According to Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, the Christian God is a Seahawks fan, at least for this week. Wilson had the worst game of his career, throwing four interceptions and was suffering four sacks. Wilson practically handed the game to the Green Bay Packers. But, Wilson had a secret weapon that Aaron Rodgers didn’t know about, God. Yes, Wilson called on the big man upstairs to give the Seahawks what they needed to defeat the Green Bay Packers.
Eight hours before game time, Wilson put in a praise order to Jesus:
After the Seahawks stunning comeback win, Wilson and some of his Christian teammates knelt on the field and thanked God for their victory. Wilson later said:
“Just making the plays at the end. Keep believing. There was no doubt, I just had no doubt. We had no doubt as a team. The funny thing is I was on the sideline right before we went off that last drive and I told (offensive coordinator Darrell) Bevell, ‘be ready for the check’, for the play that we just ran through the touchdown. I said ‘I’m gonna pull a touchdown and win the game’. And sure enough man. I just believe that God prepared me for these situations. God’s prepared our team too as well. Like I said, I’m honored to be on this team. I’m going to the Super Bowl again.”
You see, there’s the problem. God was too busy helping Wilson prepare to beat the Seahawks to devote any time to rape and pillage going on in Nigeria. God was too busy helping Wilson understand the Packers’ defensive schemes to concern himself with children going to bed tonight without eating. What a mighty, mighty God Wilson serves, a God who can’t be bothered with the pressing needs of his creation because he’s too busy fixing a football game in Seattle.
Wilson tweeted out after the game:
As an atheist, I am amused by these kind of masturbatory displays of Christianity. Since Wilson’s God is a fiction, I know that the game was decided on the field. Green Bay had it in their grasp and let it get away. Wilson found a way to put off his horrible play and bring his team down the stretch to victory.
What troubles me is how many Christians are thrilled when a player or musician makes a public display of God affection. They are almost beside themselves when they hear their God, not just any God, THEIR God, mentioned on TV. Rarely do they consider how such things cheapen not only their religion but the God they worship.
Do they really want to speak up for a God who takes time out of his busy schedule to help a football team win a game? The same could be said when people praise God for helping them to find their keys. Is this who the Christian God is — a divine bellhop who stands by waiting to meet the every whim of self-indulgent followers of Jesus?
Christians of every stripe should be offended when players such as Russell Wilson attribute their victory to God, the deity who loves every sport. It seems God helps football teams score the winning touchdown, baseball teams score the winning run, and golfers make the winning putt. I suppose God’s team even has some bowlers on it and he helps them get the 7-10 split to win the game. Is this what the Christian God has become, a genie who grants wishes to those who call upon his name?
If that is so, why then is he silent when millions of people will call on his name asking him to save them from starvation, torture, rape, calamity, and death? Is God so busy with American sports players that he has no time for no account starving children in Africa? Is he so tuned in to helping Russell Wilson grab victory from the jaws of defeat, that he has no time to help those who are being raped, abused, and murdered by ISIS and Boko Haram?
So, I ask you dear Christian, is THIS the God you want me to worship and serve? Is Jesus really little more than Russell Wilson’s touchdown Jesus? If so, count me out. I want nothing to do with such a petty, heartless deity.
The good news is, God is fixing to get an ass-whipping two weeks from today. The Seattle Seahawks will play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. And here’s one thing I know: Tom Brady the Patriot quarterback and his coach Bill Belichick? They won’t spent any time in prayer meetings beseeching God to help them defeat the Seahawks. Instead, they will be doing what consummate professionals do. They will study film, they will cook up schemes to help them win, and then Tom Brady and Co will go out on the field and play as smart and as hard as they can. And if and when they win? You can count on one thing, neither of them will be praising Jesus for the victory.
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As a diehard Seahawks fan, I have to say yes, god does love them more!
Ha ha, jk 😉
🙂 I think the Seahawks are one of the best teams in football. I think Wilson is a top shelf QB. But, he is so because he works his ass off every day.
Whoever wins in 2 weeks, the team who has the better game plan and executes that game plan will win. (That and a smidgen of luck) Wilson’s teammates rightly praised the right person after the game, Russell Wilson. Gutsy, head in the game comeback win.
It will be a great game. But…what if God is a Patriot’s fan? 🙂
I have to say, Bruce, even after following the link and reading the coverage at Christian Post, that I’m not convinced Wilson was suggesting God chose the Seahawks over the Packers.
I’m quite certain had the Packers emerged victorious Russell would still have said Jesus was his hope and anchor. And he did, while praising God, say that his team kept making the plays. Yet I don’t find where he suggested that God preferred the Seahawks over the Packers.
It is the implication behind Wilson’s statements that I find so offensive. If God is all powerful and the Christian can do nothing without him, then Wilson rightly gives credit to God. If this is so, and winning is the grand objective, then the fact that the Seahawks won means God willed, preferred the Seahawks. There is no way to avoid these conclusions if one thinks about the theology behind the statements.
It would different if these God praising Christian athletes said, I am thankful that God gave each player in the contest the physical strength to play the game. But, they don’t say this. God is given the praise for the play made and the victory.
I have heard countless statements by Wilson, so it is not just these statements that help form my view. Like Tim Tebow, Wilson wears his God on his sleeve. Certainly this is his right, as it is mine to point out his public blathering about God and his connection to a win diminishes the Christian religion and robs those to whom the praise and credit he due.(his teammates and coaches)
I would also add that I have yet to hear a Christian like Wilson praising God for a loss, for how good it was to be humbled and not preferred by God. In losses, like when bad things happen, the blame is put on self. If God is omnipotent, then he could have helped a Christian QB win. By helping them win, he using using his discriminatory powers to help a team, player win.
Behind all of this is theodicy, a God who fiddles (helps quarterbacks throw winning touchdowns) while Rome burns. Such a deity deserves condemnation and ridicule.
Btw, this isn’t my atheism talking. I hated this kind of thinking when I was a pastor.
I think Jimmy Stewart’s prayer in Shenandoah best sums things up for me:
Lord, we cleared this land, We plowed it, sowed it and harvested
it. We cooked the harvest, it wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t Be eatin’ it, if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you Just the same anyway, Lord, for this food we’re about to eat. Amen.
The praise rightfully belongs to those who played and coached the game. They are the gods worthy of praise.
You may be right about Wilson’s theology. I don’t know any more than what I read in the link, which to me didn’t seem that incriminating. Heck, many believers don’t need any additional help looking foolish. How sad for them.
I guess I could see it from a perspective of “Thank God that I and everyone on my team was gifted with the abilities and determination to win this game” But still then you have to wonder why some people are born with severe impairments to their mobility and why God seems to favor you so much. Oh wait, the disadvantaged are here to teach us a lesson and God has simply blessed you due to your Godly lifestyle, which he knew you were going to live before you were conceived!
Whenever someone; Actor, musician, sports start, etc. wins an award, game or whatever, they thank god. So, that implies that they believe god had something to do with it. Context is everything, and the fact that he thanked god indicates he believes god had something to do with his victory.
It’s all bullshit of course. God is no more into having vapid, empty stars win awards or games anymore than he/she/it is into feeding starving children, healing the sick or stopping wars. Simply put, god doesn’t exist, and this is all the proof one needs.
AND, if god does indeed exist and has something to do with with such peoples “victories” while allowing the aforementioned atrocities to continue, I want nothing to do with such a god to begin with!
Want to talk about something that is so self centered, this is it. Let’s say for example that a child is starving everyday and everyday they cry out for food but the food never comes. God answers that prayer as a “no” or wait,” I guess. Could be they weren’t praying to the right deity, I guess. And since when would an almighty, all powerful being care about the outcome of a sports event? I just don’t understand this being spiritualized. Shouldn’t one pray for certain virtues, a better world or something with a higher purpose? Nope they view God as a way to get something for themselves. *Sigh* reminds me of some of the posts on my facebook. “Thank God the rain stopped for my wedding!” “Thank God I got that nativity scene I wanted!” “So and so died but that’s ok, it was God’s will and where will you go when you die?” So and on and so forth.
While it is a bit frustrating to see athletes do this, and as you say you were annoyed with it even as a preacher, I think there is some interesting nuance going on here.
One thing about athletes is they train for their sport but for the most part when they are playing they are on autopilot and many of their actions and reactions aren’t conscious (and therefore not rational). Maybe you’ve heard of an athlete being “In the Zone”, the zone being a condition of intense focus as well as excellent player aptitude. I can see how this would lead many athletes to thank God and Jesus for their success. For one thing the “zone” is not always on and another much of their effort doesn’t come from the conscious mind. This is a bit analagous to Homer petitioning the muses for inspiration, after all how could one person recite the entire Odyssey on their own? Modern creative people may have a similar reaction of awe of their own creative effort.
(The psychology of religion is quite interesting, I’d suggest Valerie Tarico’s videos on the subject.)
Troy,
You raise a good point about being on auto pilot. We all can make spontaneous utterances when put into a pressure situation.
Bruce
Is this what the Christian God has become, a genie that grants wishes to those who call upon his name? – Bruce
Even when my “belief/faith” was at it’s strongest, these types of Request/pleas/prayers seemed most distasteful, selfish and petty. I think most of us theists (current or former) can recall being taught that we should pray for almost everything and, of course, kids will gravitate directly to toys and material items or personal help with a spelling test or some such inanity – I remember thinking (after many of these “prayers” went “unanswered/rejected/denied” that how sick must I be to pray for a new bike when kids in Africa were starving? I changed tactics and prayed for the kids of Africa or other seemingly selfless situations in hope that my “reward” for this would be something like a new bike or whatnot – basically karma. Welp here we are decades later and starvation has spread across the globe along with murder and a whole slew of injustices that god should be able to quell without reminders from an anonymous schmoe like me but he hasn’t seen fit to do squat except let it get worse (unless the measure of “better” is that there is no open hot global conflicts/wars [e.g. WW1, WW2 etc.] that is killing 10s of thousands per week and leaving millions hungry and homeless).
… and I still never got a new bike. But I couldn’t care less about personal gains these days so that doesn’t matter.
But yes, I agree that prayers and kudos to god for personal gains and successes has risen to a level of open disgust with me. Especially, like in Russell Wilson’s case, there are 51 players and a dozen coaches and trainers that busted their asses to put him in a position to think that god – and not his team mates and coaches, was the FIRST reason he was able to “overcome” and eventually win the game. To me, that is an insult to all his team mates and coaches. Also, god must have a sick sense of humor to run half the Seattle fans out of the stadium that they were NOT allowed to re-enter – I guess they should have had faith? So screw them out of their price of admission for their lack of it.
The faithful will see the hand of god in all things because that is what they WANT to see, To me and the rest of us with our eyes open, we see life in it’s naked reality and give thanks to those who have earned it and deserve it, cutting out the middle man(deity).
Go Browns Go Buckeyes
” Is this who the Christian God is, a divine bellhop who stands by waiting to meet the every whim of self-indulgent followers of Jesus?”
I particularly liked that line.
We often make (admittedly horrible) jokes about things. Earthquake? Tsunami?
“God was distracted, looking for gramma’s car keys again.”
Sadly, many Christians have reduced God to a pathetic caricature. Such a petty God who seems preoccupied with hemorrhoids and car keys.
I have to say it was more comforting to believe that all things worked for good. Most of you know I’m not an atheist, nor an agnostic, but this blog has moved me away from Christianity.
However, I find myself irritated by Christians posting the usual stuff on how God fixes everything, answers every prayer, helps everybody, blah blah blah. We humans are supposed to HELP each other. That is what matters. Everything else is bullsh#t.
Many things are comforting but not true. 🙂 That’s the power of religion AND chocolate. 🙂
Except chocolate is TOTALLY real! 😉
Dear Misguided Russell Wilson, you played like shit for 58 minutes as did most of your teammates. Luckily, and I do mean luckily, you pulled out a unbelievable victory over the Green Bay Packers who clearly dominated you the entire 58 minutes. You should praised the Packers for giving you the game with their on-side kick mistake and a couple of others. God had nothing to do with your win! HE/SHE has better things to attend to then a Seahawk victory–just shut the hell up and be glad and thankful you guys had a LUCKY win over a better team.
Let’s use some logic here, folks. The Dallas Cowboys are America’s team. America is God’s “Light upon the hill”. Therefore, God’s favorite team is, without any doubt, the Dallas Cowboys. So, you may ask, why is Dallas not playing in the Super Bowl? Two reasons:
1. DAMMIT, IT WAS A “FOOTBALL MOVE”!
2. Jerry Jones is still under judgement for being such a douchebag.
Well I did not See Russel thanking or Praising Jesus when he Threw the interception to give the game to the Patriots. I did not see him pointing his finger up to the sky then. So I guess God wanted New England to win Russ. Praise the Lord. Why did you not Thank and Praise Jesus for this? Now he wants 60 million dollars but that goes against what Jesus said to give up your worldly goods and follow him. It is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. He does not mention this much of course.
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