The intimate details are not necessary. I’ve found that it matters little what one does for a living or what one’s education is. If you’re wondering, I do have a job and an education. What is important is that I know my sports.
I am 36 years old and have been following the NBA and the NFL religiously for most of my life. I lean toward Philadelphia teams (being from Pennsylvania), but my favorite athletes are not Philly players. My #1 favorite athlete is Larry Bird, the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. After him comes Roger Federer, the best tennis player ever, and then Hakeem Olajuwon, the all time greatest center.
As a mathematician, I’m fascinated with statistics, and hold them to be the foundation of sports argument. One can throw around terms like “winner” and “clutch,” but the real litmus test is in the stats. No great player ever came up short on the stat sheet. If you are making an argument, don’t base your case on intangibles.
As a born again Christian, I’m also fascinated with logic. Logically, God exists and the Bible is true. To claim otherwise is illogical. One has to believe in the tall tales of evolution in order to not believe in the truth of the Bible. Logically, does it make sense that humans evolved from primordial goo? How did randoms events end up forming the complex human brain? Are we different from animals by chance?
One’s world view is formed by how he or she answers to three questions:
1. What is truth?
2. Who is man?
3. Who is God?
I hold a biblical world view. Truth is what is contained in the inspired Word of God. The Bible is absolute truth because it came from the one and only perfect God. Truth is not relative to each person, but universally the same for all. Man is a creation of God. He was made in God’s image, but chose to sin. Thus, he lives in a fallen state. We are all born sinners: we are inherently evil. God has always been. He exists outside of time and space. He is pure, good, just, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and immutable. He is sovereign in that all things are under his control.
Salvation is by grace. God is not condemning good people to punishment – we are not inherently good. On the contrary, we all are sinners and deserve death: He chooses to save some. This grace is realized on our part by having faith. This faith is not some intellectual assent or a form of temporal faith; it is faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. That means trusting in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. His death paid the penalty for our sins; our sins were punished but we were not.
Salvation is a gift, but it must be accepted. I cannot convince you that this is the right thing to do – only the Holy Spirit can do that. All I can do is show you the truth and see if you are convicted. As the Bible says, “The truth shall set you free.”
