Soccer Metaphors and Discernment (aka Playing the Game the Right Way)

Well, that was a lovely two month break. Apparently, I am not much of a writer when I actually have homework to do. At least I have something to write about right now.

In the past 3 years and change I have changed a lot of my views about God, the world, people, politics, the church, and many other important aspects of life. However, I have encountered a problem which seems to run rampant around those (like myself) who have augmented or changed their views. We are not better people then we were before. We may speak more eloquently and more intelligently, and we may convey an air of knowledge about certain subjects which we in no way deserve (even though in our hearts we believe that we do), but we are not transformed. We are merely changed. My initial thought then is that this path was not the path to transformation. It was simply the path to arrogance and inside jokes. The path to sneers for those who we view to be in error.

But if thats the case, if thats all we gained from our expanded knowledge of God, Christ, and the world at large, then what was the point? Because, if I remember correctly, thats exactly where I was before, albeit with less intelligent and cogent responses. I truly doubt that the path to transformation is the path of becoming a more educated fool. So where was the error? Where was the fault?

The fault lies in the fact that the goal never changed. The goal, unspoken as it were, was to be right. The goal was to win. The goal was to better, smarter, and more worthy. The goal never changed. And to be honest, we never had a chance to achieve that goal. It was beyond our reach, and would be forever. This is not to say that the goals are bad, in fact they are good, they just aren't real.

So what should the goal be? Well, here's the hard part. It's never really the same, because in the end, we don't score. We help, we aid, we assist, we mess up, but we don't finish. God does. God achieves the goal, God puts the ball in the back of the net (to continue the soccer metaphor). God wins. Our goal changes in relation to where God is acting. Our goal must be discerned on a moment to moment basis. Sometimes our goal should be to act and act strongly, sometimes its to simply to stay out of the way.

I don't how theologically accurate the soccer metaphor is, but I still kind of like it even though all metaphors eventually break down. So this new moving goal is where all the learning fits in. This is where all the ability to think and reason helps, as well as the ability to feel peoples pain and emotionally aid them*. We do all this so that we know when and how to help out. We do it all so we know what to do. There is no flow chart of how to follow God. There is no base level plan or pattern on what we should do. It changes from moment to moment, situation to situation, and person to person. We must stop focusing on what we know, and start focusing on what that knowledge tells us to do as part of God's eventual goal.

*I have a pet peeve which I want to put out here. I feel like sometimes people deride emotion for the sake of intellect. Let me be the one to say that neither is perfect and neither is better than the other. Both have strengths, both have weaknesses, and they can only work if used together. Emotion has led many people to poor decisions, but so has reason. Neither is infallible. They are equal. I hope that I do not sway in either direction, though I fear I sway too often towards the emotional side. In the same way, neither the community or the individual is greater than the other. They are equal. Both have strengths, both have weaknesses, they are only good when together. We only emphasize the communal aspects of society right now because it is a backlash against the hyper-individualized society we have grown up a part of. Individualism is not bad, community is not good, they are neutral.

I think that's pretty much all I have for now. I don't know if any of that made sense or if it helped you at all. I hope it did. It was nice for me to get out and write down.

Peace and love,
Ben