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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
VOL.2, N0.36
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
ALL SPORTS ARE NOT BANNED
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
SEPTEMBER 5, 1980
Some of the youths at the second Camp at Orr, Minnesota may have
misunderstood what I said to them about COMPETITION.
Truly, COMPETITION, not cooperation is the attitude Satan innocu
lates into human minds. But that does NOT mean all sports are wrong or
banned in God's Church, College and schools.
The LAW OF GOD is the way of righteousness. Sin is the transgres
sion of the Law. The Law of God �s given us in the broadest principle
and also magnified into the Ten Commandments, and even into many further
specific commands that are merely magnifications of the PRINCIPLES of the
Ten Commandments. God expects us--through His Spirit and spiritual
UNDERSTANDING--to APPLY these PRINCIPLES of His Law to specific actions.
The basic Law is LOVE, outflowing toward God above all else, and
secondarily "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
To HAPJ·1 the other fellow, and to gain by so doing for SELF, is a
kind of competition that is wrong. Hostility toward the other is sin.
To get the best of another
in
a deal for one's own benefit is wrong.
Suppose you are an architect laying out a golf course. The one
who wins at golf is not the one who GETS the most by taking it away from
the other. In golf the player does not prevent the other from doing his
or her best. The architect who designs and lays out the plans for build
ing a golf course is not breakino God's Law when he designs sandtraps,
small lakes or pools, or leaves certain trees to HELP the player to in
crease his skill. These hazards hurt no one, but are an incentive and
help, to developing skill.
Two men or women--or several--in a race are not harming the other
runners if they run according to the rules. The Apostle Paul uses win
ning a race as an example of a Christian developing character.
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So, golf is not a wrong competition--nor is any race at any distance
or hurdle race, or long jump, high jump, pole vault or other field compe
tition in a track and field meet. At Ambassador we have banned the
hammer throw because it might endanger others--but not because it is a
wrong or unfair competition.
Now take basketball. Guarding on defense is, if within the rules,
the same in principle as the sandtrap, clump of trees, or pond on a golf