Does anyone know why Jws are not supposed to participate in sports and what is their view towards watching sports on the tv, ie a game of football..does not playing sport extend to not watching and what are the biblical reasons given?
THANKS
JWS and Sports
by luffy 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Mandette
"Bad associations spoil useful habits" was the one that was thrown at me over and over and over again when I wanted to be in sports. Oh and you're not putting the kingdom first if you miss a meeting to go to a sports event. The organization also throws "Bodily training is good for little......" at everyone. I don't remember where those scriptures are.
As far as watching sports, last I knew it should be in moderation after the weeks lessons are studied and many hours of field service are done.
And if someone is exceptional at sports and lands a scholarship or offer from a team then it's considered to be "striving after earthly riches" and not "building spiritual riches". And don't even think of going to a university to play!!!! College is BAD BAD BAD...just like sports!!!
Mandette
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WTWizard
If you are in sports, you cannot be out in field circus. And, if you are watching sports on TV, you are likely to miss the boasting session or not be out in field circus.
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golf2
Ahhhhh, sports my religion. Sports has been my inspiration since childhood. The problem with sports today is the love of money and not the game.
Why the org doesn't encourage sports? It's all ready been mentioned, distraction. When it comes to contribution from sports players, the org welcomes it!!!!! They want the best of both worlds without saying it. -
no more kool aid
Here are some of the reasons I was given growing up. Practice might be on a meeting night and if it wasn't, you should be doing more personal study that night, sports shouldn't be the focus. You will be associating with all those worldly kids on the bus and other events. Then what are you going to do when they play the national anthem. If none of these factors fit then they had the violence trump card. That football is like the ancient games in Rome where there was a fight to the death. Soccer was originally played with the head of a recently beheaded person ( what would Jehovah think of you playing that same game)? The excuses went on and on. How can you fight it when you are a 12 year old kid. My kids play sports, one of them did even before our exit. It's one of the reasons that people in our congregation felt made us spiritually weak. Yeh that was it.
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independent_tre
having a 'competitive spirit' is also frowned upon by the WTS
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Pahpa
It was just another way of keeping control of people. When one thinks of the restrictions the Watchtower Society put on people over the years, one realizes that the nature of a cult is to limit its membership to obeying and following its rules by making sacrifices of normal activities. It wasn't too many years ago that the Society encouraged young couples to put off marriage and children. It discouraged celebrations of birthdays and holidays. It also discouraged young people from furthering their education. The reason was always the same: The time of the end is imminent and we should devote the remaining time to the "preaching work" which was the selling and distributing Watchtower literature and converting people to do the same. And the same message is being sold to the new generation of Jehovah's Witnesses.