Fans praying for a sports teams to win seems absurd to me.
I wouldn't think twice about praying for the safety of a player or
thanking god for that player's abilities but praying for a team to
win seems selfish. Imagine if Roger in Angels in the Outfield
had prayed for the Angels to win without it meaning he could be
reunited with his family, it would seem incredibly selfish. One
would think that God doesn't care which sports team wins which
league trophy. Despite
how absurd this practice is it is a popular ritual which is
undertaken by millions of fans of all different sports teams.
The Catholic church in Montreal asked fans to pray for
the last place Canadiens. The church placed an ad in Montreal
newspapers in hopes of an eighth place finish and a spot in the
playoffs. The ad shows the Eastern Conference standings with every
team listed except the Canadiens and in the final playoff spot it
says says "Let Us Pray." The firm who created the ad says
it had long considered an ad that combines Quebec's two major
religions, Catholicism and Hockey.
In Vancouver thousand prayed for the return
of Daniel Sedin for the playoffs after
suffering a concussion. Pastor Louie Giglio, who lead the prayer, did it at the behest of
Paolo Anquilini, owner of the Vancouver Canucks. Usually I wouldn't
find someone praying for someone else to return to health strange but
I wonder whether Canadiens fans would pray for him if he didn't play hockey or
played for another team.
For
God to help
your
team, he must harm
or neglect their opponents.
Both
teams have many fans praying to help them win, but do any of them
really think that God should see favour their team over the other as being spiritually and morally superior. Isn't this an an example of sinful
“pride,”?
My
understanding of prayer is that as long as it the nature of the
prayer isn't against God's love then it is fair game. Something,
however, just doesn't seem right about this practice.
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