Does God Help Us Win in Sport?

The issue of God or any form of religion has always been one that is ready for discussion especially when someone confesses their faith in public. In recent times, many sportsmen have not been shy to confess their faith in God or Allah when given the opportunity to.

The most recent example is retiring Baltimore Ravens linebacker, Ray Lewis, thanking God for the success he has had not just in Sunday's Super Bowl but throughout his career - "With God, all things are possible," to quote a familiar verse from the Bible.

However, one must be careful not to make your conclusions based on a few words of mouth especially considering that Ray Lewis has been at the centre of a murder investigation in the past.

Ray Lewis is not the only high profile NFL player to have made headlines in public over his faith though. At the height of Tebow-mania last season, there had never been more google searches for one memory verse in particular - John 3:16 which even non Christians would be familiar with.

Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Sam Bradford and many other high profile NFL players are confessed born-again Christians. And there are plenty of other Christian crusaders in the other big pro leagues of America - Jeremy Lin of Linsanity fame is another Christian and proud to be one.

One must remember that the United States is still very much a country where church is still a very important part of life especially in the Midwest and the South. Hence, many of these guys would have been brought up in a Sunday School background and might have ended up in colleges that were founded by Christian groups, e.g. Notre Dame, Boston College, Brigham Young, Texas Christian, etc.

The same culture sort of exists in South Africa too where we have certainly seen a fair few athletes confess their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember every Bulls Super Rugby final and Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez thanking God for their success? Most of the Bulls team are members of South Africa's Reformed Church - although some of their doctrines are fairly interesting when compared to the mainstream Christian view.

Bryan Habana is also a proud Christian and made headlines once for saying that he would not have sex until he was married. I'll let you make your opinion on that as the discussion is worth another blog post.

Then there's Shaun Pollock and AB de Villiers who have confessed their faith from time to time. And most of the South African cricketers have at least some faith in a divine entity, i.e. Hashim Amla is a proud Muslim.

So all this is well in South Africa, the United States and of course, many Muslim countries where the people's passion for Allah is strong.

What about elsewhere like the United Kingdom or New Zealand, countries which have steadfastly worked towards establishing itself as a state separate from God or any form of deity, where the number of people associated with a religion is on the decline, and where people are known to be fervent in expressing the non-existence and relevance of a God?

In fact, skepticism rather than praise is more prevalent when someone famous expresses their faith in this country. One of the most common criticisms I hear is that God is an outdated philosophy. Then there's the issue in sport: if God is impartial and apparently loves everyone whether they acknowledge Him or not, then does He only give victory to those who believe in Him?

Big Brad Thorn is a self-confessed born again Christian

I feel I must address that point here as well as also express why it does tend to irk me when some of these athletes often go as far as saying that God gave them victory today but not to the other team even if that other team might have more Christians.

I have played in a Christian rugby team while studying in Dunedin and still play touch for a Christian team - in fact our church had so many interested touch players, that we had four teams and two of those teams played each other once this year.  

From a Christian point of view, God created us as we are, i.e. He gave us this strength and ability to do the things we can do and enjoy doing on the field. Victories are really beside the point but when we do win, we should still give thanks - probably because of the enjoyment factor.

But most Christian athletes realise that the strength and ability they have is down to God and always give thanks for that part, as well as the peace of knowing God is with them, win or lose. Of course, there is the pressure to show good behaviour on the field too - swearing at the ref or showing violent conduct is probably not What Jesus Would Do to quote a famous wristband. Yet, Christian athletes often realise that they're not perfect and never will be but because of their salvation through Jesus Christ, they can claim to be perfect through Christ.

Here's an interview former Texas quarterback, Colt McCoy gave after experiencing defeat in the National Championship game.

Whether you think God helps people win in sport, that's up to you. But for most Christian athletes, that's beside the point, for they have already won the victory through their salvation in Jesus Christ and the fact that they already have the opportunity to use their gifts on the field to do what they enjoy.

I wish I could comment on the effect Allah has on athletes but I don't know the Islamic doctrine well enough - but would like to hear any thoughts on that.