Will You be Ready?

Recently, I was watching an American football game, but it could have been a game in any sport and in any country.

Abruptly, the coach called for one of his primary players to come out of the game and to be replaced by one of the seldom used players.

The primary player had been performing well and the situation in the game was very important because the coach’s team was about to score. Replacing the primary player made no obvious tactical sense in terms of game strategy.

The game was being broadcasted nationally and the move by the coach was so obvious that the television commentators remarked about it but had no explanation for it.

The secondary player responded well and the team scored. On the next series of plays, the coach returned the primary player to the game. After the game the coach offered no explanation for the substitution.

The player switch could have been tactical in response to something which the coach noticed about the other team. I believe that it was something else. I think it was a teaching moment.

The coach could have been telling his substitutes to not fall asleep and to be ready to act at all times. They might only be placed into the current game once or even only once in an entire season, but, when they are called upon they are expected to be ready at that moment.

The replacement player could have been daydreaming or talking to someone and not paying attention to the game.

Instead, he went into the game and executed the duties of his assigned position. If he had not been ready, the coach would have called on someone else the next time an opportunity arose.

As Mordechai said to Esther when it was her time to be called upon: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14. Italics added. Read the entire chapter with emphasis on verse 14. Mordechai’s implication is that God put Esther in the place where she needed to be in order to carry out his will. (Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.)

Esther 4:1-15; 1 Samuel 3:9; Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 24:42-44; Ephesians 2:10.

Find a Penny

 

Find a penny and pick it up and all the day you’ll have good luck. I heard this chant many times as a child in the southern portion of the United States but it is not restricted to the American South.

            The “lucky Penny” superstition has been known for thousands of years. Ancient peoples, just like many moderns, often believed in the power inherent in coins. Finding a coin was considered to be a sign of good luck, or of coming prosperity, because metals were considered to represent wealth and protection.

            Making a wish after throwing a coin into a fountain may have originated as giving a valuable offering to water deities.

            “A penny for your thoughts” carries the idea that your thoughts are valuable because the coin has value.

            After a coin flip, a coin landing with its head-side up (obverse) is considered to be a positive sign. A coin with the tails-side up (reverse) is considered to be negative. Some people will not pick up a coin from the street if the coin is in the tails up position. In American football, the referee determines first possession of the ball by the use of a coin flip.

            This may seem like a trivial and harmless holdover of an ancient superstition. Most people would view it in this way and, for the most part, it is. The children gleefully throwing coins into the fountain outside a restaurant and making a wish are totally innocent. Most adults have no idea of the origins of the superstition and have not given it a single thought, and probably never will. In its origins it is a demonstration of the use of Magick.

            Magick, as opposed to harmless stage magic (where you do not actually see what you think you see) is an ancient concept. The actual modern word, Magick, seems to have been originated by Aleister Crowley, an utterly evil and awful man who described himself as The Great Beast. His most famous quotation is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

            Magick is the intentional attempt to control reality by performing certain actions or saying certain words. It is an attempt to impose one’s will on the universe. It is an assertion of self as the master. If you gave them a coin, the water deities were obligated to grant you a wish. If you rubbed the lamp, the genie was your slave. If you said the correct words in the correct sequence, a demon could be forced to obey you.

            Simony is the practice of buying or selling objects held to be religiously sacred. It does not include the selling of modern Christian merchandise which, of itself, is not inherently holy or sacred.  Simony would be the selling, for personal profit, of materials or items or powers used in the official functions of the church. The word originates from Acts 8:18-24, where a magician, Simon Magus, offered money to Peter in an attempt to purchase the power to perform miracles. Peter angrily rejected Simon’s offer of money.

            The Bible clearly says that we are to avoid the intentional use of magic and the occult. Deuteronomy 18:10-11, 18:2; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:31, 20:6,27; Isaiah 19:1-4; Ezekiel 13:20-21; 2 Kings 21:6; Revelation 21:8.

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            Your innocent child can probably still enjoy throwing a few coins into a fountain.

The Get Back Coach

This video is a humorous look at a phenomena in American sports.  In American style football most teams have a coach who is assigned to act was the “get back coach” during games.

Sometimes, during the heat of a game, one of the team’s coaches or players will become so emotional that he will run out onto the field of play. This can result in a penalty being assessed on the coaches team. In the professional version of American football, the action may even result in monetary fines assessed against the team. Sometimes, players and coaches in unauthorized areas on the field can even be injured by accidentally colliding with 300 pound men running while wearing protective armor and hard helmets.

To prevent penalties and/or injuries, one of the other coaches is assigned the in-game duty of being the “get back coach.”  He continually reminds the other coaches and players to “get back” when they get too close to illegally entering the field of play by crossing over the sideline “out-of-bounds” strip of paint.  He will often resort to grabbing the momentarily insane coach and “escorting” him back off the field of play. 

 Sometimes, we as Christians can go off on tangents and have to be grabbed and restrained by a loyal friend until we return to our senses.

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” Galatians 6:1. 

"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Super Bowl Controversy

Today is Super Bowl Sunday during which about 117,000,000 people are expected to watch the annual professional American football game on television.  There are numerous storylines around the story of the current game: the two head coaches are brothers; one of the prominent players (who once was charged with murder) is playing in his last game and is openly talking about his relationship with God; the two teams were both unlikely participants in the championship game; one of the quarterbacks is playing in his second season of professional football and did not get his first starting assignment until the middle of this season; the sport itself is embroiled in controversies over player injuries and the use of performance enhancing drugs; etc., etc., etc.  But another controversy has grabbed the headlines.

In one of the innumerable pre-game player interview, ahe San Francisco 49ers player, Chris Culliver, answered a question about homosexuals in the game of football.  "No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do.... Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah…can't be…in the locker room man. Nah."  A firestorm erupted, as would be expected.

Brendon Ayanbadejo, a player for the Baltimore Ravens team, said he thinks about half of the league’s players agree with Culliver.  Of the 50%, he says, 25% think like him and 25% “are religious – they don’t necessarily agree with all of the things I agree with, but they’re accepting.”

As a conservative Christian, I believe that the Bible does condemn homosexual acts and I also believe as do most conservative Christians that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle. I know about some scientific studies which suggest subtle differences in brain anatomy between homosexuals and heterosexuals but I am also aware of fmri (functional magnetic resonance imaging) research which seems to suggest that brain anatomy may be functional rather than rigidly fixed and that behavior may influence which portions of the brain perform which tasks.  Behavior may determine anatomy.  I am not a neurobiologist and that controversy will not be resolved here.

I work with several homosexuals who know what I believe and who have no problem with me because they understand that I treat them with respect as individuals.  The workplace is not a sexual situation and one’s sexuality should be left at home.  There are laws in the United States against sexual harassment of any sort and most companies will immediately dismiss employees who engage in sexual activity (heterosexual or homosexual) with another employee, even if it is totally consensual.

Various perspectives on homosexuality and the Bible.  Never be afraid to examine views other than your own.

http://bible.org/article/homosexuality-christian-perspective

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gay/long.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_homosexuality

http://christianteens.about.com/od/whatthebiblesaysabout/a/wbsaHomosexual.htm

http://www.bible.ca/s-homo=sin.htm

http://www.gaychurch.org/gay_and_christian_yes/gay_and_christian_yes.htm