Game Day for the Glory of God<\/em><\/a> (Crossway, 2008) and really enjoyed it.\u00a0 I would encourage parents, sports fans, and Christians who love sports fans to pick the book up.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s a nice excerpt from the book that captures its spirit:<\/p>\n
\u201cGod has given us the gift of sports so that we might enjoy them for his glory.\u00a0 Our athletic abilities were given to us by God so that we might use them for his glory.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not receive these gifts passively!\u00a0 Millions of people enjoy the gifts of sports without ever uttering a word of thanks or praise to the glorious Giver of gifts.\u00a0 As Christians we know the author of every of every good and perfect git.\u00a0 Let us resolve then that whenever we\u2019re enjoying sports, whether playing or watching them, we will thank our extravagantly lavish God who gives us such wonderful gifts.\u201d (102)<\/p>\n
Altrogge is a pastoral intern at Sovereign Grace Church of Indiana, PA.\u00a0 His book is classic Sovereign Grace, filled with enthusiasm, humor, and the gospel.\u00a0 The text does not probe intellectual or philosophical questions related to sports, instead assuming that sports are intrinsically a field for Christians to enjoy and influence.\u00a0 Altrogge points out both positive and negative aspects of sports, focusing most of the time on basketball and baseball.\u00a0 He approaches his subject from a strongly spiritual perspective, seeking to determine how Christian character relates to various issues and attitudes that crop up in athletic competition.\u00a0 Of note are chapters that relate to the way in which parents prepare their children for sports.\u00a0 This material, while generally basic, is thoughtful and will prove helpful to parents attempting to fashion a healthy worldview of sports in a world gone mad for them.<\/p>\n
I resonated with much of Altrogge\u2019s writing and I enjoyed the humble manner in which he wrote.\u00a0 The young writer frequently references his own experiences as an overheated amateur, a category which I fit into all too often.\u00a0 A major reason to read the text is its function as a mirror for people like me.\u00a0 It brings out fundamental struggles that all athletically competitive people struggle with.\u00a0 Time and again, Altrogge mentions the need to fight pride, a point that is both simple and essential.\u00a0 More than almost any other struggle, sports bring out pride.\u00a0 Athletic competition is, at its core, something of a quest for glory, and it can easily\u2013very easily\u2013bring out one\u2019s prideful attitudes and thoughts.\u00a0 I sometimes found myself wanting to skip over passages due to their correct diagnosis of my own thoughts and heart intentions.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that I did not, though, because Game Day<\/em> challenged me to rethink the way I compete.<\/p>\nThe text is a bit scattered at times and sometimes cyclical, covering material for the second or third time.\u00a0 In addition, I would have liked a bit more reflection on the nature of sports.\u00a0 How is the grand system of athletic competition so familiar to our modern eyes infested with ungodly thinking and acting?\u00a0 One needs to go beyond questions of behavior and immediate spiritual struggle to wrestle with the greater questions behind <\/em>sports.<\/p>\nWith these things said, Game Day <\/em>is a fun, enjoyable, convicting read.\u00a0 It would be great for dads to get a couple of copies and read it with their sons (and daughters) who are obsessed with sports.\u00a0 Beyond this group, Christians of all ages who enjoy playing sports would benefit from the questions it raises and the convicting material it presents relative to one\u2019s heart attitude.\u00a0 Altrogge has crafted a fine text in Game Day <\/em>and I hope that we\u2019ll see more from him.\u00a0 Until we do, athletic and competitive Christians should read the book<\/a> and use it to image more of the glory of God in competition and far, far less of the glory of self.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I recently read Stephen Altrogge\u2019s Game Day for the Glory of God (Crossway, 2008) and really enjoyed it.\u00a0 I would encourage parents, sports fans, and Christians who love sports fans to pick the book up. Here\u2019s a nice excerpt from the book that captures its spirit: \u201cGod has given us the gift of sports so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13066,852,1342,13274,13277,2721],"class_list":["post-956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-reviews","tag-christians-and-sports","tag-game-day-for-the-glory-of-god","tag-sovereign-grace","tag-sports","tag-stephen-altrogge"],"yoast_head":"\n
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