This Page Last Updated September 10^th, 2009 (new style reckoning)

 

The Awful Truth About Sports and Games

In the Domostroi (Rules for Russian Households), a book made in the 16th century by the father confessor of the Tsar, it is specified that card playing was forbidden because of its heretical Latin origin. All music, profane songs, dances and games were banned as sheer idolatry. Draughts and chess were anathematized because they were likely of Chaldean influence. In 1551 the Synod of Moscow published its Stoglav Council which severely condemned all popular amusements, including chess and card playing. There also are Nikonites with appreciation for the old Russia practices, the modern Russian elder Barsanuphius of Optina said that soccer was invented by the devil and Christians ought neither to play nor watch. So modern men can testify to what is right. Tertullian was a heretic, but even he did attest to many things that were right, such as forbidding Christians from attending sports. In his work “On Spectacles” he correctly condemns their brutality along with the connection to gambling and prostitution.

One of the many things that interested me about the Old Believers in Oregon was an agreement they made with the school system that Old Believer children would not participate in such activity as western sports. Many young sport players fall dead while playing. floor. The first two links below are reports of teenagers who died the same week from playing sports, I am sure there were more.

13 year old dies playing basketball

Teenage hockey player dies

How safe are sports? This report explains how many teenagers die from football.

This is all for no good reason.

Protestant preacher Adrian Rogers attacked sports. “We have dads today that are interested in sports, business, and sex. They've forgotten their God-given assignments to teach the Ten Commandments.” He went on to say that social problems, such as gun violence, are the consequences of fathers avoiding this responsibility.

There are no good examples of anyone encouraging others to attend or play sports. To play such games are innovation, they are contrary to what has clearly been shown about goodness and sobriety. Competitive sports are often times an occasion for drunkenness. I will simply follow what is the unmistakable and sound teachings. What do we do? We should follow the ancient and universal practices. I will prove all things and follow what is venerable. This is not the time to be following wicked examples, but only pure ones. Bad company corrupts good morals.

Skiing and skating can be used for good purposes, but when they are turned into a competitive sport there is a big problem. So there might be something that can be considered an exception, but in truth such things would not actually be sport. So it is not really honest to suggest that sports are accepted when they are not.

There is really a great indecency with most sports. Many people today do not know what it means to be Christian or of the Old Faith. Many Old Believers have lost their identity specifically because of such participations as sports. Christianity is both a lifestyle and faith. Faith and practice cannot be separated. Both must be together. We cannot live like the devil while we work and play, then pretend to be a Christian when we worship and pray. There is danger in compromise.

Tom Eldridge writes about sports, “A telltale sign of paganism is nudity. Historically, a primary means for introducing nudity into a culture has been through athletic competition which emphasizes form, movement, and the prowess of the body... Christians should be wary of any educational process or cultural event which justify nakedness on the grounds of athletic freedom....”

It shouldn’t be a secret that sports promote immodest attire. The pressure to be immodest is just one more reason to avoid sports. The Apostle Paul often referred to how athletes ran races “unencumbered” (i.e. nude). Taking extra hormones are now a big part of sports as well, another good reason to avoid such things.

All of the ancient Olympic events were held in the nude. The word gymnasium comes from the word for nude and at this time homosexuality became very important for the Greeks. The games are suicidal. It has been said that the last Olympiad was in 393 Ad when Theodosius I the Christian Emperor shutdown all pagan shrines. 30 years later his son Theodosius II burned the Olympic shrine and the temple of Zeus 426 AD. Some archeologists found a single piece of evidence at the bottom of a toilet channel in Olympia that suggests there were athletes about 100 years later. I do not think this overturns the historical evidence for Theodosian law, but it is possible there were some infractions following the instituted ban. Two earthquakes swallowed Olympia at the start of the 5th century, while 6th floods covered it with mud. The modern Olympic games were not restarted until 1896 when the earth destroying Industrial revolution had been underway for sometime, when at the same time humans began to dig up ancient Olympia.

William Penn wrote that the Quakers, in an attempt to revive primitive Christianity, taught that there is to be no sports and pastimes after the manner of this world. Competitive (or mutual agony) sports encourage pride. God never purposed for mankind to compete with one another. It is idolatry because winning is so overemphasized by its competition.

Prior to 1850 most Protestants had rejected the idea of sports. Then came along the Masonic Young Men’s Christian Association which engaged in speculative examinations of Christian truth (as did the YWCA and Scoutism, etc.) In its early history the YMCA was often condemned for its use of sports by the more traditional and outspoken people. This is all part of the new masculine culture that was developed out of the Protestant Fraternities. Part of the idea was artificial exercise. Robert Higgs wrote, “Sports and religion…are in many ways incompatible.” Michael Novak wrote, “Sports are religious in the sense that they are organized institutions, disciplines, and liturgies; and also in the sense that they teach religious qualities of heart and soul.” S. J. Hoffman said, “the culture, the values, and so on of elite completive sport are essentially antithetical to the fundamental tenets and practices of Christianity.” Sir Thomas Elyot condemn folk football in the 19th century as more likely to maim than to benefit the participants.

 

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