Team USA has just pushed past China in the 2012 London Olympic medals count stats, 81 to 77. Key players in the flurry of US medals on Wednesday include Allyson Felix, women's 200 meters; Aries Merritt, men's 100 hurdles; Brittney Reese, women's long jump; Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings, women's beach volleyball.
Mainstream news outlets may have picked on up Felix's spirituality, though highlighting it in somewhat of a satirical tone: "Allyson Felix, the Chosen One who finally won an individual event to fulfill more than eight years of prophecy." Felix captured the first individual Olympic gold of her decorated Olympic career, running the 200 meters in a lightning 21.88 seconds. Felix had finished second in the 200 in the previous two Olympics. However, as noted in the following pre-Olympic video, her Christian faith has been instrumental in helping to keep things in perspective and to persevere when the going gets tough.
In her interview with Rossi Morrreali, quotes by Allyson Felix reveal that she grew up in a Christian home where church was a central aspect of life, "Church was always a huge part of everything we did." And she also offered some indications that her faith is real and personal, not just a buzz word or a symbol of religious ritualism. She stated, "As I grew older my faith became my own - as long as I can remember, I've definitely had a strong faith." Her Christian faith has been instrumental in helping her to persevere:
"I've definitely had some low moments where I've had to rely more on my faith. And I just go to that place of knowing that there is a bigger purpose for everything and think things in perspective."
As noted earlier in the London Olympics, US Olympian Gabrielle Douglas also thanked God and gave God glory for her Olympic medals. Kerri Walsh-Jennings, the women's beech volleyball champ, attended Baymonte Christian School in Scotts Valley, California. One of the core values of that school is, "Challenging students to grow in their relationship with Christ." Though Jennings does not seem outspoken about her spiritual beliefs, this school and its values may have been a factor in her success.
The adage "Correlation does not imply causation" implies that faith may not have been the most important factor in the victories, nevertheless, based on the testimonies of individual athletes and what they believe has helped to make them to become successful, faith does seem to be one of the key factors that has come into play in London 2012. If faith has been a key factor for individual winning Olympians, it may be noted that faith has been a key factor in the Olympics in general.
It is widely known that an underground Christian revival has been taking place in China for quite some time. But because China is basically an atheistic and totalitarian country where civil liberties are often repressed, such as the right to religious freedom and expression, we will never know how many of the medal winning Chinese are also Christians. I find it interesting that many in the world have been boycotting the London Olympics because it has become a staging ground for an escalating global police state. And, yet, despite all this, the power of faith in Christ is shining through the event in an ever more pronounced manner. If you are going through a difficult time, keep in mind that this is an experience that may help to forge your faith. A list of famous faith quotes may help to inspire and encourage you.
Tags: Quotes by top Christian athletes, America pushes past China in Olympic medals count, faith a key factor in Olympics, Allyson Felix Christian quotes, video of Allyson Felix Christian testimony, quotes by Christian Olympians, prophecy of Allyson Felix, London Olympics and Bible prophecy,
London Olympics police state, boycott of London Olympics, Inspirational faith quotes, quotes on faith.
Related:
Gabrielle Douglas Gives God the Glory for Olympic Gold Medals
Gallup Polls Highlight Happiness, Health and Logic in Spirituality
The Health and Logic of a Thankful Lifestyle
Well... I guess that definitely proves Havok s point about Rick being a liar only interested in pushing propaganda and moving the discussion to a completely different subject when cornered.
ReplyDelete1) Rick still refuses to admit Salman was justily convicted despite that he did build a church in his backyard without any permits and failed to comply to the authorities at multiple occasions.
2) He defeneds Regnurus s faulty and dishonest study. Even if it was shown numerous times that his conclusion is based on only TWO cases of gay parenting.
3) He fails to put a clear definition on what a true christian is, despite being asked to do so at multiple times
As for the subject... Nice cherry picking of data. You have just pulled of a single event and pushed some ridiculous claims. You would need to analyse several Olympic games to make a more or less convincing statemant (not every time the US was victorious) and you should also try to include other factors like the budjet of a team (which is the main condition with sheer personal efforts for a victory in modern sports).
You should also do note that the most likely number of Christians in China is 54 millions, i.e. about 4% of the population. Among the athelets, who are brought up since their eairly childhood by the authorities (often isolated from their parents), the amount of Christians should be close to zero. Faith in jewish mytholodgy was certainly not a key factor in the Chinese victories.
AnonyRus,
ReplyDeleteOh my. Posting off topic unsubstantiated slander yet again. This is not good. Let's see, what was the actual result of your last off-topic rant in the previous post:
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
In failing to support your arguments at these posts and threads, you feel the need to use off-topic unsubstantiated slander, How sad, but how telling.
You mentioned Havok, who has consistently felt the need to slander me as opposed to offering valid points and arguments. If you believe he is correct, then show a point from the following article that I did not adequately address before he began his slander. He claims I have offered "illogical" answers to critiques of the following article. Please show one of my illogical answers in the comments of the article then:
http://templestream.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-identity-logic-and-physics-prove.html
Posting off topic unsubstantiated slander yet again
DeleteJust because you *disagree* with the statements made doesn't make them "unsubstantiated" or "slander". (indeed, the fact that they're written down would make them libelous, save for the fact that they're not.)
2. Slanderous journalists, such as Amy Davidson,
Now, you see, this is *actual* libel -- you're directly attacking a person's professional reputation, and doing so with very little evidence other than "She wrote things I don't like about a person I support."
Also note, Rick, that in the recent past you were quite willing to follow people from thread to thread and ask them a set of questions, whether those questions were on-topic or not. Now, as owner of the blog, you're allowed to do so, but it comes across as hypocritical at best when you complain so vigorously about someone else doing the same thing.
I also notice that in your efforts to complain about off-topic posting, you ignore the part of the comment that was on-topic. To use your own words: "How sad, but how telling."
R:Oh my. Posting off topic unsubstantiated slander yet again. This is not good. Let's see, what was the actual result of your last off-topic rant in the previous post
ReplyDeleteI would not post off-topic if you did bother to answer the points in the other thread. Unfortunately, you just ignore them.
R:An unjust court verdict based on unconstitutional reasoning, as outlined in court documents
I have already pointed out to you in the specific thread why you are wrong on that point
R:Slanderous journalists, such as Amy Davidson, who distort the facts of scientific reports in attempt to smear them.
I have told you numerous times that Amy Davidson has almost nothing to do with the discussion and bringing her up is a red herring. However, that did not sink well in you and you still repeat the same nonsense. Do address my criticism and not Amy Davidson s.
You also refused to address the points in that specific thread on Regnerus. I also do remind you that you ignored my question about objective criteria for a true Christian. Those you provided are not enough.
R:In failing to support your arguments at these posts and threads, you feel the need to use off-topic unsubstantiated slander, How sad, but how telling.
Rick, if you just ignore my arguments that does not mean they are unsupported. Would you really answer me if I did not pressure you? So far, you did not. You do remember that it took me weeks if not months to make you acknowledge the difference between fascism and nazism? Let us at least try to settle the three points about Regnurus, Salman and true christians before getting to Havok or else this will never end.
>I would not post off-topic if you did bother to answer the points in the other thread. Unfortunately, you just ignore them.
ReplyDelete- You are in denial as to what constitutes a valid legal decision and it seems no amount of time or discourse will cure your denial:
http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-rutherford-institute-challenges.html?showComment=1344526769072#c5389918647990270906
And now we see further evidence as to why Rick is a propagandist, not someone interested in truth:
ReplyDeleteThe adage "Correlation does not imply causation" implies that faith may not have been the most important factor in the victories, nevertheless, based on the testimonies of individual athletes and what they believe has helped to make them to become successful, faith does seem to be one of the key factors that has come into play in London 2012. If faith has been a key factor for individual winning Olympians, it may be noted that faith has been a key factor in the Olympics in general.
I notice you manage to make the leap from dismissing the validity of "Correlation implies Causation" to describing faith as a "key factor". Now, since we've already seen that your notion of "mainly" is highly flexible, depending on your needs, I wonder what you mean by a "key" factor.
We have a few scattered testimonials -- from people who are encouraged, religiously, to testify. Yet this *encouragement* is not factored in, while you take great pains to claim that we will never know how many of the medal winning Chinese are also Christians.
Do you see the bias in your observations there, Rick?
Now, to do a quick check on your hypothesis: If Christianity was a key factor in Olympic success, then we would expect nations that had gone from being atheist to Christian -- or who experienced a dramatic improvement in the state and power of Christians -- to have a rapid upswing in medals, right?
Let's see -- the Soviet Union, across 18 Olympics, won 1,204 medals, or approximately 66 medals per games. Russia and the former Soviet republics? 654 medals in 9 Olympics -- almost exactly the same rate, though when you consider that they are allowed more entrants, a slight *decline* in number of medals per entrant. (Oh, and the Russian Empire, 8 in one games, but that was so long ago comparisons aren't really relevant).
So, we have a clear test case for the "Christians should do better" -- and they didn't. Calling Christianity a "key factor" when the U.S. is, as usual, winning more medals is just propaganda.
Indeed, there's a long-standing history of Christians attempting to get high-profile athletes to proselytize for them, so seeing some high-profile athletes doing so is, to put it mildly, unsurprising. Indeed, unless you can show the number of athletes who are Christian is significantly larger than the percentage of the population who are Christian, you've proved nothing regarding Christianity's value in athletic achievement; you've just put up some anecdotes and made unsubstantiated claims, as usual.
. If faith has been a key factor for individual winning Olympians, it may be noted that faith has been a key factor in the Olympics in general.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note; if faith is a key factor for victory in the Olympics, then what does that say about those who do not win?
What, especially, does it say about those who do not win who are also Christian?
>What, especially, does it say about those who do not win who are also Christian?
ReplyDelete- It 'says' that learning more about faith may be helpful.
Some inspirational quotes on faith would be start:
“The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials.” ~ George Muller (English Evangelist)
Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/christian-faith-quotes-20-moving-sayings/#ixzz234almTvF
“The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials."
DeleteThis is not an answer, Rick.
Let's try again:
If Christian faith is a "key factor" -- i.e. between two equal athletes, Christian faith would be a determining factor in victory -- then what does it say about the faith of one Christian who loses to another?
Or does God provide a level playing field for Christians and cheat against everyone else?
Oh, and Rick, are you going to respond to the methodological post above?
DeleteBecause this is another case, be warned, where I'm not going to let you dodge.
>be warned, where I'm not going to let you dodge.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite humorous considering it is you who is backed into a corner with no valid answers:
http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/08/true-christians-true-scotsmen-and-venn.html?showComment=1344537619313#c9045810133503143578
>Oh, and Rick, are you going to respond to the methodological post above?... If Christian faith is a "key factor" -- i.e. between two equal athletes, Christian faith would be a determining factor in victory -- then what does it say about the faith of one Christian who loses to another?
ReplyDelete- It doesn't really say all that much. Faith is not the only factor in a Christian's life. There is the question of integrity, knowledge of God's word and the most important question, "What is the will of God in the situation?" It may very well be that it is not God's will that the Christian with the most faith is supposed to win during any given event. Ultimately, all events are filtered through God's sovereign will.
This is quite humorous considering it is you who is backed into a corner with no valid answers:
ReplyDeleteRick, weren't you the one who was complaining about an Anonymous poster who followed you with questions from other threads? And here you are doing it yourself.
>Oh, and Rick, are you going to respond to the methodological post above?...
ReplyDeleteYou responded to the wrong one:
Now, to do a quick check on your hypothesis: If Christianity was a key factor in Olympic success, then we would expect nations that had gone from being atheist to Christian -- or who experienced a dramatic improvement in the state and power of Christians -- to have a rapid upswing in medals, right?
Let's see -- the Soviet Union, across 18 Olympics, won 1,204 medals, or approximately 66 medals per games. Russia and the former Soviet republics? 654 medals in 9 Olympics -- almost exactly the same rate, though when you consider that they are allowed more entrants, a slight *decline* in number of medals per entrant. (Oh, and the Russian Empire, 8 in one games, but that was so long ago comparisons aren't really relevant).
We'll teach you to do social science and statistical analysis one step at a time, if we have to.
Now, as for the rest:
It doesn't really say all that much. Faith is not the only factor in a Christian's life. There is the question of integrity, knowledge of God's word and the most important question, "What is the will of God in the situation?" It may very well be that it is not God's will that the Christian with the most faith is supposed to win during any given event. Ultimately, all events are filtered through God's sovereign will.
So, Christianity is a "key factor" except when it isn't, and we have no way of telling whether it is or not. You do realize you've undercut your entire point here, don't you?
>We'll teach you to do social science and statistical analysis one step at a time, if we have to.
Delete- You can begin by showing quotes from specific Christian athletes in those Olympics mentioned. I would appreciate seeing the results of your research. :-)
Lesson 1: "The plural of anecdote is not data."
DeleteYou presented a hypothesis: If faith has been a key factor for individual winning Olympians, it may be noted that faith has been a key factor in the Olympics in general.
I said, "If the hypothesis is true, then these other things should also be true..." And gave one example, which has turned out *not* to be true. In order to defend your hypothesis, you have to explain why an expected effect has turned out not to be the case.
So: Now, to do a quick check on your hypothesis: If Christianity was a key factor in Olympic success, then we would expect nations that had gone from being atheist to Christian -- or who experienced a dramatic improvement in the state and power of Christians -- to have a rapid upswing in medals, right?
Imnotandrei,
DeleteYour entire point here is moot because I have already outlined why labels such as "Christian country" do not adequately account for true Christians versus those who say "My parents were Christians, so I"m a Christian."
I wrote an entire article outlining key aspects of what a true Christian is. Reputable dictionary definitions of Christianity offer that a true Christian follows the teachings of Christ, that Christianity is not based on nationality.
http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/08/true-christians-true-scotsmen-and-venn.html
I had already addressed your fallacy based on the same points: "The Philippians is a Christian country - but they have no Olympic medals recently."
If we were to see quotes by athletes from Philippians revealing they all have a true and vital relationship with Christ, then that would be a valid challenge. But, "The Philippines is a Catholic nation..." does not cut it.
I asked you to provide a link showing I have failed to address a relevant and cogent point. Rehashing old and refuted points is not such an example.
R:I wrote an entire article outlining key aspects of what a true Christian is.
DeleteAnd it has been pointed out to you that under your criteria even an atheist or a a muslim can be considered a true christian. Your definition is either meaningless or incomplete.
P.S. As expected, no apologies from Rick for his slander
P.S. Still no apologies for slander and
1) I wrote an entire article outlining key aspects of what a true Christian is.
DeleteAnd that entire article boiled down to "We can't tell, because there are aspects of my definition that we have no way of ascertaining. We can try and guess, and use a subjective definition that means that True Christians can't do bad things, because then they're not True Christians."
Hardly useful, for these purposes. You made claims here, Rick, and to then go back to your traditional "Oh, they're Christians because I think they did good things and they said they were" is hardly helpful.
I had already addressed your fallacy based on the same points: "The Philippians is a Christian country - but they have no Olympic medals recently."
Please link to this comment, because you didn't do it in this thread or either of your other two Olympic threads recently. (And by the way -- your spellchecker's Christian bias is showing. It's Philippines, not Philippians. ;))
If we were to see quotes by athletes from Philippians revealing they all have a true and vital relationship with Christ,
And here we have Rick again setting himself up as judge of who does or does not have a true and vital relationship with Christ.
You made a specific claim: If faith has been a key factor for individual winning Olympians, it may be noted that faith has been a key factor in the Olympics in general.
Indeed, the title of your article implies that faith helped the U.S. to its medal lead. These are specific claims of performance, and guess what? Citing a few athletes who believe that faith helped them do it doesn't cut it as proof of your claims.
As I've said before, you want to try and grab credibility for your belief by pointing to external, verifiable things that help shore it up; when they don't, you retreat into indeterminable claims and anecdotes.
Believe what you want, Rick; just don't lie to the rest of the world about what you think your faith does in order to get other people to try and believe with you, which is all you do here.
And it has been pointed out to you that under your criteria even an atheist or a a muslim can be considered a true christian. Your definition is either meaningless or incomplete.
DeleteTo be fair, I don't think this is true. An explicit desire and evidence of an effort to get close to Christ was part of his definition. Of course, we are then required to judge the sincerity of that effort, as well as its results, and if we don't like either one we get to call them not True Christians -- oh, wait, Rick does, because he knows, and we don't. Apparently. ;)
I:An explicit desire and evidence of an effort to get close to Christ was part of his definition.
DeleteIndeed. However, one does not have to acknowledge Jesus as god to follow his teachings. Hence, a follower of Christ can be an atheist. Furthermore, Muslims consider Jesus as a prophet and also follow his teachings. Therefore, they are also true christians, according to Rick
Rick, do read a textbook about social studies. You would save yourself a lot of embarassement.
ReplyDeleteHer Christian faith has been instrumental in helping her to persevere:
ReplyDeleteSo has her choice of sneakers, but I don't see you trumpeting that.
Seriously Rick, no one has problems with an athlete, artist, politician or scientist being inspired by their religious faith. What gets to people is your laser-like spotlighting of it, as if every other factor in in these peoples' success were unimportant.
Exactly. Rick is a dishonest fool if he thinks so...if that truly is what he thinks, than how does he justify the communist countries (general) domination of the medal counts in the olympics over the past several decades?
DeleteAs usual, he doesn't. He starts a new thread and pretends this one doesn't exist. That's his usual rhetorical strategy.
DeleteOh, and Rick: if you want to talk about a real "key factor" in medaling:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sbnation.com/london-olympics-2012/2012/7/29/3200424/2012-olympics-medals-results-gay-lesbian-athletes
"A whopping 58% of all openly gay, lesbian or intersex Olympians over the years have won a medal, which is an incredible statistic."