Dwight Howard: God will help Magic beat Lakers

I'm not one to get all holier-than-thou on people, but I really hate threads like these because some of the stuff that gets posted in them.

But, I respect the differing opinion of many people here.

Sigh.

 

This has been said before by others, probably more effectively than I can say it:
Claiming that God wants you to win something is another way of proclaiming how wonderful you are. I got a bellyful of this when I covered T.O., who wholeheartedly believed that God loved him more than "lesser beings" because God had bestowed "so many blessings" on him.
Following this logic, God must have really loved Caesar, who was rich and got to run most of the world, and hated Jesus, who was poor and ended up on a cross.

 

Wrong. Not even God can hit a 1-iron. That's why you hold one up during a thunderstorm.

 

In defense of athletes who give credit to God - maybe I'm wrong - but they're not exactly saying "God wants us to win" - rather they are saying their faith allows them to focus on performing the task at hand and not sweat the pressure.
It's kind of a Zen thing.

 

It's funny, reporters complain about some athletes being bland and boring and never saying much. Yet when one tells you what he/she honestly believe, you crucify them like a nutcase.

If Dwight Howard honestly believes that God is on his side, so be it. He certainly isn't the first. And Howard saying it has a lot more credibility than certain other athletes would.

 

Athletes invoking God IS bland/boring/not saying much. This is not not cutting edge stuff.

 

But it should be mocked whenever it happens.

 

It's seems so silly to me when athletes do it I just prefer to ignore/marginalize it so as not to encourage them. You start calling them out on it and the god squad uses it as a promotional tool.

 

Religion is the refuge of the simple minded, and sports has more than its share of simple minded folk

 

here's where print guys have a huge edge over live tv and sound byte folks: i always choose to roll my eyes and press on. if no real analysis comes is forthcoming, move on.

guys can say what they want. i can pick snd choose what i deem to be a suitable/useful response. if you're a columnist feel free to have a blast mocking the god squaders.

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If it's only a kick that Kobe gets in his ass, some would believe that wouldn't be enough to qualify as karma, if you catch my drift.

 

First, a theological point. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is omnipotent and outside of time - He created time. So the argument that He has "better things to do" is nonsensical. It seems likely that in most instances He would choose not to interfere in the outcomes of sporting events, but it certainly isn't for His busy schedule.

As to your reaction, if you think he's a good guy, why would his personal religious beliefs upset you so much?