LIVING IN A WORLD OF EVIL
The title for this entry will upset some people after they read this. Sorry. But this really is a reflection on our lives and our world. I am using this post to think through an issue in my life.
I LOVE college basketball. First and foremost I am a basketball fan. As far as teams go I root for Duke, then Wake Forest, then UNC and then just about any ACC team against non-ACC team. My thinking is that the more any ACC team wins, the better my teams look. As a Duke fan I can say with excitement that UNC played one of the best NCAA series ever played. They were great!
I LOVE college basketball. With all the stress and work of my life college basketball is one of my few real diversions. And yet ........... I wonder if next year I can enjoy it as much as I have in past years. This year I became more aware I guess ... life and this world have not changed but maybe I have .... I became more aware that being in the midst of some basketball rivalries feels as if it is being the midst of dark evil. The nastiness, the insults, the hatred can be as un-Christian as anything.
Am I over reacting? I hope so because I LOVE college basketball and would hate to give it up. Scripture tells us to be in the world but not of the world. Our Baptismal questions ask us if we will renounce the forces of evil. So how can I be in the midst of that and still claim to be Christian? I can do it in other venues because, frankly, I don't care about them! But I care about the basketball game. I love to watch good basketball. I love to be with real fans. But to be with people whose primary concern is how much they HATE another team? HATE a group of human beings.
My weakness ... my sin ... is that I cannot simply sit and hear people insult, demean, and be hateful to another person, or team, without getting emotionally involved. I am upset at myself and ashamed that during the NCAA tournament when I went to the UNC - Duke doubleheader that I allowed some nasty, hateful UNC fans get to me. (Make no mistake about it -- Duke fans can be nasty and hateful too! And make no mistake about it, most fans are good people.) I guess I can take some relief in that the worse thing I actually SAID was: "The only class UNC has in the buildings!" --- OK, somewhat clever! But not nice and certainly not loving and certainly not Christian.
Should I renounce being within such atmospheres? Is that the Christian response? Should I only sit in front of my own TV and make a point of not being with other devoted fans? Is it possible to find other fans who can get emotionally and deeply involved in a game without being nasty?
What does it mean to renounce evil when that evil is standing next to you? Does it mean ignoring it? Does it mean challenging the evil? Actually I doubt it means challenging the evil, at least in the moment since I sincerely doubt that can result in anything less than conflict.
What would Jesus do?
I LOVE college basketball. First and foremost I am a basketball fan. As far as teams go I root for Duke, then Wake Forest, then UNC and then just about any ACC team against non-ACC team. My thinking is that the more any ACC team wins, the better my teams look. As a Duke fan I can say with excitement that UNC played one of the best NCAA series ever played. They were great!
I LOVE college basketball. With all the stress and work of my life college basketball is one of my few real diversions. And yet ........... I wonder if next year I can enjoy it as much as I have in past years. This year I became more aware I guess ... life and this world have not changed but maybe I have .... I became more aware that being in the midst of some basketball rivalries feels as if it is being the midst of dark evil. The nastiness, the insults, the hatred can be as un-Christian as anything.
Am I over reacting? I hope so because I LOVE college basketball and would hate to give it up. Scripture tells us to be in the world but not of the world. Our Baptismal questions ask us if we will renounce the forces of evil. So how can I be in the midst of that and still claim to be Christian? I can do it in other venues because, frankly, I don't care about them! But I care about the basketball game. I love to watch good basketball. I love to be with real fans. But to be with people whose primary concern is how much they HATE another team? HATE a group of human beings.
My weakness ... my sin ... is that I cannot simply sit and hear people insult, demean, and be hateful to another person, or team, without getting emotionally involved. I am upset at myself and ashamed that during the NCAA tournament when I went to the UNC - Duke doubleheader that I allowed some nasty, hateful UNC fans get to me. (Make no mistake about it -- Duke fans can be nasty and hateful too! And make no mistake about it, most fans are good people.) I guess I can take some relief in that the worse thing I actually SAID was: "The only class UNC has in the buildings!" --- OK, somewhat clever! But not nice and certainly not loving and certainly not Christian.
Should I renounce being within such atmospheres? Is that the Christian response? Should I only sit in front of my own TV and make a point of not being with other devoted fans? Is it possible to find other fans who can get emotionally and deeply involved in a game without being nasty?
What does it mean to renounce evil when that evil is standing next to you? Does it mean ignoring it? Does it mean challenging the evil? Actually I doubt it means challenging the evil, at least in the moment since I sincerely doubt that can result in anything less than conflict.
What would Jesus do?
posted by Ken | 11:03 PM
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