God's View on Sports Fanaticism and Idolatry
The biblical concept of idolatry is central to understanding God's view on sports fanaticism. Idolatry is defined as the worship or divine honor paid to a created object or image [1]. In the context of sports, fanaticism can become idolatrous when it supplants or rivals devotion to God.
The Bible explicitly forbids idolatry, commanding the Israelites not to worship or serve other gods (Ex 20:2-3; De 5:7) [2]. Idolatry is listed alongside other serious sins, such as witchcraft, hatred, and strife, in Galatians 5:20 [3]. The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah condemn idolatry, with Jeremiah emphasizing God's awareness of all sin, including idolatry (Jer 16:17) [4], and Isaiah ridiculing the folly of idolaters (Isa 44:9) [5].
Early Christian writers also addressed idolatry. Hippolytus, in "On the Public Shows," warns against the idolatrous nature of public entertainment, arguing that such activities are inherently connected to pagan worship [6]. John Calvin notes that the creation of images leads to adoration, as people begin to worship God through those images, ultimately becoming more brutish in their devotion [7].
In the context of sports fanaticism, the question arises whether excessive devotion to sports constitutes idolatry. While the Bible does not directly address modern sports, the principle of idolatry remains relevant. When sports fanaticism supplants devotion to God or leads to behaviors that rival or mock true worship, it can be considered idolatrous.
The early church fathers saw a connection between covetousness and idolatry, with Tertullian arguing that covetousness is a form of idolatry [9]. Similarly, excessive devotion to sports can become a form of covetousness, where the desire for victory or success supplants devotion to God.
Ultimately, God's view on sports fanaticism and idolatry is one of caution and warning. The biblical condemnation of idolatry serves as a reminder to prioritize devotion to God above all else. As Athanasius of Alexandria notes, the origin of idolatry lies in the soul's forgetfulness of God and its engrossment in earthly things [10]. In the context of sports, this warning remains relevant, encouraging believers to maintain a balanced and God-centered perspective.
The patristic writers' emphasis on the dangers of idolatry and the importance of maintaining a singular devotion to God remains a relevant warning for modern Christians, including in their attitudes towards sports and entertainment [6, 8].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Idolatry — Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of idolatry are, (1.) Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc. (2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature. (3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes. In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Idolatry — Forbidden -- Ex 20:2,3; De 5:7. Consists in Bowing down to images. -- Ex 20:5; De 5:9. Worshipping images. -- Isa 44:17; Da 3:5,10,15. Sacrificing to images. -- Ps 106:38; Ac 7:41. Worshipping other gods. -- De 30:17; Ps 81:9. Swearing by other gods. -- Ex 23:13; Jos 23:7. Walking after other gods. -- De 8:19. Speaking in the name of other gods. -- De 18:20. Looking to other gods. -- Ho 3:1. Serving other gods. -- De 7:4; Jer 5:19. Fearing other gods. -- 2Ki 17:35. Sacrificing to other gods. -- Ex 22:20. Worshipping the true God by an image, & c. -- Ex 32:”
- Galatians “Galatians 5:20 (Webster) — Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,”
- Jeremiah (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 16:14: There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in these verses, and it is hard to know to which to apply some of the passages here - they are so interwoven, and some seem to look as far forward as the times of the gospel. I. God will certainly execute judgment upon them for their idolatries. Let them expect it, for the decree has gone forth. 1. God sees all their sins, though they commit them ever so secretly and palliate them ever so artfully (Jer 16:17): My eyes are upon all their ways. They have not their eye upon God, have no regard to him, stand in no awe of him”
- Isaiah (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Isaiah 44:9: Often before, God, by the prophet, had mentioned the folly and strange sottishness of idolaters; but here he enlarges upon that head, and very fully and particularly exposes them to contempt and ridicule. This discourse is intended, 1. To arm the people of Israel against the strong temptation they would be in to worship idols when they were captives in Babylon, in compliance with the custom of the country (they being far from the city of their own solemnities) and to humour those who were now their lords and masters. 2. To cure them of their inclination to idolatr”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian — ON THE PUBLIC SHOWS.[1] (part 3): seats in the public theatre; for David did not twist his limbs about in obscene movements, to represent in his dancing the story of Grecian lust. Psalteries, horns, pipes, drums, harps, were used in the service of the Lord, and not of idols. Let it not on this account be objected that unlawful things may be gazed upon; for by the artifice of the devil these are changed from things holy to things unlawful. Then let shame demur to these things, even if the Holy Scriptures cannot. For there are certain things wher”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: God was visibly depicted to their eyes. 9. After such a figment is formed, adoration forthwith ensues: for when once men imagined that they beheld God in images, they also worshipped him as being there. At length their eyes and minds becoming wholly engrossed by them, they began to grow more and 98 more brutish, gazing and wondering as if some divinity were actually before them. It hence appears that men do not fall away to the worship of images until they have imbibed some idea of a grosser description: not that they actually beli”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 4: Augustine — Anti-Manichaean, Anti-Donatist — CHAP. 19.--IF THE MIND HAS NO MATERIAL EXTENSION, MUCH LESS HAS GOD.: 22. So then, if the mind, so liable to change, whether from a multitude of dissimilar desires, or from feelings varying according to the abundance or the want of desirable things, or from these endless sports of the fancy, or from forgetfulness and remembrance, or from learning and ignorance; if the mind, I say, exposed to frequent change from these and the like causes, is perceived to be without any local or material extension, and to have a vigor of action which sur”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XI.--CONNECTION BETWEEN COVETOUSNESS AND IDOLATRY. CERTAIN TRADES, HOWEVER GAINFUL, TO BE AVOIDED. (part 1): If we think over the rest of faults, tracing them from their generations, let us begin with covetousness, "a root of all evils,"(5) wherewith, indeed, some having been ensnared, "have suffered shipwreck about faith."(6) Albeit covetousness is by the same apostle called idolatry.(7) In the next place proceeding to mendacity, the minister of covetousness (of false swearing I am silent, since even swearing is not lawful(8))--is trade adapted for a servant of G”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 53: §8. The origin of idolatry is similar. The soul, materialised by forgetting God, and engrossed in earthly things, makes them into gods. The race of men descends into a hopeless depth of delusion and superstition. Now the soul of mankind, not satisfied with the devising of evil, began by degrees to venture upon what is worse still. For having experience of diversities of pleasures, and girt about with oblivion of things divine; being pleased moreover and having in view the passions of the body, and nothing but things present and op”