Christian Sports Stars Are Show Offs.

Apparently there are about 4200 different "religions" in the world today. The top twelve are Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism with Christianity and Islam in the news the most.

I'm an Atheist and I seldom think about or concern myself with organized religions. I don't give a flying flamings about their beliefs or their god. But something about some Christian sports people irritates me no end. After running onto the field of play, these irritants go down on one knee where I assume they say some kind of a prayer. Now they have had ample time while in the dressing room to pray so why do they wait until you are on the field to do this?

Is it that they think the spectators and TV audience will like say: "Wow, check those guys. They real Christians."

 

Because their God dont need to help them get dressed..
Their God needs to be with them on the field..

 

“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men."

—Matthew 6:5

 

Assuming they have read the bible .. Lots of people just want the audience to believe they acknowledge God..
God help me this, God was there with me, God made this happen ..
Without God I couldnt have done this ect..

 

Athletes are very superstitious, the vast majority of them have rituals, even if they aren't praying. Baseball is probably the sport easiest to notice this because they don't have to be set in as rigid positions as football and it's not constantly moving like basketball.

If you watch baseball closely, batters before a pitch often have a signature ritual they do before getting in their set stance, like shuffling the dirt in the batter's box, adjusting their sleeves, tapping the bat on the plate, touching their helmet, etc. Pitchers might lick their fingers, walk around the pitching mound, shuffle their glove, avoid touching foul line chalk, etc.

In basketball, Steph Curry takes a shot from the edge of the locker room tunnels to end warm ups and Lebron James gathers some chalk at the mid score table before a game and rubs it around then throws it in the air.

Praying is probably just another superstitious behavior players exhibit.

 

Yeah, I call it a routine, not a ritual but same idea.

When I play pool my routine for every shot is, I stand directly behind my object ball and trace an imaginary line to the middle of the pocket then I focus on that point, I hold my cue like a rifle, I stroke it 3 times up and down through my fingers then I take 2 marching steps on the spot (somehow all of this makes me focus on my initial aim point) then I get behind my cue ball I get down, I wiggle my butt to make sure I'm on my feet correctly, I feather cue about 5 times, exhale and hold my breath as I stroke the ball.

When I'm iracing before every start of restart I grip the wheel 3x before I put my foot on the loud pedal.

 

You say the sexiest stuff, Irmi!

 

I'm using ritual in a context similar to describing OCD behavior. Routine could be applicable to much more activity in sports but I italicized the word for a reason, it's basically semantics.

 

Depends on the sport. Kendo is full of ritual

 

Yes I imagine you'd be all mortal kombat. Test your might! Test your might! MORTAL KOMBAT!

 

As a Christian, I try to follow Jesus's command in the Sermon on the Mount to pray in private and not to show your faith to get praise from others. I don't like "Christian" display by athletes. Keep it private.

 

Interesting. That's a crusader move (except that bit about pointing to the sky).

 

lol not quite.
Kendo matches and practices is all regulated by the Internation Kendo Federation. No matter where in the world you are it is all done exactly the same. Group instruction is in Japanese warmups are counted off in Japanese. There are specific times and ways you pay respect to your opponent and sensei. Very ritualistic in that regard. It's like church but you get fight with wooden swords for a couple hours

 

Jesus prayed publicly and privately. He also told us, as previously mentioned, NOT to be like the hypocrite who do things just to be seen of men. The issue here is whether or not these athletes are doing their prayers to be seen of men, or just to express their gratitude. No, they DON'T have to wait until they're alone so you won't see them, as YOU are quite obviously irrelevant to them in those moments. After all, they know all too well that neither they themselves, nor you, are able to answer their prayers or accept their worship and gratitude.

I strongly suspect that most of those offended by praying christians is due either to:
a) conviction for your own failings and sin, which their praying reminds you of, or:
b) projection. That is, the idea that their reasons for doing so is the same as YOUR reasons would be for doing so, which is unlikely.

Either way, we are in no position to judge. Even if we wanted to, we don't have that kind of power. We can complain, we can imagine what their reasons might be based on our own limited experience, or we can attack them for it. Either way, there is no more sin in praying publicly than not praying in private. Doing so to be seen of men, who are incapable of answering your prayers, is vain. Doing so to be seen of God is not.

 

I like when the praying player's team loses. Empirical evidence of the efficacy of prayer.

 

I think that’s great

 

Tim Tebow



Where's your God Now?

 

Not I, because I usually only watch interviews and press conferences by teams I'm rooting for.

 

if you happen to distract your opponent in the process, that's just a convenient side effect.