As you are probably aware....Ryan O'Neal recently passed away at 82 years of age. I saw Love Story in Sydney, Australia....in 1971.....on leave while in the army. The film began with Oliver Barrett IV softly asking this question....."What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died....that she was beautiful and brilliant....that she loved Mozart and Bach....and the Beatles....and Me?" Well....in like manner....sadly thinking back....what can you say about a 247 year old nation that died...that it was once beautiful....and brilliant....until it died of gluttony....gazing at its own perceived beauty in a mirror....choking on that which it loved to devour....from the Beatles to the Super Bowl?
The following two paragraphs were originally just added at the bottom of the above post....From Whence Come Wars And Fighting. I decided to make them a post of their own because the topic did change from the Tim Alberta book to the idolatry of sports in America. I do believe...in my research and observation over four decades....and past participation in what I am now warning of....that we....in 2023....have become serial idol worshipers....and are blind to that. I want to point out that sports is only one idol of many....and to acknowledge that I have my own idols that have to be identified and confronted:
Are you wondering how someone can make time for reading 98 books? (mentioned in the Alberta book post) Well think about it. If you are not enslaved to sports....then take all the games watched on television or in stadiums....on all the sports....all though the year....football and baseball and basketball and hockey and golf and tennis and the Olympics and soccer and track and swimming and NASCAR and MMA or Ultimate or whatever it is called.....and all the time spent reading about them in newspapers and magazines....and all the time watching or listening to sports talk shows on television or radio or the computer....and all the time playing any of these sports....and all the hours driving to the stadiums and golf courses....and all the time spent in conversation with friends on all these sports....and you would not only be able to read 98 books....but hundreds of books....and also listen to hundreds of sermons on the glorious gospel on the majesty of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! And this is just one effect on the church....from one of the many idolatries that plague modern man!
OK....Shohei Ohtani. I knew there was a Japanese baseball player that both pitched and hit home runs but this is the first time that I heard both his first and his last name. Are you flabbergasted? What planet do I live on? A 700 million dollar contract? What planet do you live on? Sport in America today is a bonafide biblical major idol....subject to any and every judgment previously in God's Word. America is collapsing in no small part because of this. Athletes can change schools that invested in them....make millions if their brand is big enough....and now they're talking about just paying the student athletes. Maybe someone should ask an AI app what horror that would lead to? Sport on all levels has been corrupted....and every aspect of it.....the moderation of appreciating a gold medal winner or the awarding of a trophy replaced by dancing around a Golden Calf....towers of Babel in almost every major city....while Demetrius and the silversmiths live to lay down millions to make more millions.
