The Holtonian

Expounding on Football Fanaticism and Entertainment and there impact on my Christian walk... or lack there of

I've been re-thinking my arguement on the patheticness of football fanatics here in the south. I still stand by the arguement that in general the fanaticism of football fans here in the south is I think unhealthy.

However can good times and fellowship be had at football games collegiate or pro? Yes of course. Can significant bonding occur when a father and son watch a football game on TV? But of course. So I'm not trying to say that watching football, or being a fan is a bad thing but to use the overused Christian arguement, 'everything in moderation.'

And I think for different people there are different 'requirements' or levels of healthiness. For instance a single guy with little responsiblity might as well spend his saturday afternoon watching a football game, though maybe he owns a house and should work on it while the game's on--have it playing in the background. A married guy might better use his time like the single guy, multi-tasking (house work), or possibly forego the game and take his wife out for a picnic. A married guy with kids, maybe he should take his kids outside and play catch instead of watching the game. But if his kids are into the game then sure why not watch the game with them. There's no fast and set rule I'm trying to outline here.

I know most of the time I'm working around the house, cleaning, hammering, doing jumping jacks, while the game's on. I'll turn on college football because i have some general interest but I realize that sitting on my butt for two hours or more to watch a single game that will have no direct impact on my life seems a bit too much of a commitment. That's two hours I could be working on the house, playing with my child, playing with my dog (who i might add is pretty neglected since AK showed up), talking to friends that I've neglected to keep in touch with, or maybe just talking to my wife as we sit on the porch swing and watch the Covenant students drive too fast on my street.

Like I said there's no rule I'm trying to establish, I'm not that arrogant and legalistic. But I know that God in my life the past summer has really shown me the value of time and how I spend it. I kind of looked back at the past few years and was disappointed when I saw how much TV I had watched. How does that fall into any sort of accomplishment in life? "Chris Holton watched 7 hours of TV a week... Congratulations Chris!" I mean how would God look at my life and the time he gave me? He's blessed me with 26 amazing years of life but I've probably wasted most of it on endless pursuits and meaningless entertainment. Entertainment definately has its place, if we couldn't relax and watch a tv show, sporting event, video game, read a book, etc we'd go crazy. We need time to relax and chill.

But entertainment to me is stopping to smell the roses and relax on the journey of life, a life where we run towards Christ our whole lives. But think about it, if we're always stopping to smell the roses and relax we're not going to actually get anywhere. I can just imagine my debrief of my life after I'm dead (this is actually heavily influenced by the amazingly funny movie by and Starring Albert Brooks, Defending Your Life)

An Angel of Sorts who talks like Lumberg: Now Chris I noticed here on this TPS report that it says your Christian walk started off strong, and you were making some good progress early on in your walk.
Chris: Yeah I was really intense there for a good bit wasn't I?
Angel: Yeaaaah, not too bad, we tend to expect tenacity the first few years of being a Christian. But usually there is a drop off of spiritual passion, but it usually comes back. But with you we noticed you sort of just faded into a lull. You kind of got really wrapped up in TV like Alias, Survivor, Lost, the Office, and frankly never seemed to come up for air. It was like you just got sucked into TV Land and really didn't do anything for a good 20 years of life.
Chris: Well you gotta understand... in Alias season 3, man it was so intense. Sidney was on the run from these terrorists but then they weren't really bad, they were good, but then they were bad.. or at least sort of. Then on lost I just had to figure out what was on the other side of the island and if they were ever going to get off and what was in that hatch...So I mean they got me wrapped up into the plot so I had to keep watching otherwise I'd never know what would happen.
Angel : Yeaaah, well that's just the thing. Tv's not real, and while you were watching TV your kids grew up without a father paying much attention, your wife didn't have help from you really at all, and also the church you attended really could have used some strong leaders and people to help spread the gospel.
Chris: Huh... well I guess I'll try better next time...
Angel: Yeaaaah... well see here's the thing... you're dead so you're kind of done.

I mean we're not measured on our works alone, don't worry I'm not going back to Catholicism. I'm just sort of saying how I think of things really. Take it or leave it.

Posted by holtonian at September 7, 2006 09:22 PM | TrackBack