T-Ball, Baseball, Christianity

T-ball isn't baseball. Yes, the premise is the same, but batting through the line up, not counting outs or runs, non-existent fielding for most kids, and coaches roaming the fields providing instruction at every turn is not a game, it is instruction or practice.

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved coaching T-ball, and it serves a genuine need to help kids learn the game of baseball, but in reality, at the end of the day most parents just want to see their kids playing something and the general consensus is that everyone should get a participation medal or trophy.

My oldest has moved up to machine pitch. A league in which a pitching machine is used to deliver consistent pitches that allow the game to flow and the kids to continue to develop hitting skills without the inconsistency of 6, 7, and 8 year olds trying to throw strikes.

Beyond the machine part of it, and a few rules to ensure the games flow efficiently without punishing the kids for having undeveloped skills, the game is baseball. Outs count, runs count, their is a winner and a loser, there is elation and disappointment. The building blocks of character.

Here's where my problem lies. I never possessed the physical stature or athletic prowess to be successful in baseball during my teen years. I did, however, learn the skills, and as I moved into adult softball leagues, I played, I think, fairly well. I'm not a flashy fielder, with the arm needed to make plays from deep in the hole at short, but hit 'em as hard as you like, I'll stay in front and make the play.

Where my adherence to the skills of baseball becomes a problem is when I work with Jared. I push for the same perfection and adherence to skills. Skills that he hasn't developed yet, and skills that are not always fun to learn, particularly when you're 7 and you can't see where endless ground balls and corrective batting practice is leading. Before I go on, know that I'm trying to change, and at games, I'm supportive, not bashing mine or any other kid for mistakes or miscues...that's for the ride home...just kidding.

Anyway, I got to thinking this week, and hence the blog, that unfortunately the parent's approach to T-ball and my approach to my son's baseball skills are perfect examples of the way too many approach Christianity.

On one end of the spectrum are those who fall into the participation crowd. They believe that we can't tell anyone their beliefs are inconsistent with God's word and that "good" people go to heaven as long as they "love" one another. They like to point out that Christ's message was about love and that Old Testament laws pointing out what God finds distasteful were replaced by Christ's message of "love". Seems they miss the whole passage when Christ says he came to fulfill the law, not abolish it.

Matthew 5:17-20
The Fulfillment of the Law
17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who approach Christianity in the same manner I approach my sons baseball play. Anything short of their vision of perfection is unacceptable. They insist on arguing every aspect of doctrine, debating to "no end" what is right or wrong and insisting that others are less faithful, dare I say, maybe even less Christian, if they choose to worship differently or view doctrinal issues differently.

Christ covers this end of the spectrum as well.

Matthew 23:13-15 (read the entire chapter for more references)
13"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.[c]
15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

Neither is right! Just as T-ball taught my son little about the game of baseball and created no love for the genuine article, just as my insistence on my son learning and performing skills at a level far beyond his years strips him of any budding love for the game, so also these two approaches to our Christian faith provide little reason for people to want to experience what we know to be true.