If both teams believe God favors them, and both are wearing their lucky uniforms, what’s God to do?!
Does he:
- Flip a coin?
- Consult the recent sins database?
- Bless the highest bidder (the currency being prayers, of course)?
- Take a vote from the Angels (democracy in action)?
- Determine whose lives will be most blessed by the win, and make the ball bounce accordingly?
I’m confused. It’s like that unanswerable question about if an all-powerful God can make a rock so big he can’t lift it, I just don’t have the answer! Maybe I’ll ask a 5 year old, they seem to have wisdom in these sorts of things.
(waiting)
Nope, they just said God will help the purple team win. Less insightful than I’d anticipated, mostly since there are no purple teams playing.
Look, God can’t play favorites between two teams of his followers, because then he’s not a “just” God.
And he shouldn’t make the ball bounce in one teams favor anyway, because that negates free will.
And if there’s no free will, then that means it’s all predestined anyway, completely negating all value of lucky uniforms and pleas for God’s blessing and making sure you avoided those big sins like lying, cursing, and masturbating before game day.
Which brings me to the only logical conclusion I can think of – GOD LEAVES THE RESULTS UP TO THE PLAYERS.
Ooh, now there’s a novel concept. You mean God didn’t make me miss that shot because I snuck a peak at Naomi Campbell’s #freethenipple pic? You mean I didn’t make 3 shots in a row because I said extra prayers and didn’t sneak a peak at Naomi Campbell’s #freethenipple pic?
You mean God might have something more important to dispense heavenly justice on, than a sports game in Wherever, Planet Earth?
Hmmm. Well, I mean I guess it does make logical sense that players should just take responsibility for their own play.
Instead of, you know, saying God blessed them when they win, or in losing, “it was God’s will.” WHICH ONE IS IT?! If it’s both, then you, my friend, are a ROBOT.
Here’s a better idea. If “God is Love”, then there’s really only thing to do: play for the love of the game.
If you truly play with love, you’re going to give everything you can possibly give to it, and more, for the sake of being the absolute best YOU can be in that moment. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but if you play motivated by love, you’ll always walk away richer and a better person for it.
Irrational rituals are not love. Begging the genie in the sky to give you what you want, isn’t love.
Love is putting in the work because it’s the Do that comes from your Be. Love is playing with passion, because there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing in that moment.
Don’t cheapen Love by turning it into a superstitious cosmic Santa Claus. Don’t cheapen your Life, by turning yourself into a marionette.
Take responsibility for yourself, your actions, and your game play, give it all the Love you’ve got, and then take responsibility for the results.
