God in the Octagon

Round 5

For you have girded me with strength for battle; you have subdued under me those who rose up against me. –Psalm 18:39

One Sunday, about 5 months out from my third fight at the first UFC pay-per-view event I would ever fight at, I heard a church service that, for the first time in a long time, challenged what I believed as a Christian and a fighter. We were doing a series at church about following the footsteps of Christ, and this specific sermon was about when to be angry like Jesus. The pastor said that Jesus was not a violent man and that the only time he let his anger turn to violence was when he saw something he knew was so unjust it had to be stopped immediately. He told the story of how Jesus saw things going on in the temple, like people being ripped off for small items like eggs and bread, and to quote the bible, specifically the book John chapter two verses 15 and 16, "So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those selling doves He said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father's house into a house of thieves." The pastor then said something unexpected; he looked almost exactly in my direction and said "See that Jesus used violence for the right reason. Not to harm others, but to help them and to cleanse his father's house. I know some of you may not get that violence has its limits, but I hope I can enlighten you. For example, the sport of mixed martial arts, promoted by such organizations as the UFC, is not the type of violence that a Christian should be participating in."

I nearly lost it right then and there. Jenny and I had been going to this church for about a year now and everyone knew I was a fighter, especially the pastor. I knew that he didn't support my career choice, but I didn't think that he would call me out on it, especially in front of the entire congregation, a few of whom had begun staring at me. The pastor continued on in his anti-martial arts rant, "During the Sermon on the Mount, Christ praises the meek, not the aggressive man. It is difficult to combine the Good Shepherd of the Gospels who promised that the humble man would inherit the earth, with the hyper masculine, bloodlust ideology of the cage fighter. It takes a huge stretch of the imagination to conclude that since Jesus was a carpenter who did not attest to a sport he had never experienced, he would have enjoyed watching Christian men and women beat each other senseless until one of them is either unconscious or unable to continue fighting due to a submission. This isn't the type of submission that Jesus is calling us to. We are not supposed to hit each other until we bleed and abuse our bodies, for they are not our own. According to Paul in first Corinthians, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. We are called to responsibly steward our bodies and glorify God with them—not to spend our leisure time watching fighters pound each other to a bloody pulp, or to participate in such a sport." And that was it, the worship band began to play and we were dismissed to the rest of our Sunday. I was angry that the pastor had singled me out like that, and I expressed that to Jenny on the car ride home while Jon slept in his car seat.

"He was specifically called me out. He was trying to get a reaction out of me. He knows what I do, and maybe it is a little violent, but he didn't need to embarrass me in front of the entire congregation like that."

"Well I'm glad that you didn't react." Jenny said, calmer than usual. "And who knows, maybe he had a point."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Awe come on Jenny, don't tell me you agree with the guy. What happened to the little girl who joined a MMA gym in spite of her father's wishes?"

"I know, I know." Jenn said, a hint of anger in her voice. "It's just that I've seen what MMA can do to people, like you, and I know it can get pretty violent in there. I just want you to be safe."