Why don't athletes (or anyone else) blame Jesus when they blow the big game or generally FAIL?

[DainBramaged]

So, Jesus is looking over their shoulder when they make the big touchdown or make that critical putt, or strike out a guy in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. What about the guy at the plate? He loves him the baby Jesus, is it Jesus telling him he's a loser and the other guy is a better Christian?


I am a Christian, and I just don't get this spew from athletes (or anyone else for that matter) who praise Jesus when something good happens, but shut their yap when the shit hits he fan. Why not just nut up and say "I failed Jesus, maybe next time he'll favor me'. But then again, when thousands of children died today of starvation in Africa, I wonder why He would be watching Rufus T. Blather score the winning touchdown instead of having fish fall from the sky.........

[Brickbat]

1. Srsly.

There's being thankful, and then there's attributing every success you have to a faith in Jesus, which basically just tells everyone else that if you're poor or failing you're not believing hard enough.

[emulatorloo]

2. I had a preacher blame a rainstorm on Satan, when I knew the farmers were probably thanking God.

The rainstorm interfered with an outdoor revival meeting. But it had been very dry that season, so I knew the farmers were really happy

I think the athletes perceive of failure as personal, and success as enable by God.

[Better Today]

3. If I understand the New Testament, the most preferred response would be not to blame Jesus,

but to instead THANK Jesus, because it must be assumed that as God's representative, Jesus must know a reason for the failure or loss that is as yet not evident to the loser. Then he/she would commit to meditating on why it was important to Jesus for them to fail or lose.

Am I wrong?

[Kaleva]

30. +1

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Jesus, like his dad, is omniscient and smart enough to be on the team he knows will win.

[DainBramaged]

6. Best answer yet......................

:fistbump: :yourock: :applause:

[Democracyinkind]

5. Spoofing George Carlin much, are we?

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. Picture the sweaty athelete being interviewed right after the game

Reporter: "What happened out there today? You guys got the crapola slapped out of you!"

Star Athelete: "Well, you know we came into today's game knowing that we would be facing an uphill battle. I think that God simply let us down in the backfield and on special teams. I hope the front office can get a handle on this God thing becuase we are much better team than you saw today."

[Imajika]

42. HAHAHAHA, very funny...

"I think that God simply let us down in the backfield and on special teams"

Hilarious. I was about to post something similar before I read your post.

[JANdad]

8. Haven't we beat this dead horse enough

aournd here?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. the only way to tenderize it. It will taste much better this way.

[DainBramaged]

16. Here ya go

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. that ought to do it.

thanks.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. because Jeezus is a Republican.

It is always someone else's fault, or you did not pray hard enough. Or, you allowed 0.0000000000001% of doubt creep into your mind. (Jeezus is also a purist)

If failure occurs, it is never Jeezus' fault, just like it is never a Republican's fault.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Being God -- best job in the world (or otherworld)

All of the credit and none of the accountability.

[havocmom]

12. If they lose a game, get hit by terrorist, succumb to flooding, it is not Jesus' fault!

It is those GLBT feminist wiccans' fault*! Didn't you hear?





*(does anybody here really need me to add the sarcasm smilie?)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. It's called humility.

It's really a rather common tenet of Christianity.

If you fail, you look to yourself for the reasons why. If you succeed, you thank the grace of God. It's got nothing to do with sports.

I don't see why you have such a tough time understanding that.

[DBoon]

18. humility is very hard to understand

it is very rare in our society

so rare that people tend to ignore its existence

[Warren DeMontague]

31. I have trouble understanding why "God" is getting involved in things like High School Football.

I guess the Genocide in Darfur can wait?

Verily, he moves in mysterious ways.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. Football isn't important to you.

But an athlete dedicating a major portion of their life to it is going to look at it differently.

[Warren DeMontague]

44. Right. And in the context of the Deity existing in the athlete's head, I get that.

In the context of the Deity existing independently and giving a shit about the outcome of the game, not buying it.

[Toasterlad]

41. Yeah, Deion Sanders Was Humble. Terrell Owens Is Humble.

:eyes:

You've never even SEEN a football game, have you?

[Walk away]

14. Apparently, Jesus is God and you really don't want to piss off God.

It seems prudent to only say nice things to him and not complain or he could easily crush you like a bug. That would make some fun locker room footage!

[zipplewrath]

15. This comes up often

Athletes so commonly do this and it is frequently misunderstood. I really think some of them ought to endeavor to clarify what they are doing, but they don't.

Technically, they are thanking God/Jesus for a few specific things. Primarily for the gift of their talents and abilities. "All Glory to Him". When they succeed, it is because their faith in his gifts was strong. They "turned over themselves to his plan" and succeeded because that is what he wanted those gifts to do.

When they fail, it is either one of two things, depending upon your particular brand of Christianity.

1) Your faith wasn't strong enough. You didn't truly let go of ego and allow him to work through you. Instead, you tried to make things happen according to your own plan, not God's.

2) It wasn't in God's plan. Your gifts are given to you to serve his plan. We may not always know what that plan is, we merely trust in him. That's the "faith" part of belief.

I'm not particularly defending either point of view. I just happen to know that very few of those folks tend to believe that "God wanted me to win, and the other guy to lose". It's more of a case of; "winning and losing are insignificant part of God's larger plan." They are "thankful" that part of his plan allowed them to score a touchdown to the adoration of 75,000 fans.

There's a third point of view on all of this, probably a bit closer to mine, which is that football games and tennis matches aren't part of God's plan at all. He gives us gifts and would like to see what we do with them. Yes, it's very nice to thank God for giving one the gift of a good golf swing to enjoy, but when we win or lose, it's because we either used his gift well, or we did not. If God gives a diddly at all about it, probably what he would care about is what any parent would care about. Did I use the gift well or did I waste it. And did I enjoy the gift.

[Angry Dragon]

45. You miss a few good points here

It almost seems that you make the assumption that this person on the field is the only one that has god. How about the rest of the players??

If one uses to the full extent of their god given talents and still loses does that mean they did not do their best??

[SoCalDem]

17. Easy.. when Jesus helps you win, it's because he loves you

and when you lose, he still loves you, but wants to teach you a lesson:)

he never tells you what lesson that would be, but you'll figure it out eventually if you pray hard enough:)

[rucky]

20. I'm convinced that God is punishing the Cleveland Browns

for something

[wryter2000]

23. I'm sure they know what they've done

They're just not telling you. :)

[Toasterlad]

40. Two Words: Brady Quinn

[DainBramaged]

24. What about the Indians????

[arthritisR_US]

21. I often wonder...God is omnipotent, omnipresent and is love and yet

suffering exists..too incongruous for me.

[wryter2000]

22. I'm also a Christian

And I cringe when athletes praise Jesus for their victory. Doesn't God love their opponents?

[Obamanaut]

46. Of course god loves the opponents. It just wasn't in his grand plan

for them to win that time. :sarcasm:

[Javaman]

25. "I would like to thank the devil for helping me choke and blowing the game", nt

[MineralMan]

26. Jesus likes the Yankees best, it seems. Hates Pennsylvania.

The whole state. And there you have it.

Of course, Jesus hates the Cubs the most. That was his pet goat they booted from the park.

[DainBramaged]

29. Jesus loves him the Yankees

They contribute much to his coffers....................

[Toasterlad]

39. Jesus Loved Us Last Year. That Prick Is a Series Fair-Weather Fan.

[Echo In Light]

27. Speaks volumes about how the Belief System is used in ways far removed from its central tenets

[TlalocW]

28. I often wonder when people attribute all their success to Jesus

The implication is that Jesus must really love them more than others to reward them so handsomely.

But then that makes me wonder about successful atheists, Muslims, Hindus, etc...

Are they just that much more talented than the Christian, or does Jesus love them as much or more than He loves the Christian?

TlalocW

[Obamanaut]

32. There is no 'baby' jesus. According to the myth, the baby grew up

and they killed him.

[Initech]

35. I like to picture Jesus wearing a tuxedo t-shirt.

It says " I wanna be formal but I'm here to party. "

[Initech]

34. God is undefeated in their book.

[branders seine]

36. it's complicated,

but the bottom-line answer is cognitive dissonance.

[fishnfla]

37. Overheard in the nursing home today

a traveling minister was praying over some comatose lady in a jerrychair: "LORD! heal this woman with your healing grace. You know whats wrong with her. You know more than the Doctors and nurses here" Not a smart thing to say in front of the nurses station.

Um buddy, 'twas the big guy what laid her out with a stroke, dumbforass

[Toasterlad]

38. My Offer of Cash Money For Any Pro Athlete Who Publically Thanks Satan For a Win Still Stands

[undeterred]

43. Why did my atheist relative always say "God damn it"?

[Warren DeMontague]

47. Probably the same reason people were still saying "By Jove" in the 19th century.

I doubt too many of them actually believed in Jupiter, the God.