I am a big tennis fan and today I watched Serena Williams win the Australian Open, one of the four tournaments which make up the pinnacle of achievement in the tennis world, the Grand Slam. In her victory speech the first thing she said was that she thanked her god Jehovah for the victory. Now I know that rumours have circulated for a long time as to whether she is a baptised Witness or not, but she is definitely associated with Witnesses . She said that she had prayed to win and gave the impression that Jehovah had helped her to do it. Now I am still a Witness and this kind of talk makes me mad. The Sovereign of the universe is spending his time making sure a tennis player wins a tournament? Come on! This reminds me of another tennis tournament many years ago, when a young tennis player called Michael Chang won, I think it was the US Open against the Sewdish player Stefan Edberg. Michael Chang was a born-again Christian, and many people of this persuasion routinely ascribe any and all positive results, especially sporting ones to God's blessing. Michael Chang thanked the Lord Jesus Christ for his victory while Stefan Edberg rolled his eyes on the sidelines.All of this is so crazy. I can almost get the idea that if we excel in an area that this means we might claim this reflects well on the god we worship, but to claim or infer that this is a suitable matter for prayer is, in my view, way down the list behind poverty, starvation, war...
Serena Williams
by New day 20 Replies latest jw friends
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insidetheKH
she is not baptised.. her mother is a witness and they have two halfsisters active JW Isha Price and Lyndrea Price -
Witchettygrub
Serena's ego is overly large. Such a bulk is unable to fit into becoming a 'humble jw'. :)
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Finkelstein
What she should have been thanking is her mother and father for giving her the genetics of strong man's body.
Does Jah and his son Jesus really care about who wins a tennis game or scores a touch down ?
Did they really put some special spiritual strength into these athletes, so that they can win ?
Serena probably only attends a Kingdom Hall once in while and doesn't go out in service , so would Jah bless her in her secular activities ?
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Listener
What does it say for the loser? That God does not love them or answer their prayers.
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Simon
It always amazes me that these sort of expressions get applause. What they are actually saying is:
"I am just so damned important that even God has nothing better to do than help me to win a tennis tournament. Yes, that's right, me winning here today was more worthy of his attention than starving children or abused animals, the destruction of his creation or anything else. I'm just so special and important to the universe"
She may be a great tennis player, but she's hardly a great thinker. Funny how god always favours people with a natural ability for a certain sport who are willing to put in the time and effort to practice.
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William Penwell
Not defending the dubs here but her statement, "the first thing she said was that she thanked her god Jehovah for the victory", does not sound like a good dub to me. -
stuckinarut2
It reminds me of these darkmatter2525 clips:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9D1CD5CDC7C1C4B7&v=A0EEKfTnfvA
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9D1CD5CDC7C1C4B7&v=9IKkfBKLApY
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rebel8
Now I am still a Witness and this kind of talk makes me mad. The Sovereign of the universe is spending his time making sure a tennis player wins a tournament? Come on!
I agree, it's arrogant and silly to believe (or even worse, if it was true) for jehoopla to be spending his time on such matters.
Although jah making someone win a sport event is not one of their teachings, it is their teaching that he intervenes on some small life matters (only for some people at some times) while not intervening with suffering, violence, hunger, etc.
Serena is probably just trying to be politically correct/popular. This often means, instead of taking personal credit for personal achievements, one gives false credit to an uninvolved, nonexistent spirit creature.
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jwleaks
Interesting situation. So Serena was praying to her god, Jehovah, to help her win. And she won.
While at the same time potentially up to 4.56 million of Serena's fans were praying to their personal god, which according to the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses is primarily Satan, to help her to win. And she won.
Poor Maria Sharapova. Looks like Serena Williams and co. have both baselines covered.