Consistency

I experienced something yesterday that caused me a bit of concern. I am not one of those people who are opposed to television, movies and video games that have violence in them. I was allowed to play those kind of games, but the distinction was always made that they were not real life, instead, they were make believe, definitely not reality. In the real world, violence was never an option. But others would disagree. They say that violence in any form is not good because not everyone can mentally make the distinction between real and make believe.

With this being said, I was a little disturbed to see something violent in real life. Imagine my dismay yesterday as we went to a Columbia Inferno hockey game, a minor league team that plays at the Carolina Coliseum, and found that the time in which the crowd, filled with men, women and children, cheered the loudest was when two grown men grabbed each other’s jerseys with the intent of pummeling each other. It occurred several times throughout the game. Apparently Columbia and the team from Gwinnett do not get along very well. It was eerily reminiscent to several scenes in the movie Gladiator where Russell Crowe plays Maximus, a gladiator forced to kill, all for the amusement of the crowd, a crowd that cheered each time harm was done. At the hockey game, I couldn’t help but think how these same people cheering would be appalled if their children wanted to watch a violent movie or play a video game that had violence in it.
Now, hockey is not the only sport with violence. I cringe thinking about the number of times I’ve seen someone charge the mound after being hit by a pitch in the game of baseball and how violent the game of football can be. None of us are innocent. My friend Joe says, “That’s the great thing about Jesus’ parables, they tie us all up.” Jesus has a word for everyone, for you, me and everyone in between.

The whole conversation speaks to consistency throughout life. How can we on the one hand condemn violence but then on the other hand go to something like a sporting event and cheer such violence occurring in real life. I worry sometimes that as Christians, we are quick to take a stand on some things, but our message lacks a consistency among other things. I have long said that I will never condone the Ten Commandments being placed on the walls in our courtrooms until we start living by them, especially the one that says, “Thou shalt not kill.” Am I abdicating that hockey or baseball or any other sport be outlawed? No, but should we cheer when two people fight? No, let’s be real. Let’s be consistent with the stand we take for Christ in every aspect of our lives together.
Brad