I’d be more interested if they really followed the ‘there can be only one’ philosophy of winning. Golf could use some excitement. The winner getting to behead the loser and absorb his soul while lightning flashes all around would spice things up.
Is help from Jesus a guarantee of victory? Isn’t it possible that you could pray and still come up short? Maybe Jesus was walking* with all the other golfers but their game was still a bit off, like not listening to your caddy (ever watch “Tin Cup”?). I don’t see how proclaiming faith that Jesus was with you means he wasn’t with anybody else.
*I’m not a believer, just saying hypothetically for the sake of this argument.
Really, you believe Jesus really gave him real concrete power? Cause I believe Jesus gave Zach as much power as a lucky penny, less than keeping his coach’s advice and swing thoughts in his mind. Zach believes that, but people believe all sorts of weird shit.
How do these sentiments NOT boil down to “I am a better/more faithful person and that is why I won”?
He credited Jesus for the victory. So, in his mind at least, the contribution was significant. More to the point, whatever contribution Jesus gave any other golfer was insufficient to the task.
I don’t believe Jesus gave Johnson any power at all, but Johnson does, and that is why he is being Pitted. Note “According to Johnson …” in the post of mine you quoted.
Asking Jesus for a contribution to your game is no guarantee that you’ll get it. From what I understand, prayers come up short or unanswered all the time, even for die hard believers. That Johnson felt his prayers were answered (or Jesus was walking with him or whatever) doesn’t mean that every prayer from everybody that believes was answered simultaneously. Maybe next time they’ll be the one, in fact I imagine somebody will ask Johnson this on his very next outing (I got $5 says he doesn’t win the next major he plays in). Will this mean that Jesus abandoned him? No, it just means that his game wasn’t up to par and he didn’t have a prayer of winning.
Would the Zach apologists be offended if the next time Zach loses the winner says: “Well this goes to show that God and Jesus have nothing to do with it. I’m an atheist and I just played better”.
Psst! Post #11!
My problem with it is not the Christian thing, but the pompousness of it- out of 200 golfers, God chose me to win- I must be special! All other golfers here this week, God doesn’t like you! What about the last tournaments you lost, God didn’t like you then? What did you do in the last week to make him like you? When you lose next week, will you blame Him? Reggie White did that bullshit all the time, acting he was the chose one the year they won the Super Bowl. Its stupid and insulting.
Comedian Jeff Stilson has a bit about players should blame God when they lose as well- “we were gonna win the game- until Jesus made me fumble”
And would you pit him if he said his lucky penny was strong - stronger than the rabbit’s foot Tiger was carrying? I just am not getting this. Why do we care what superstition gives Zach Johnson the ability to win?
He did not say that God chose him to win.
Expressing thanks to God in this context is no different than expressing thanks before a meal. If this bugs people, they need to tone their offend-o-meter down a few a notches.
While I agree that that is arrogant, and there are certainly people who take the “I can’t lose, God is on my side!” extreme, I don’t agree that is what Zach said. What many people who say this seem to believe is that God is an enabler for their success - and in their minds a necessary enabler. Like a good coach. And that is what I got from him.
Eh, I know more about chemistry than most folks. It isn’t because I was endowed with some chemistry gene or blessing, I just studied more than most. Maybe Zach was doing a better job of praying and golfing that day while some other folks were thinking about a cold one after 18.
Not really; you might be able to hack your way out of a water hazard instead of taking a drop, but you’d be stuck in a sand trap for 40 years!
Well, it’s readily apparent that Zach did a better job at golf that day. He won. Why bring God into it?
I just find the whole Calvinist “my material success is evidence of my superior virtue” outlook to be really tacky.
Did he take the Calvinist route? I got more of the Born Again “God gives me strength but does not guarentee my success” belief from his speech. Which I still found offensive because I find religion to be personal, but I didn’t find to be “My winning proves God likes me better than he likes Justin Rose.”
Exactly. I recently saw some gold plated 200 thousand dollar car with a plate that said GDBLSD or something, like isn’t the Bible against ostentatious spending and flaunting of the wealth?
Johnson said nothing about prayer, so I am not sure why you are. He said (and I can’t believe that I am having to say this again) that Jesus walked beside him, gave him power, and gave him guidance.
No, John, he didn’t. But it is a necessary conclusion from what he did say.
And I’m not offended. I just think it is an arrogant, self-centered thing to say, and I am tired of athletes invoking God as the reason for their success. None of the losers ever thank God. No one interviewed after the previous rounds thanked God. It’s only winning that seems to bring out tis behavior, and it is annoying.
Damn. First God is on a par with a swing coach, now he has been downgraded to lucky penny status. There is a tiny bit more cultural significance to “God” than to “lucky pennies.” Pennies, for example, are rarely cited as sanctioning, oh, I don’t know, such things as wars?
Calling Johnson superstitious would be an entirely different thread, and one I would not want to participate in, out of respect for some of the religious posters at the Dope.
That’s not necessarily true. He could have given them the same power and guidance, but they failed to capitalize on it. If my parents give me and my brother each enough money to buy a house, and I buy a house, but my brother spends the money on drugs and hookers, then my brother’s lack of a house is not evidence that our parents gave me more than they gave him.
I thought Johnson sounded pompous and self-important too. It did sound like he thought Jesus wanted him to win. What does it even mean to say that Jesus gave him “strength?” Strength for what? How much strength does it take to walk around on a country club and hit a ball with a stick? That’s not exactly an ordeal. To suggest that Jesus would give him mental strength for that is to suggest that Jesus gives a shit who wins the Masters. I can understand someone saying they leaned on faith to get through a double tour in Iraq, but if you say you needed it to get through a stroll on a lawn? Go fuck yourself.