Friends: There is a chance I may have been wrong about "no sports" in heaven …God had good reasons for creating us as He did.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #915

May 28, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Sporting Chance

By Bob Walters

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5-6

A couple months ago in this space I floated an interrogative for consideration, “Are there sports in heaven?” (Link “#907-Sporting Spirit,” 4-2-24).

Though on its surface the question appears rhetorical, it nonetheless speaks to the potential differences of the Kingdom “here” vs. the Kingdom “there.”  My general thought was that heaven – though unknown – will be perfect in ways we cannot imagine and that our humanity will be completed in ways only our full, divine life in Christ can reveal. The mystery will be lifted.

I think that’s what Genesis 1:27 means: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” To me there is some logic in thinking that life in this earthly realm – fallen, prideful, greedy, sinful … you know the list – requires our constant comparison and scoring system with each other. I.e., life as a scorebook, not the book of life.

Love – divine love, agape love – isn’t about worldly comparison, or being better at something than someone else, or winning worldly accolades.  God’s love, in humans is about humility, righteousness, sacrifice and living life in Christ’s image with full faith in Jesus’s identity as Savior, Messiah, Christ, Son of God, fully human, fully God.  It’s living with love for God and others, not jealousy of God and others.

The first depiction is Christlikeness; the second one is Satan.  Satan knows all that we know about Christ – probably more – but Satan lacks love, and there4 is the difference.  God is love, while Satan hates God, undermines humanity, and is jealous of all creation that loves God, and vice versa.

But I digress.  My earlier point was that sports would be unnecessary in heaven, or if we played sports or competed it would be for the joy of human expression of God’s image.  Not “I win!” or “We’re Number One!” but “We are one in Christ, and look at these gifts of expression and talent. Praise God!”

It occurs to me a good church is like that: shared love, creativity, joy, and sacrifice.

So, in a nutshell, God’s image, which humans fully attain in heaven with Christ, doesn’t require competition because that life and our humanity has become perfect.

God’s judgment, righteousness, and love, yes.  Human competition, no. Joy, yes.  Pain, no.

Now, I’m still convinced heaven will be perfect, but I’m not so sure I was right about competition; competition may be part of God’s original design. Enter Edith Stein, and hear me out.

Stein’s is a name that rang a bell when I encountered it last week in a First Things article, but I didn’t remember why or where I had heard it.  Turns out she was an early 20^th century German Jewish philosopher (1891-1942) and her story is fascinating.

Born a German orthodox Jew in an area that is now Poland, Stein as a teenager renounced her faith, became an atheist, and then while studying at Germany’s famed Göttingen University, converted to Catholicism. She became a Carmelite nun, philosopher, and spiritual writer executed in 1942 by the Nazis at Auschwitz because of her Jewish roots. She was later canonized by the Church as a saint and martyr, and is one of the six patron saints of Europe.

That biographical snippet aside, the article I read was (LINK) Masculinity Is Tragic, a relatively brief but highly relevant observation about modern “therapeutic masculinity” that undermines man’s natural, i.e., God-ordained, tendencies (modern feminists will hate the article; Jordan Peterson fans will love it).  Quoting Stein in her 1931 essay/lecture, Separate Vocations for Men and Women:

“Man was called by his original God-given vocation to be master of the created world. Hence, his body and soul are equipped to conquer it.” (KC Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker … call your office.)

Article author James Diddams adds, “Masculinity requires competition, against oneself and others … victory and mastery mean nothing without the risk of defeat.” Diddams calls Christ the “archetype of perfected humanity” – remember what I said about heaven and perfection? – “and presents the fullest model of masculinity.”  

“There will still be men and women in the new heaven and earth with masculine and feminine features,” Diddams adds, “but those natures will be sanctified, transcending even their prelapsarian [before the fall] perfection.”  Sure.  If God created us as heirs in his image, why would the end, I mean, eternity, be different from the beginning? Diddams writes a compelling refutation of “modern” masculinity.

Everyone’s image of heaven is unique, and as I mentioned in my previous column (#907), friend and pastor Dave Faust insists that whatever is out there in eternity with Jesus waiting for us, we won’t be disappointed. As for me I don’t think I’d mind hearing, beyond the pearly gates, a nice rousing, “Play Ball!”

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) highly recommends the FT article (link) and recently ordered a Butker jersey.