JH/HS School Boy's Athletics
It is amazing to think that perhaps the most popular song in America today is “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Think about it. During the seventh-inning stretch at nearly every ballpark in the country, millions and millions of fans sing this silly but addictively catchy little song. We all know it. We can all sing it (“for it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the ol’ ballgame!”). Why would such a silly song about a ballgame be so popular? Why do six-year olds know most of the words to that song? Why do grown men and women fumble around with the words to “The Star Spangled Banner” but know every word to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”? The answer to all of these questions is no less than obvious—it is because we live in a global culture that is gah-gah over sports. The world is more than just intrigued by sports, it is obsessed.
According to the National Institute for Sports Reform (NISR), the nationwide figures regarding amateur sports participation are no less than staggering. In an article entitled, Crisis on Our Playing Fields, the NISR reveals that “roughly 22 million 6-18 year olds participate in youth sports programs such as Little League baseball and Pop Warner football; approximately 16 million athletes are involved in intramural or interscholastic sports; 2 million are involved in club or fee-based programs; and 332,000 are involved in intercollegiate athletics.”
Because athletics are such a huge and influential part of our culture, we as God’s people must develop and maintain a proper biblical perspective of sports and examine all things through the lens of Scripture. We should briefly identify and consider both the positive and negative aspects of modern-day athletics and help us collectively advance toward a healthy, biblical, working theology of sports.
While the Apostle Paul in particular often used athletic examples to illustrate spiritual truths, the Scriptures themselves neither endorse nor condemn participation in sports. Their frequent mention in the New Testament confirms that athletics were a major part of the culture during the days of the writing of the inspired text. That being said, if Paul in any way deemed athletics to be sinful he surely would not have used them to illustrate the Christian life.
In a recent column of the Christian magazine Sports Spectrum, it states that more than 96% of the people in the world play sports, are sports fans, or have a close family member or friend interested in sports—hence giving them a reason to have interest. As followers of Christ, we must not only have a biblical perspective on sports that we share with others, but one that affects the way we live: