The “Downside” of the World Cup

At the conclusion of the service last Sunday evening Pastor Doug granted the request of a visiting believer from Germany to share briefly with the congregation. Coming from the country that hosted the previous Soccer World Cup, he shared some of Germany’s experiences from a Christian perspective and issued a warning and a wake-up call to the church in South Africa. I was not at the service due to illness, but according to a friend who was there, he made the following observations:

 

• The World Cup was NOT good for Germany from a spiritual perspective as it brought with it a strong humanist mantra (‘football will unite us’ . . . ‘FIFA will make us rich’ . . . ‘winning will make us successful’).
• The World Cup brought high levels of prostitution/alcohol abuse and crime, which have led to increased social problems.
• In Germany, one consequence was a heightened intolerance of the church’s view against gay marriage.
• The church was naive about what the World Cup was doing and bringing to the country.

In an email to me, my friend suggested that we need to ask ourselves some pertinent questions:

• We have been brain-washed about the World Cup and what it will do for us?
• How can a country like ours invest billions into football stadiums and airport upgrades when our hospitals and schools lack basic facilities?
• Sport has its place of course, but, have we, as a nation, totally lost our perspective?

There is no doubt a significant “upside” to the World Cup, but we must not fail to be aware of the “downside.”

Food for thought . . . and prayer!