Jon Kitna converts in the red zone
October 23, 2007 – 4:07 pm Posted by bryan in » Christianity, NFL
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This story became a story before our little blog here was born, but we knew we eventually wanted to comment on it, and so now we will.
David Fleming wrote a great piece for ESPN The Magazine last month on Detroit Lions QB Jon Kitna. In the piece Fleming mentions that since Kitna signed with the Lions in March of 2006, “about 20 Lions have given their lives to Christ.”
20 is a pretty big number. That’s more than a third of the Lions 53-man roster (unless, of course, that number includes members of the Lions’ practice squad.)
Even Bill Simmons’, ESPN’s Sports Guy, couldn’t resist commenting on it in his October 5th NFL Power Poll piece:
Clearly, SOMETHING is going on with the Lions here, right? Twenty teammates???? Don’t we need more information about this? Did any beat writers convert? What about ball boys and trainers? It’s the single most fascinating story of the 2007 season other than Moss’ comeback and Turner and Cottrell slowly turning Tomlinson into a serial killer.
The article paints a seemingly fair picture of Kitna, saying of him, “His responses to questions about his faith and leadership are mostly tinged with humility, perspective and openness.” in one paragraph and then calling him “…a fanatic for Christ, [who] often prays on his way to the line of scrimmage…” in the next.
You really get the sense from the piece that Kitna’s consistency as a man has earned him the respect of his teammates, which is exciting to hear. From the way he mediated a locker room dispute over music last year to his availability as a listening ear for other teammates, he has established himself as a true leader on the team he promised would win 10 games this year. (they are 4-2 so far this year). It’s a fascinating read, I encourage you to check it out if you didn’t read it last month.
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One specific quote in the Kitna article that really piqued my interest was this:
“People feel football is too trivial for God to care about, especially with so many bad things happening in the world,” says Tim Pitcher, a spokesman for Athletes in Action, which uses sports to push Christianity. “For a lot of people, the worlds shouldn’t mix.”
It’s a topic I’ll be tackling in the book I’m working on, the idea that sports aren’t important enough for God to ever affect them. Here’s a sampling of my thoughts on this issue, (keep in mind that this is coming from a rough draft, so be gentle)
Additionally, who’s to say that God cannot save the life of a starving child in Africa at the same moment that he is filling a financial need for a widow in London and clearing the head of a football quarterback in Michigan? When we start prioritizing the needs throughout the world based on importance, what we are saying is that God is not capable of handling them all at once. So is He, or is He not capable of changing every situation in the world at the same time if He wanted to? I believe He is, which suddenly makes the issue a matter of “where does God choose to meet a need?” and not “Where is the need the greatest?”
If you have any comments on the Kitna article or on my thoughts, I’d love to hear them.
One Response to “Jon Kitna converts in the red zone”
By Scott Wheeler on Nov 5, 2007 | Reply
Well, I think you’ve missed the underlying point of the objection to Kitna’s comment. The question is not, “Why would God heal Jon Kitna when he could be feeding those starving in Africa?” The question really is, “How can you consider God so good and loving if he cares more about Jon Kitna’s headache in a football game than he does the starving child in Africa?” Of course, the evidence that this would constitute God caring MORE about Mr. Kitna would simply be that while he potentially COULD heal them both simultaneously (as you suggest), he in fact does not. Thousands starve, are raped and murdered, etc. every day across the world. So the objection is that it makes God seem like he needs to get his priorities straight.
Sure - God could heal them both, but he doesn’t. He heals a quarterback in a football game while allowing thousands to starve. That’s the objection.