I always dreamed of being a professional athlete as a kid. It seemed like they had it all! They played for a job, made an absurd amount of money, had a really nice break for offseason, and travelled for free. If we’re honest, most of us look at professional athletes and think they have a truly full life.
My Dream Job
This week, however, we’ve seen that this is not always the case. For every Tim Tebow, Jeremy Lin, and Bubba Watson, it seems like there is an exponentially larger number of scandals amongst other athletes and coaches.
This week alone has seen its fare share of problems. Ozzie Guillen has, once again, gotten himself in trouble because of his mouth. The New Orleans Saints have been caught in the most explosive scandal the NFL has seen in years. Maybe ever.”
I want to focus briefly on Bobby Petrino, former head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. They finished 5th in the country last year in college football and were poised to have another great season.
Is this the Full Life?
But now Petrino is fired for the following reasons: He got in a motorcycle accident with a 25 year old girl. Later we find that Petrino was having an affair with this girl, had given her a job (in no small part dueto the affair), and had been lying to his boss about it for weeks.
How does this happen?!?!
People, who seemingly have everything going for them, throw it all away. It has happened for years (Tiger Woods, Darryl Strawberry, the 1919 Chicago White Sox), but still no one seems to learn that sex, drugs, and money cannot satisfy you.
In fact, when we live for those things, they ruin our lives.
Many people reject the Bible because they do not want to have a boring and no fun life. And yet, we constantly see people losing any hints of fulfillment they had in life because they refuse to live a Biblical lifestyle.
So, a couple questions we want to hear your thoughts on:
1) Is a Biblical life really more fulfilling, even more fun, than a non-Biblical life? Why?
2) Why do you think people keep making the same mistakes?
3) What areas of your life need to change so that they can be more fulfilling?
The last part about the sex, drugs and money seems to read like a straw-man argument. Does anyone (besides a small percentage of the population) really think sex, drugs and money will fulfill them? There seems to be nothing uniquely Christian about recognizing that those things do not, in fact, fulfill people and can ultimately have bad consequences. Most atheists would agree with you. Most Jews would. Most Hindus would. Most Muslims would, etc. Obsessing over drugs, sex or money are generally perceived as a bad idea by most people attempting to live a modicum of an ethical life.
I also question the idea that people don’t want to become Christians because they “want to have fun.” There are lots of reasons people are not Christians. I imagine most of them have nothing to do with sex, drugs and money.
Thanks for commenting!
Second answer first: This comes from personal experience. I’ve spoke with dozens of people who make this specific argument. Not just about sex, drugs, and money. They just don’t think it is possible to have fun as a christian.
While most people would say they “know” those things don’t satisfy, there are still plenty of people going after them.
This is a couple years old: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500368_162-4222322.html
but says
16% of Americans use cocaine in life
42% of Americans used marijuana in their life
From various sources:
22% of men admit to having an adulterous affair
14% of women admit to having an adulterous affair
25% of total search engine requests are porn-related and the number 1 search term is “sex”
There’s enough people losing family because of their jobs to show money as a problem.
So no, not everyone thinks those things satisfy, but there is a significant portion of people going after them. What interests me most is that we look to athletes and celebrities as people who have it all, but so many of them live as if they are completely empty. They are runring to anything that is available they think could satisfy them.