so this week i found out on twitter that our south african olympic swimming gold medalist, cameron van der bergh, had admitted to cheating to get his gold medal by doing a succession of dolphin kicks underwater in the pool [apparently only one is allowed] and it bummed me out.
so, as one does, i made a facebook status about it… and was doubly surprised and bummed at how many [mostly christians] wrote comments on my status defending his actions and largely from the perspective that “everyone else does it” which was cameron’s defense as well.
waitasecond, so cheating is okay if everyone is doing it? of course cos how else could he win and because the rule is silly anyways and they policed it at this other competition and so he didn’t have to cheat but this one they didn’t so he really had to and WHAT??!?!?!?
flashbacks to a baptist summer camp where i think i was camp pastor – at the time i was involved in a 6 month course on youth ministry at the baptist seminary [the only seminary coursework i have done thus far] and a bunch of the students who were training to be pastors were at this camp for youth aged 13 to 18 and the guy leading the course on youth work was heading up sports.
somehow i managed to be standing near him when a dispute was brought to him about one of the camp soccer/football games that had just been played where the rule for the game was no players over 18 [or maybe 21?] were allowed to play. one of the students [from my class at seminary, training to be a pastor] was being accused of playing in the one game despite being a few years over the allowed age.SHOCK ONE – his defense: the other team was doing it. so i am standing there not believing my ears and waiting for the lecturer to open a can of something on some part of his anatomy when SHOCK TWO – the lecturer at this christian college completely backs his student and rules in favour of him.
so clearly, cheating is condoned as long as everyone else is doing it. but that doesn’t make it right.
and reading the arguments on the ‘book they all sound pretty convincing [well not all, some of them are downright ridiculous, let’s be honest] but no-one is arguing how okay Jesus is with it. because you can’t. because He is not. i mean, i can certainly not see Jesus standing in condemnation over cameron as if he has done the worst thing ever in life and demanding that he be kicked out of the games [Go, and swim no more!] but at the same time, i imagine there might be a secret sigh, like He probly did ever so often when His disciples just completely missed the plot again, and maybe a fireside chat about how the medals that we chase in life in terms of character and integrity being so much more profoundly important than any the world might hang around our neck.
in fact Jesus had quite a lot to say about how the ‘everybody is doing it’ argument is a more likely sign that you are on the wrong path [see the whole of Matthew 7] – He said things like “the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved”[matthew 24.12-13] and we also read, ‘For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.’ [2 Timothy 4.3-4]
so i don’t believe with any part of me that Jesus would have been okay with what either cameron or the training-to-be-pastor youth leader did and although the event/incident itself may seem more or less trivial to you depending on who you are, there is a greater principle at work, because if i can watch my pastor being okay with cheating in a meaningless football/soccer game then maybe it sends me the message that it is okay to cheat in a business deal, and if i as a young south african being inspired by one of my countrymen can hear that he cheated to get there then maybe that tells me it is okay to cheat in an exam or even on my girlfriend [as long as i can cite examples of other people doing it]
it is a slippery road. to be christian and defend or even applaud unChristlike behaviour.
and a lot of people might be wondering why i am making such a big deal of such a ‘small thing’ and it is because the small things become the big things – the enemy is looking to destroy us and any area where we allow him a foot in the door he will take full advantage of it until he gets such a gap that he can force himself well and truly into our lives…
the bottom line for me, i think, is that you can’t be a Christ follower and then live by the wisdom or ideals or compromise of the world. The term ‘Christ follower’ suggests the following of Christ.
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A really challenging post Brett – thanks 🙂 As I was reading it, my playlist happened to be playing “Slow Fade” by Casting Crowns. Seems quite apt, so I thought I’d post the chorus here:
It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade
The rest of the song is worth reading or listening to as well. I agree some may wonder why you’re making such a big deal of such a small thing, but it really is the case that the little things become big as you become “okay” with letting them slide. Let me also be clear that I’m no saint when it comes to this topic. I’ve had my failings in the past which have sometimes started small and become big, but it’s something I think a lot of us have to constantly work at. Thanks as always for the challenge!
great comments Kevin and just good to have someone else who thinks the same – the slow fade image is exactly it… and yes this is totally not about claiming that we have it all together at al;l but when we okay and then go one further to celebrate sin, the world quickly becomes a tragic place…
Yes!
The world seeks it’s own glory at any cost. We should seek His glory – also at any cost, even if it means losing.
dude, it’s like you spoke my blog in a second, love it.
Thanks Brett. I had embarrassed to say I had no idea about this story! And it shocks me! I feel cheated in some strange way, for cheering and supporting, and now being left disappointed and angry. I haven’t read those facebook comments, but am surprised, or sadly maybe not, that anyone would justify this, or boast or be proud of him, or themselves for this behaviour. It is not a small thing at all and reflects a much bigger heart issue. Even if everyone is doing it, it doesn’t leave him with no other option. No way out. He can still make a choice! It isn’t clever, it is wrong! Fullstop. That is it! Not okay. I echo what you and Kevin say about all of us falling short, of course, but we should be holding ourselves to a higher standard than everyone else, Christ, and refuse to conform to a lower standard offered by the world.
If it’s not fair for everybody its not fair for anybody. Why compete if you know your opponent can dolphin kick and get away with it? You may as well just stay at home and braai.
So I say carry on dolphin kicking Cameron until cameras are installed and you can relax knowing everyone is being judged on an equal footing. Until then, the whole thing is an amateur joke.
This loophole reflects on the game makers not the competitors. You can’t call it cheating if the rules can’t or aren’t be properly and equally enforced by judges in the first place.
It’s a very noble idea to kindly ask the competitors to just play fair (especially since this means less work and cost overall for the game makers). But if they can’t or won’t attend to the rules they make, how does that leave any competitor in a secure place to compete? You may as well just stay home and braai – as I already stated very, very clearly.
What needs to happen is all the competitors use as many dolphin kicks as they like until cameras are installed.
The reality is if it was possible for swimmers to win a breaststroke race using crawl, it would be happening. And the honest guys would come stone last. Every single time. So just get your little waterproof pool cameras setup and the problem will be solved.
so let me get this straight, as a follower of Jesus [context] you are saying that you think that cheating is okay because other people are cheating and because the rule is stupid? [i do believe cameron was the one who used the word ‘cheating’ altho i could be wrong on that one]
In Florida, there is a law that prohibits people from showering naked. In Idaho, you may not be seen in public without smiling. In Nebraska, sneezing or burping is illegal during a church service. In Wisconsin, whenever two trains meet at an intersection of said tracks, neither shall proceed until the other has.
Not every rule makes sense.
He didn’t dope himself, he didn’t injure another player. Had the rule been monitored and observed, he would have stuck to it, as he had done before. As the other poster said, if he hadn’t done it, he would not have been able to win. In that case, everything he has done up to that point is for nothing. He might as well not have gone.
I’m not saying cheating is right – and I’m aware HE called it cheating. I’m saying that not observing a rule that is completely unmonitored and unchallengable, that no other athlete observes, that would have put him at a major disadvantage if he did observe it for moral’s sake, is not cheating.
In school, our skirts had to be exactly 3cms above our knees. When we first bought mine, it was 1cm above my knees. Are you saying my mother was sinning by not observing the school uniform rules? Cos frankly its the same thing.
What was that in the Bible about the log in your own eye? Save your disappointment until you’ve sorted out every little issue you have.
i don’t think you are comparing like things.
i’m not convinced we have sufficient proof to be saying that everyone else did it [from what i’ve read only one other dude was brought into question who is the other guy who would have won so is it possible all the ones who wouldn’t have won maybe weren’t doing it? i don’t know]
i agree with you where you say if the reality is that if he didn’t cheat he wouldn’t have won and should have rather stayed at home – choosing staying at home with dignity over winning with cheating is a dignified response
i think with the skirt example that you are the one by definition who is saying your mom was breaking the rule [if it was unintentional that’s a different story but if there was a rule stating one thing and your mom deliberately did another thing then yes, you have answered that yourself.]
and i’m not sure your bible log example means we can’t challenge or call into account others who are messing up publicly. i think it is insisting that the most important thing is that we look at ourselves first before we call into question the actions of others which is a strong and valid principle. in the area of games, i think i am good, because not cheating is clearly a huge value of mine. there are many other areas where i mess up in for sure and i am constantly trying to look at those and take them before God and better myself.
Amen Brett!! You wrote what’s been in my head and heart since I heard!!
Once again, a very well written piece my friend. It makes me happy to know that there are people in the world who are unashamedly ethical. My only question is the one about integrity. I’m going to word this badly, so hopefully you can see my point, but are you not holding others up to your extremely high level of integrity? (your high level of integrity is a good thing, but it needs to be said that not everyone thinks this way, including myself. I would probably not see myself as cheating, but thats because my level of integrity, or rather my understanding of right and wrong is different to yours.) AAAAH. This is coming across horribly. I hate the internet. 🙂
God bless you Brett and all the awesome things you have to say.
thankx Ryan, you pose a good question and i’m not sure that i can answer it cos obviously i am looking at the thing from my point of view – clearly from other peoples responses it is not the accepted view of what is right and wrong but also just from life i have seen and learnt that compromise seems to come so easy to so many and people generally choose comfort or easy over right and good [i’m sure i do this in a lot of areas] and so yeah i think your point is a good one and that you expressed it fine despite the internet but still inside of me i am disappointed and hoping for more [perhaps if he didn’t use the word ‘cheating’ it would have been a slightly different picture – he wasn’t trying to justify actions he felt were legal so much as justifying what he clearly saw as wrong to some extent [but justifiable wrong cos ‘everyone does it’] – the quote i added today with the article link suggests this a little more strongly. thankx for your thorts.
Nice blog bro!
Firstly, I can’t imagine the pressure someone like Cameron must be under to win. He has the burden of a whole nation on his shoulders, plus a whole entourage of trainers, physios etc who put a huge amount of work into making him a winner. Secondly, I honestly don’t know what I would do if I were in his shoes, it’s so easy to point from the sidelines.
Having said all that, I think we’ve become a society which believes that the end justifies the means, and also (despite what everyone says to the contrary) winning is everything, it defines who you are, you’re either a winner or a loser. There is no other category.
So if I cheat but I win, then that’s ok. In fact society seems to applaud people who have the audacity to cheat creatively.
Accepted wisdom seems to say ‘if everyone else cheats and I don’t then I won’t win, so I must cheat’. Winning is taken to be the only option whereas there is another option, competing with honour and dignity to the best of your ability, win or lose.
The fact is, there is something way more important than winning: honouring God and our fellow man (Matthew 22:37-40).
It might be that some think it’s judgmental and holier than thou to point out stuff like this, I don’t think it is. I myself struggle with losing any game. Even to my wife. And I have resorted to cheating in order to win on occasion. But just because I’m not perfect doesn’t mean I don’t want the world to be a better, and kinder, place.
ah, well said bro, all the way through, thanks for this. it is completely important to be aware of the pressures and so on that he is under and also that for the olympics for the majority of people their whole life might have been directed to this point – so immense pressure and not being able to guess how we would respond in the situation [except to say hopefully that we would look to hold to the values we have, whatever they might be] and then your end points about, “understand yes, but still not good enough” and because it is a public thing it is good to have public discussion because a whole generation of young people might be looking and going “ah it’s okay to cheat” and may live that in other areas even more consequential than sport.