August 04, 2012

Gabrielle Douglas Gives God the Glory for Olympic Gold Medals

Gabby's tweet before All-Around competition: "Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me."
 
Team USA One of the favorites for Team USA this Olympics has been 16-year-old Gabrielle Douglas, who helped her team garner gold in women's gymnastics. She also competed in the All-Around competition, along with teammate Aly Raisman, and Gabrielle took gold once again.


Setting Gabrielle—affectionately called "Gabby" by her teammates and fans—apart is her willingness to share with the press, Facebook and Twitter friends, about what gives her strength, courage and peace in the midst of the fierce contest of skill: her faith, and relationship with the Lord.

Upon learning that she and her fellow USA gymnasts had won gold, she posted on Facebook, "We are the 2012 London Olympic Gold Medalists!!! We are all so happy right now. It's a dream come true! Gotta give God the Glory! Thank you everyone for praying for me! It means so much to me! Now I have to prepare for the All-Around competition! I am so excited! ♥ Gabby."
Gabby Douglas In an Us Weekly interview, Gabby said, "Right before a competition I pray and listen to music." And when she was asked by the press how she focuses and stays calm when surrounded by the immense pressure of the Olympic competition, the teen replied that she meditates on Bible Scripture.

In evidence of that, on the morning of the All-Around competition, Gabby tweeted, "Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me."

A video posted on Crosswalk.com describes the journey Gabby and her family has taken on her road to the Olympics, including the difficult decision by her mother Natalie—a single mom—to allow her youngest daughter at 14 to move halfway across the country to train.

Despite the cultural differences, Gabby found a second home with her host family in Des Moines, Iowa, and the move for intense training paid off.

Watch the moving video at the link provided.

Original Story from BCN and Crosswalk

Tags: Christians who won gold medals, Gabrielle Douglas testimony, Gabrielle Douglas quote, Gabby's Christian quote, Gabby's God quote, Gabby's 2 gold medals, Gabby's testimony, Gabby's Tweet, Who are Christian olympians? famous Christian athletes, flying squirrel, is Gabby arrogant?

15 comments:

  1. At least she didn't give God "all the glory and praise" like the previous participant, saving some for her coaches, her teammates, and herself.

    I am always somewhat saddened when I see this sort of quote, because it only seems to work one way -- I almost never hear of defeated athletes asserting that God clearly didn't want them to win. It's sort of a "God wins, but I lose" model that hardly seems fair, or just.

    In addition, doing that gives the strong implication that, for whatever reason, God chose *this* person to win over all the other people -- some of whom may have had faith that was just as strong. When you combine this with the sort of "demonstration of the elect" that we see in various strands of Christianity (you are rewarded if you are righteous -- a strong strain of Calvinism and modern prosperity preaching) it implies a moral superiority in the victor -- which is, frankly, arrogant and unpleasant in the extreme.

    I don't think Gabby Douglas thinks she's a better person than her fellow competitors because she won -- indeed, I suspect she'd be horrified if she was told that someone else felt she meant that. But it's an implication of what she's said, something that has to be factored in when you start feeling chosen.

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    1. >it implies a moral superiority in the victor -- which is, frankly, arrogant and unpleasant in the extreme.

      - Why are atheists so negative? So she thanked her Creator and acknowledged that she could not live, breath, exist, do gymnastics or anything without God. This is not arrogant but humble. It is you who seems to be arrogant.

      Neal

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    2. Why are atheists so negative?

      You're making an assumption here. ;)

      So she thanked her Creator and acknowledged that she could not live, breath, exist, do gymnastics or anything without God.

      Actually, she talked about giving God the glory of the victory. Which, as I said above, is a way of describing one's self, whether you realize it or not, as chosen to win. And on what grounds were you chosen?

      It is you who seems to be arrogant.

      Why? Because I don't think that giving credit to an entity that never takes blame is a bad idea?

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  2. I agree with you on this point:

    I don't think Gabby Douglas thinks she's a better person than her fellow competitors because she won -- indeed, I suspect she'd be horrified if she was told that someone else felt she meant that.

    But I believe you may be reading into the situation a bit too much to believe that many athletes would be offended by her words as,

    "something that has to be factored in when you start feeling chosen."

    Most Christians would hopefully be able to put sports into perspective and not treat it as an idol. It seems this is the case with Gabby.

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    1. Most Christians would hopefully be able to put sports into perspective and not treat it as an idol.

      Considering the number of "sports ministries" and the like out there, and how many athletes view victory as an opportunity to proselytize, I don't think this is likely to be the case at all.

      Indeed, during the era of the Soviet Union, there was *lots* of "We must defeat the godless atheists to show our moral superiority" rhetoric.

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  3. Rus anon...

    Still no acknowledgement on Salman s lies, Regnerus s dishonesty and no objective criteria has been offered on how to differ between a true christian and a self-professed one...

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    1. >Still no acknowledgement on Salman s lies, Regnerus s dishonesty and no objective criteria has been offered on how to differ between a true christian and a self-professed one...

      - You should know better than to post off topic comments. You have a lot to overcome:

      1. An unjust court verdict based on unconstitutional reasoning, as outlined in court documents:

      http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-rutherford-institute-challenges.html?showComment=1344335242916#c5230382818454619732

      2. Slanderous journalists, such as Amy Davidson, who distort the facts of scientific reports in attempt to smear them.

      http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/07/studies-show-traditional-families-offer.html?showComment=1344336004581#c6616299749566472308

      3. You've completely missed the point with regard to Luther and biblical salvation:

      http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/08/true-christians-true-scotsmen-and-venn.html?showComment=1344336911207#c8533059169872945823

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    2. And you have yet to answer my question regarding Mr. Rushdoony, Rick.

      Oh, and why should we believe lying religious propagandists who demonstrably don't understand social science methodology, over journalists like Amy Davidson?

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  4. Oh, and as a side note:

    "We are the 2012 London Olympic Gold Medalists!!! We are all so happy right now. It's a dream come true! Gotta give God the Glory!

    I wonder how her teammates feel about being told that the glory is being given to someone else -- for a medal they all won together.

    I know that if I was in a team competition, and one of my teammates said that the glory of the victory belonged to God, I'd be hard-pressed to stay quiet.

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  5. >I know that if I was in a team competition, and one of my teammates said that the glory of the victory belonged to God, I'd be hard-pressed to stay quiet.

    - Yes, and it is people like you who have been helping to destroy a once great country, the USA, one based on certain acknowledged truths:

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;[7]"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_men_are_created_equal

    Last I looked, I haven't seen people lining up to live in Russia, Ukraine and Communist China. But people like you (atheists in America who do not understand the nature of freedom, justice and civil liberties) are doing their best to ensure we are all come under the same kind of bondage.

    I thank God that this world is not my ultimate home and I do not place my ultimate hope in politicians or governments but the life-giving sovereign King of Creation, Jesus Christ. Hopefully, some day you will be set free from your spiritual blinds and understand the truth.

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    1. But people like you (atheists in America who do not understand the nature of freedom, justice and civil liberties) are doing their best to ensure we are all come under the same kind of bondage.

      Still making the assumptions, Rick, that because I disagree with you deeply, I'm an atheist.

      The rest of this is a red herring -- I notice you don't actually *respond* to my point, you just use it as a jumping-off place to go off on one of your usual rants about how "Atheists are destroying the country".

      Tell me, Rick, how would you feel if you had a teammate in a team sport who, when asked about the victory, said "All glory to Allah for our victory!" Or, since you've gone on a Satanist kick, "Satan helped our team win out there, and he deserves the credit"?

      If you'd object, then you have no consistent grounds to complain about my objection to someone giving the credit to God.

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  6. >how would you feel if you had a teammate in a team sport who, when asked about the victory, said "All glory to Allah for our victory!"

    If I was living in Iran I would understand why people would make that statement "All glory to Allah " and I would try to politely explain the truth of Christ. Likewise, if I was an athlete from America, where the dollar states, "In God we trust" and the Declaration of Independence states the following:

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;[7]"

    Then I would probably not be so upset if a person stated they thanked God for the victory for their team and gave the glory to God because God is the creator of all. No big wup, just a short testimony of truth.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_men_are_created_equal

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    1. If I was living in Iran I would understand why people would make that statement "All glory to Allah " and I would try to politely explain the truth of Christ.

      And if your teammate told you, after giving your thanks to Christ, why they didn't believe Christ existed, I presume you'd take it in good form?

      I do notice that you immediately place things in the context of a theocracy in one case, and appeal to government approval in the other case.

      Funny, that someone who's so all fired up about "civil rights" immediately leaps to government approval for religion in order to support their statements.

      No big wup, just a short testimony of truth.

      A short testimony of faith. You've repeatedly and utterly failed to prove any useful truth-value in your claims.

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  7. This is stupid; why in hell should god give a damn about a sporting event? How does he get "glory" from that? It makes the athlete look nice perhaps when they say shit like that, but other than that, I don't get it.

    Doesn't god have real problems to worry about? You know, famine, disease, etc?

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    1. Remember, Reynold, this is the god who identified "heaven" as a place where the blessed, as their reward, sing praises all day long. Glory from other beings appears to be this particular deities' main motivating factor.

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