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Eye on the world: Clean competition
In “Russia’s sports doping scandal: Why this one may be different” The Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board notes that sports officials have begun to awaken “to the fact that they cannot focus solely on curbing this corrupting practice [of taking banned performance-enhancing drugs] by detection and punishment…. Rather, the culture of sport itself must change.” Citing a new program launched by the International Olympic Committee to promote and protect “clean athletes,” the article concludes, “Sports bodies need to better reward athletes who win cleanly and cooperate openly in fending off drug use. The best in today’s sports culture can overpower the worst.”
Ideas on this subject:
From the Bible:
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21 )
“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1, 2 )
From the writings of Mary Baker Eddy:
“Fear of punishment never made man truly honest. Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to proclaim the right. But how shall we reform the man who has more animal than moral courage, and who has not the true idea of good? Through human consciousness, convince the mortal of his mistake in seeking material means for gaining happiness. Reason is the most active human faculty. Let that inform the sentiments and awaken the man’s dormant sense of moral obligation, and by degrees he will learn the nothingness of the pleasures of human sense and the grandeur and bliss of a spiritual sense, which silences the material or corporeal. Then he not only will be saved, but is saved.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 327–328 )
Related articles from The Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel:
In “The best athlete”: “The same qualities that develop a great man or a great woman also develop a great athlete. Factors that determine good athletic performance include confidence, calmness, concentration, courage, and fearlessness. These factors are mental, not physical. They enhance one’s performance, whereas fear, lack of concentration, and disturbance will detract from and interfere with it.”
In “The healing role of divine Science in sports”: “Mrs. Eddy writes, ‘Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action’ (Science and Health, p. 454 ). Freedom of action is certainly a desired goal for any athlete. As we pray during training and competing, our motives become less about winning and more about glorifying God…. If an athlete does something amazing and recognizes that the source of the ability is God, then God is glorified. Excellence in overcoming material limitations demonstrates infinite, unlimited Spirit and reveals the spiritual capabilities of man, which may appear humanly amazing. God’s attributes are expressed in the beauty, strength, endurance, agility, and quick thinking of the athlete. Every time a material limitation is overcome, we are honoring God.”
The articles above and others dealing with this subject can be found on JSH-Online.com or on CSMonitor.com.