Redeeming Sports: Thinking biblically about competition

By Bob Schindler and Tim Briggs

From Bob Schindler, author of Does God Care Who Wins? and Tim Briggs, a collection of essays considering competition from a biblical perspective. Schindler and Briggs consider such questions as "How do you know when sports are an idol?" and "Was there competition in the Garden?" They explore the ways sports reve

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Sports Outreach Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9780999126523

Book preview

Redeeming Sports

thinking biblically about competition

Bob Schindler & Tim Briggs

Copyright ©2017 by Bob Schindler

All rights reserved. Published by Bob Schindler,

Charlotte, North Carolina.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author. For information regarding permission contact the author at [e-mail]

ISBN: 0-9991265-2-0

Book design by Carrie Givens, carolynclaregivens.com

Unless otherwise noted, scripture taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Table of Contents

How Do You Know When Sports Are an Idol?

Was There Competition in the Garden?

Is Competition Good or Bad for Us?

Character Revealed

Playing for Joy

Sports & Theology: Phil Mickelson

Phil & Tiger: Godly Competition?

The Power of God

Notes

How Do You Know When Sports Are an Idol?

by Bob Schindler

A fellow sports minister had a recent conversation with a coach where the sports minister asked, Do you think you have a problem with sports being an idol? The coach quickly and emphatically replied, No!

What is interesting about his response is that this coach had recently had several emotional and difficult confrontations surrounding his coaching.

This situation prompted me to ask, How do you know when sports or a sport is an idol?

You might be wondering, What kind of question is that? thinking that idols are those things in foreign cultures that people visit and bow down to.

While the Bible mentions making objects into idols, God doesn’t limit the definition of idols to just those lifeless statues. Consider the following from Tim Keller:

What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give…. An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure."¹

According to Keller, anything can be an idol. Even sports.

Just take out the key words to that definition and you’re left with:

absorbs