Galatians 5:26 was used in and before the 1960`s to not be involved in competitive sports for yourself or for your children

smiddy

Myself and my peers in the JW organization in the 1960`s discouraged our children from entering into competitive sports because of the JW policy , regarding that scripture .

Has their been a radical change since then ? A re-interpretation of that scripture ?

Why I ask this question is : Here in Victoria Australia where AFL football ( Aussie Rules ) is often regarded as a religion , especially to the state, Victoria , we have, according to the media , a devout Jehovah`s Witness playing professional AFL football at a competitive level.

And at their latest win , the team , including Alec Rance a JW of the Richmond Club was enthusiastically singing the club victory song along with his teammates on their win .

Are their other examples of this in other parts of the world or is this an Australian hiccup.

smiddy

Lieu

The Williams sisters.

In high school I played team sports ... nothing was ever said about it.

jwfacts

Here is an article about Rance. http://www.theage.com.au/sport/alex-rances-dilemma-jehovahs-witnesses-in-sport-20150429-1mw11w.html

Interesting that the last reference in the index to Gal 5:26 is back from 1996, where Watchtower was jusftifying their misuse of this scripture.

*** g96 11/8 p. 30 From Our Readers ***

Sports Competition Your article “Is Competition in Sports Wrong?” (December 8, 1995) was very confusing to me, in that it used Galatians 5:26. What does the book of Galatians have to do with sports and games? Paul is speaking about spirit versus flesh and freedom versus slavery. The King James Version renders that verse: “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another.”

P. O., United States

It is true that the apostle did not specifically have in mind athletic competition when he penned those words. However, some Christians were evidently making unfair comparisons with one another. This gave rise to ‘fleshly’ attitudes such as ‘enmities, strife, jealousy, contentions, and divisions.’ (Galatians 5:20, 21; 6:3, 4) Paul thus cautioned Christians not to be “stirring up competition with one another.” According to “The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon,” the Greek word rendered “competition” means “to challenge to a combat or contest with one.” This principle would certainly apply to sports activities or to any activity that could cause Christians to compete with one another in an unwholesome way.—ED.

Diogenesister

Tennis is one thing but Aussie ( no) rules??!! Hiccough is one way of putting it! Good for him anyway!

honest

Alex rance is not baptised and won't be baptised till he resigns. Insider info 😉

He was going to resign from footie and become a baptised publisher, but the money offer was too good, so he took it and purposely delayed his baptism. His wife is a newly baptised convert and very much brainwashed into cult land 😉

rebelfighter

The booklet on Families does discourage a high school boy from joining the school football team. Could lead to bad associations, you know us worldy folks are so evil. This was one of the points which the "Elder" and I were arguing, well let me rephrase that I asked that as 1 of many questions and he said good bye have a nice life. Oops no questions. LOL

jonahstourguide

just confirming the comment by 'honest'

Rance is just classified as an 'unbaptised publisher'

You can pretty much get away with a lot under that classification.

Too much politics within jwdom when wealthy are involved

zeb

and what of the Williams sisters. They play international tennis and are celebrities. No wt mention of them.

(and I believe what they do is their business btw)

dbq407

sept. 2015 wt (study edition) says "Accordingly, we can ask ourselves: ‘Does my conscience move me to shun sports that are aggressive, competitive, nationalistic, or violent? "

So pretty clear the WT wants people to have nothing to do with sports, to the point of "shunning them" which most of us are well aware how shunning feels :)

Funny story for everyone about this also. Last fall when Alabama won the title in college football, this lady i know, who is a pioneer, went to bethel with her hubby etc., posted a picture on social media stating how Alabama were champions and how excited she was. I then posted a comment, refreshing her memory on the recent WT about shunning competitive sports lol. I was unfriended quickly after that lol. Gotta love it.

smiddy

Alec Rance is an unbaptized publisher and he is 26 years old , eh?

So he can`t be an Elder or MS and is not a suitable marriage mate for a JW sister .

Oops , he is already married

J-Witness rules aren`t made for everyone it seems.

smiddy

Galatians 5:26 was used in and before the 1960`s to not be involved in competitive sports for yourself or for your children

Share this