A significant issue that was a non-issue when I was a teen.
Parents also need to be advised to reflect on the purpose of playing 3-4 different sports at once. The child is not going to get college scholarships in all of them! The child probably already has an idea which sport is the favorite. Now that the child has learned the rules, gotten some exposure, understands the sports, etc., drop sport #4 and sport #3 immediately and remove some of the pressure and stress from the schedule, even if the schedules don't conflict with church. There's just no point in doing it all.
A bit of my pedantry: the word is "soft-peddle" meaning soft-sell, not "soft-pedal" as in bicycles and tricycles.
Absolutely. I just had a conversation with an old teammate about this. Some of the kids in our circles are in the NHL, but to get there, the entire families had to re-center themselves around supporting their kids' schedule. Every spare bit of the family's money and time went toward sports. I don't think most people realize just how costly it is.
Actually, it's pedal in the musical sense. The soft pedal on the piano allows the musician to play the notes a little more quietly, and so a soft-pedaled teaching is one that similarly tones down the rhetoric.
Amen!!! When parents follow schedules that conflict with worship services and Bible study, they teach their children that it is fine to major in the minors (passing sports) and minor in the majors (the consistent development of their faith). Even though missing worship services for sports may be seasonal, it establishes a precedent that can overflow into other consequential areas of life.
Amen to all of this. I've been on a bit of kick when it comes to this myself. I think we're doing real harm to immortal souls by choosing sports over church. And its not like some of these kids are missing a week here or there, i can think of a family that hasn't been in church since Basketball started in January. 11 am practice. Not games. Practice. I want to quote Iverson here. Now baseball and softball start, and now they're gone till the summer. It's spiritually unhealthy.
I wonder if we would have enough men willing to lead the way in an effort to change things. The way our culture has changed a man leading his family is scorned by many. The world just doesn’t get the concept of a godly man as the leader in his home and they sure don’t understand what a submissive wife is. When I was growing up it was understood that most people went to church on Sun morning and some on Wed night. It wasn’t a problem back then. You are right, it will take men who will stand up and lead.
One small victory...a few years back, our local police dept developed a multi-week citizen's academy. The chief intentionally scheduled it on Tuesdays, as he said that Wednesday is church night. One big loss...some of my church's grandparents intentionally miss services to attend their grandkids' games. So it's a multi-generational failing, which will be passed to the kids, as well.
All of this seems to have accelerated after the COVID shut-down. Too people re-prioritized their lives, perhaps to catch up on what they think they lost. My pastor doesn't shy away from talking about it from the pulpit. And I've written a book, taking advantage of the coming 250th birthday of America, which will be given to all the men on Father's Day. It's time for men to be men and to get their priorities right.
Whatever happened to when Jesus said we would no longer need to be in any temple to worship God? John 4:21-24 I worship God every day of the week - in spirit and truth. So what if my kid is playing sports?
How often is church missed? At a certain point, and it varies between individuals, it will have a negative effect on the person. There's a British Olympic runner who refused to compete on the Sabbath. Perhaps you saw the movie? No doubt, his story inspired many.
Regarding your comment, "Deep down, I fully believe every Christian knows what they should be doing every Sunday morning. I refuse to pretend there’s a debate to be had," I am assuming that where you worship, there are no Sunday evening practices or games, or Wednesday evenings either. This subject is something that has bothered me for many years now. I remember when there were no games on Sundays or Wednesdays. Missing worship to attend practices or games is extremely common now. I think I remember only one fairly recent preacher having a lesson about this. And he also realized as he got older, his parents were wrong in letting him participate in wrestling in the short pants they were required to wear. Same with cheer leaders. Sports is good for children, but we have to be godly parents when agreeing to let them participate.
A significant issue that was a non-issue when I was a teen.
Parents also need to be advised to reflect on the purpose of playing 3-4 different sports at once. The child is not going to get college scholarships in all of them! The child probably already has an idea which sport is the favorite. Now that the child has learned the rules, gotten some exposure, understands the sports, etc., drop sport #4 and sport #3 immediately and remove some of the pressure and stress from the schedule, even if the schedules don't conflict with church. There's just no point in doing it all.
A bit of my pedantry: the word is "soft-peddle" meaning soft-sell, not "soft-pedal" as in bicycles and tricycles.
Absolutely. I just had a conversation with an old teammate about this. Some of the kids in our circles are in the NHL, but to get there, the entire families had to re-center themselves around supporting their kids' schedule. Every spare bit of the family's money and time went toward sports. I don't think most people realize just how costly it is.
Actually, it's pedal in the musical sense. The soft pedal on the piano allows the musician to play the notes a little more quietly, and so a soft-pedaled teaching is one that similarly tones down the rhetoric.
Amen!!! When parents follow schedules that conflict with worship services and Bible study, they teach their children that it is fine to major in the minors (passing sports) and minor in the majors (the consistent development of their faith). Even though missing worship services for sports may be seasonal, it establishes a precedent that can overflow into other consequential areas of life.
Amen to all of this. I've been on a bit of kick when it comes to this myself. I think we're doing real harm to immortal souls by choosing sports over church. And its not like some of these kids are missing a week here or there, i can think of a family that hasn't been in church since Basketball started in January. 11 am practice. Not games. Practice. I want to quote Iverson here. Now baseball and softball start, and now they're gone till the summer. It's spiritually unhealthy.
I wonder if we would have enough men willing to lead the way in an effort to change things. The way our culture has changed a man leading his family is scorned by many. The world just doesn’t get the concept of a godly man as the leader in his home and they sure don’t understand what a submissive wife is. When I was growing up it was understood that most people went to church on Sun morning and some on Wed night. It wasn’t a problem back then. You are right, it will take men who will stand up and lead.
One small victory...a few years back, our local police dept developed a multi-week citizen's academy. The chief intentionally scheduled it on Tuesdays, as he said that Wednesday is church night. One big loss...some of my church's grandparents intentionally miss services to attend their grandkids' games. So it's a multi-generational failing, which will be passed to the kids, as well.
All of this seems to have accelerated after the COVID shut-down. Too people re-prioritized their lives, perhaps to catch up on what they think they lost. My pastor doesn't shy away from talking about it from the pulpit. And I've written a book, taking advantage of the coming 250th birthday of America, which will be given to all the men on Father's Day. It's time for men to be men and to get their priorities right.
Whatever happened to when Jesus said we would no longer need to be in any temple to worship God? John 4:21-24 I worship God every day of the week - in spirit and truth. So what if my kid is playing sports?
How often is church missed? At a certain point, and it varies between individuals, it will have a negative effect on the person. There's a British Olympic runner who refused to compete on the Sabbath. Perhaps you saw the movie? No doubt, his story inspired many.
Regarding your comment, "Deep down, I fully believe every Christian knows what they should be doing every Sunday morning. I refuse to pretend there’s a debate to be had," I am assuming that where you worship, there are no Sunday evening practices or games, or Wednesday evenings either. This subject is something that has bothered me for many years now. I remember when there were no games on Sundays or Wednesdays. Missing worship to attend practices or games is extremely common now. I think I remember only one fairly recent preacher having a lesson about this. And he also realized as he got older, his parents were wrong in letting him participate in wrestling in the short pants they were required to wear. Same with cheer leaders. Sports is good for children, but we have to be godly parents when agreeing to let them participate.