Ray Lewis

Ray Lewis gave an impassioned speech after his recent AFC Championship victory.

“When you sacrifice something for God… He will give you anything that your heart desires… if it aligns with His will.”

He then talks about his challenges and torn triceps, but “God just kept telling me that ‘no weapon formed against me shall prosper…  no weapon formed against my team shall prosper.’  Anytime you trust in God, man can’t tell you what you can’t do.”

Regarding the sign predicting his retirement, he says “Man can’t dictate that… God dictates that”, and then he’s whisked away.

I love prayer in sports.  It brings up so many interesting issues, it’s almost overwhelming for me.

First:  God will give you anything your heart desires…

Here’s an interesting Bible verse:

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Does anyone believe this?  Does anyone, even the most holy and faithful and repentant, believe that they can actually wish for a mountain to throw itself into the sea, and that it will actually happen?

“… if it aligns with his will.”

Ahh.  Here’s the rub.  God answers prayers, and sometimes the answer is “no”.  If you are holy and faithful and you pray for something, and that something doesn’t happen, either it didn’t align with God’s will, or you’re not has faithful as you thought you were.  Seriously, if part of the success of the prayer is that you must not have any doubt, and you pray for something impossible and it doesn’t happen, wouldn’t that only increase your doubt? 

Another interesting question:  Does ANYTHING happen that is against God’s will?  It strikes me that the answer must be “yes”.  I think Christian theology is all about man’s free will, choosing to sin, and repentance and redemption through the shed blood of Jesus.  But that implies that God is not omnipotent/omniscient/omnipresent, doesn’t it?

Why Won't God Heal Amputees covers this topic in much greater detail than I could.  It’s a good site to browse around.

Secondly:  Isn’t this terribly pompous and egotistical of the winning team/player?

Mr. Lewis is saying that his team won because he sacrificed so much and God willed it to happen.  But what about the losing team?  Isn’t possible that they sacrificed equally as much, if not more?  What if there was someone that was equally impassioned on the losing team.  What is their take on the loss?  What if the Ravens ended up losing because of some blown call by the refs?  What would Ray’s post-game speech be?  The only possible thing I could imagine is that it would be something about how God’s will was done.  If it’s all up to God, then why do players even bother to work out and train?  Why even play the game at all?

If I have a headache and I take an aspirin and pray for the headache to go away, and in half an hour I feel much better, what does that mean?  Was it the prayer or the aspirin?

I once watched a show about MMA fighters.  Before the show, both fighters sincerely prayed for victory.  It made for a very exciting fight.  Whose prayer would God answer?!  It was like a mini holy war.

“God just kept telling me that ‘no weapon formed against me shall prosper…  no weapon formed against my team shall prosper.’”

Again, what if he lost?  Or rather, what if someone who sincerely believed this was on a losing team?

He’s just emotional and obviously sincere in his belief, but it makes absolutely no sense to me.  Which is part of the reason I write in this blog… to try to reconcile that gap.