Sacriligious gopher

Didn't Jesus condemn the ostentatious public prayer of the Pharisees? I must admit my Christian teaching is a bit rusty.

Dave, You got too much time on your hands. Said time is better used keeping "gibberishers" and "cloners"/impersonators off the blog commentary pages.

Yes CCNL, some of these commenters are so obnoxious, aren't they? Isn't it obnoxious when people make Obama's initials BO into a synonym for body oder, thus trashing a whole race of people?

Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, You apparently are obsessed with BO's initials and its hidden meaning. Again, BO named his dog BO and I believe his iPhone was registered under BO so obviously BO has no problem with his initials. Ditto for those with initials that have possible other meanings e.g. BM, BS, OB, FU, FO, BB, GEY, PMS, PP.

Who cares? Why are christies so sensitive? Who prays on a football field during a game, except for a hypocrite? What's next, tackling people in church?

why should religion have a special immunity against ridicule?

It looked to me like he was praying with him. How quick the Huckabees are to judge others. Maybe they think Goldy was just another gay Teletubby. Get a life.

pleeease, gimme a break. anymore you can't watch a sporting event without being subjected to players pointing skyward when they score, make a tackle or whatever. and the media will publish photos of those gestures as if they have anything to do with the game! then, of course, there's also the gibberish we hear when a player is interviewed and immediately proceeds to invoke some deity, which in my opinion should be bleeped out just as if the player had cursed. if there is a god, do these guys truly think that it would care one way or the other how well they perform in some silly game? and if they do, then I assume that they'd blame that same deity when they don't play well.

Chrisitans are too sensitive - they take everything as a perceived insult. it's their need to feel persecuted.

So it's not ok for Gophers to pray to God? I don't quite get it... CZ

Seems like some people have a few unresolved issues with Christians. And yes your Christian is a bit rusty.

One or some people who are Christians were offended, not all Christians. Stop generalizing. And Jesus's teaching on public prayer was a call for people to check their motivations for doing it - if you're trying to get the praise and attention of the people who see you, then stop praying in public, because the only reward you'll get is from the folks who notice you. But if your motivation is to honor and acknowledge God regardless of what people who see you think, you're good. If you're going to use Scripture to chastise people, at least get the context right.

High school, college, and pro players genuflecting, crossing themselves, praying, and gesturing skyward has always invoked in me a strong sense of nausea. Such expressions of public piety are pharisaic at best, and self-aggrandizing at worst. In addition, they insult the other team with the sugestion that a gaseous vertebrate favors one end of the field over another.

"If you're going to use Scripture to chastise people, at least get the context right." Is "Scripture" special writing? My bible studies are dredging up 40 year old memories but my knowledge of the Lotus Sutra is quite up to date. A dressed for game football player on the field in front of a stadium full of people seems to fit the praying Pharisee example that Jesus chastised to me. In that case, mockery is completely true Christian appropriate.

I would like to note for those who are likening the player's public demonstration of prayer to Pharisees, etc., that the player is obviously off to the very far side of the field, away from his teammates and the other plays warming up, and is in no way attempting to make a public scene. The only reason everyone is noticing is because someone happened to focus on this individual and film it. I would imagine almost everyone else in the stadium that day probably didn't even see it. I don't know if the mascot was mocking the player, but I would say I found the fist-bump with the cheerleader or whoever she was by the Gopher immediately afterwards a little strange.

Go sit on the sideline bench and pray to your heart's content. You could even kneel if that's required. No pointing to heaven when you tackle or make a catch required either.

"No pointing to heaven when you tackle or make a catch required either." I don't see why you have a problem with this. The First Amendment protects free practice of religion. It's not like the guy is trying to force his entire team into group prayer or something. I believe in God. That doesn't mean I object to someone who doesn't expressing their view.

"I would like to note for those who are likening the player's public demonstration of prayer to Pharisees, etc., that the player is obviously off to the very far side of the field, away from his teammates and the other plays warming up, and is in no way attempting to make a public scene." Then why didn't he do it in the locker room?

"Then why didn't he do it in the locker room?" Because he has every right to do it wherever he pleases, even if you don't like it. Just like you have every right to not like it. Freedom goes both ways. But I supposed the only freedom some people who have issues with any public display of faith believe religious people should have is the freedom not to piss you off with our expressions of faith. Come on! Grow up. Whether you agree with or like what he was doing or not, he wasn't bothering anyone by doing it. And neither was the mascot. The people, whomever they were, who complained about the mascot's behavior need to grow up, too. Some people get irked by any open, public expression of faith in any way at all - get used to some people not liking it and move on.

The Christics should be aware that the fake Pharisees in the fake "NT" (sic) wrote the Talmud. If a single Christic could ever reach the level of a single Pharisee, a real one, one who existed, the world would not be dealing with the current economic crisis, two wars, the biggest insider trading scheme in history, drug dealing, etc. Meanwhile, a Christic gopher or two is fine. It's the human Christics praying to an imaginary deified dead wondering thaumaturge that are problematic.

Case in point...

"imaginary deified dead wo(a)ndering thaumaturge that are problematic"?? Correct except the imaginary part!!!!

As if watching healthy young men cause themselves neurological and orthopedic injuries for your entertainment (and the college's monetary gain) weren't insulting. As if adults watching a gopher-costumed dude prance about wasn't insulting. But a costumed dude praying, yeah, that's insulting.

imaginary wAndering, yes.

From a contemporary NT exegete and an On Faith panel member: As per Professor JD Crossan (from his book, Who is Jesus?) "That Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, as the Creed states, is as certain as anything historical can ever be. “ The Jewish historian, Josephus and the pagan historian Tacitus both agree that Jesus was executed by order of the Roman governor of Judea. And is very hard to imagine that Jesus' followers would have invented such a story unless it indeed happened. “While the brute fact that of Jesus' death by crucifixion is historically certain, however, those detailed narratives in our present gospels are much more problematic. " “My best historical reconstruction would be something like this. Jesus was arrested during the Passover festival, most likely in response to his action in the Temple. Those who were closest to him ran away for their own safety. I do not presume that there were any high-level confrontations between Caiaphas and Pilate and Herod Antipas either about Jesus or with Jesus. No doubt they would have agreed before the festival that fast action was to be taken against any disturbance and that a few examples by crucifixion might be especially useful at the outset. And I doubt very much if Jewish police or Roman soldiers needed to go too far up the chain of command in handling a Galilean peasant like Jesus. It is hard for us to imagine the casual brutality with which Jesus was probably taken and executed. All those "last week" details in our gospels, as distinct from the brute facts just mentioned, are prophecy turned into history, rather than history remembered." See also Professor Crossan's reviews of the existence of Jesus in his other books especially, The Historical Jesus and also Excavating Jesus (with Professor Jonathan Reed doing the archeology discussion) . Other NT exegetes to include members of the Jesus Seminar have published similar books with appropriate supporting references. Part of Crossan's The Historical Jesus has been published online at books.google.com/books. There is also a search engine for this book on the left hand side of the opening page. e.g. Search Josephus See also Wikipedia's review on the historical Jesus to include the Tacitus' reference to the crucifixion of Jesus. Then there are these scriptural references: Crucifixion of Jesus:(1) 1 Cor 15:3b; (2a) Gos. Pet. 4:10-5:16,18-20; 6:22; (2b) Mark 15:22-38 = Matt 27:33-51a = Luke 23:32-46; (2c) John 19:17b-25a,28-36; (3) Barn. 7:3-5; (4a) 1 Clem. 16:3-4 (=Isaiah 53:1-12); (4b) 1 Clem. 16.15-16 (=Psalm 22:6-8); (5a) Ign. Mag. 11; (5b) Ign. Trall. 9:1b

If God isn't a Penn State fan, why is the sky blue and white? - Popular bumper sticker in Pennsylvania

Obviously, Iowa's gold and black uniforms blank out the the sky anytime and anywhere!!!! LOL!!!!!

Maybe Goldy is just a bit dyslexic and thinks his name is really Godly?

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