could write till tomorrow morning about how this has affected the family. He will spend up to 10 hours watching sports at one sitting. He has to see how this team does and how it will affect that team and how than score affects another team, blah, blah, blah. … This is his main topic of conversation. I can't even stand to hear the scores on the news. I have 3 sons and not one of them is a sports fan. They enjoy fishing and bowling, but dad is too busy watching sports to take them. It is pathetic. … In 1970, my history teacher gave us something to think about. It was a list--the communist rules for revolution. I have never forgotten that on the list was ‘get the people preoccupied with sports.’ I still have that old list. It made a big impression on me even way back then."

"I wholeheartedly agree with your articles on sports. Your background is similar to mine. I was saved Jan. 1972. It has bothered me that in most of the preachers meeting I have attended, the conversation was 90% sports and 5% other topics, and 5% about the Lord and the ministry. I know of a number of churches that dismiss services on Super Bowl Sunday, etc. Often at church I have to stop several from their open discussion of some sports event to get out services started. One fellow who has been having a real battle with tithing will wear a different sport T shirt every week. He will drive to the city for a pro basketball game, with gas, tickets, etc., spend $125 to $200 dollars, yet he says doesn't have money to tithe. Considering that it is purely a business run to make money it appears to me that many of those who are so fanatical about sports are brain washed into a state of mob mentality. If you consider history, it was the sports fanatics that cheered at the Christians were being eaten by wild animals and brutally murdered. I at times joke with these guys (women too). They excitingly exclaim ‘WE WON!’ I then ask, ‘What did you win?’ They reply, ‘We won the game or the pennant!’ I ask what position did you play and what benefit was it to you? Now they see where I'm going and I ask, ‘How many beer commercials did you see or expose your children too?’ I then ask, ‘Did your participation in this game honor the Lord?’ I quickly change the subject and leave them to think about it. I have no problem non-commercial sports for children and adults. Games are fun and healthy, but they must be ardently controlled. Thanks for this straight forward approach to this matter. I am going to make copies and put them on the table at the back of the church for folks to read."

"Thanks for writing this article. I have many times struggled with ‘chomping at the bit’ to get home to see a sporting event on television. I have felt ashamed about it afterward. After intensive prayer and Bible study over the past few months, I have found my interest in sports has greatly diminished (although my job demands that I have some contact with sports, mainly high school and other local teams). ---------, News/Sports Editor."

AN EXAMPLE OF THE NEGATIVE RESPONSES

"[Brother Cloud], you say, ‘there are jobs which the Christian should avoid because of scriptural principles. I believe professional sports today is one of those.’ Don’t stop here, please. There are many doctors, nurses, pharmacists (myself) who have to work every other Sunday. This means please don’t ever come to a hospital or seek medical attention for yourself or your children on a Sunday. What was that Jesus said about helping somebody on the sabbath? Be consistent brother cloud. Do not stop with sports people. I wish to hear next about doctors during their internship when they must work months at a time (Sundays) without a day off."

REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD: You are charging me with inconsistency, but you are comparing apples with oranges. There is a substantial difference between work involving essential services such as medical and law enforcement and military and utilities, etc., and work which is purely entertainment. It is one thing to work a job which requires me to miss church services for the sake of providing essential human services. It is quite another thing to work a job which requires me to miss church services for the sake of exciting the carnal desires of the masses and lulling them into forgetting the eternity that hangs over all our heads.