Prophet Thiel is on his annual anti-football rant because it is close to Thanksgiving and football occupies the TV's in most homes that day.
Is playing football really about "loving your neighbor" as the Prophet claims?
Dirty, nasty, violent, ungodly football! You are damned to the Lake of Fire!
Should Christians support violent sports like American football?
The late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:
Hostility toward the other is sin…Boxing at Ambassador College is definitely banned. God did not create the human brain and head to be pummeled and knocked senseless by an antagonist.While I have even heard some thank God for football, it is not a sport that I believe that the God of love would condone.
Wherever a game in sports involves antagonists–in hostile attitude to harm the other and/or to “get” from the other–to get the best of the other then a harmful, satanic and evil attitude enters in, and the sport is evil, not good…
Football (American football) is a violent body-contact sport. It is often played with an attitude of hostility and is dangerous and is fraught with physical injury. (Plain Truth, July-August 1984)
“Love does no harm to a neighbor” (Romans 13:9), yet what do sports like American football and boxing do?
5 comments:
Well, this proves that Dr. Bob isn't just an apologist for LCG leadership. I am told that Meredith, Ames and Winnail are all football fans. With his post, Dr. Bob is proclaiming himself more righteous than LCG's top leadership. Does Dr. Bob's post foreshadow a split coming?
GO PACKERS!!!!!
Let's not forget the Baltimore Ravens play the San Francisco 49'ers at M & T Bank Stadium on Thanksgiving evening.
The real reason why Herbert Armstrong and some Armstrong Churches of God profits (ooops, there I go again, I mean "prophets") don't like football is because football is the EXACT opposite of what they do in real life.
Think about it.
Football is a game of rules with a goal line of scoring and winning in mind, with a time clock.
Armstrongism is a religion game where the rules are often changed at the whim of the profit (ooops, there I go again), the goal line is often changing (Rod Meredith has been saying we have 3 to 5 years left for 50 years), and there is no game clock because everytime a prophetic senario doesn't pan out (i.e 1975 in Prophecy), the game just continues.
Oh, and there is one other BIG difference between the game of Football and the game of Armstrongism. Everybody knows the NFL is a business. TV advertising is the major revenue source, and it costs the patrons who watch the NFL on TV nothing - other than their normal cable or satellite bill.
But, Armstrongism is a business disguised as God's one true church. It costs its patrons, "the dumb sheep", a lifetime of tithes, oferings, special offerings, and the all important building fund becoming a lifetime income stream all for the glory of "that profit".
This is why the adherents to Herbert Armstrong's business empire legacy do not like Football. It is just the opposite of what they do in real life.
Richard
PS - the Washington Redskins will break your heart every time. Wasn't that OT win by Dallas typical?
It's his "first" annual rant, really. His first post on the topic was 9/9/11, opening night of NFL season.
But in a way he may not realize, he has a point. Football can be an addiction for many people.
I've taken Dr. Thiel up on his challenge this fall. I have yet to watch any NFL games -- and with one exception involving my old alma mater during the Feast (which I didn't expect to see on ESPN), I've watched no college games.
I've settled for "radio only" of college football - which I guess is a gray area, because I'm not watching them.
Not really missing the NFL at all, since I work most of the day on Sundays. And all in all, I'm accomplishing more on weekends.
I liked to play sandlot football, but somehow never got around to watching games on TV. And, it's not as if my years in WCG caused this. I just prefer watching motorsports, boxing, and rock concerts, all of which probably consign me to the Lake of Fire in the minds of loyal Armstrongists.
BB
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