Michael Vick, Bill Simmons and Grace
Jeff Collier
| October 01, 2010
ESPN's Bill Simmons article about Michael Vick and whether he should be allowed to play struck me today.
In his article Bill debates his wife over whether or no Vick should be allowed to return. Bill argues he should because he's paid his debt and has been playing lights out. His wife refuses to forgive Vick for his atrocious actions and believes he's not truly sorry for what he did but is just doing a big PR ploy. She is a big animal lover and thinks Vick is more or less the devil.
That reminded me of a verse in the Bible:
Matthew 9:1-8
1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
The correlation I made in Matt 9:5 is the difficulty of forgiveness. Physically healing from a crime requires less effort than mental and emotional healing.
But more than that the idea of a person changing without the holy spirit seems to be engrained in our being. If a person without a supernatural force claims to be different than they were the last 27 years of life we are skeptical. And rightly so. Without God we are all lost.
In his article Bill debates his wife over whether or no Vick should be allowed to return. Bill argues he should because he's paid his debt and has been playing lights out. His wife refuses to forgive Vick for his atrocious actions and believes he's not truly sorry for what he did but is just doing a big PR ploy. She is a big animal lover and thinks Vick is more or less the devil.
That reminded me of a verse in the Bible:
Matthew 9:1-8
1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
The correlation I made in Matt 9:5 is the difficulty of forgiveness. Physically healing from a crime requires less effort than mental and emotional healing.
But more than that the idea of a person changing without the holy spirit seems to be engrained in our being. If a person without a supernatural force claims to be different than they were the last 27 years of life we are skeptical. And rightly so. Without God we are all lost.
Jeff Collier is the founder of Zetify and currently lives in Austin.