Ultimate Fighting and Christianity

I am going to come out of the closet, I am an Ultimate Fighting fan. I like to watch these guys fight. On occasion I have struggled with this. Is ultimate fighting wrong? Two guys get into a ring or octagon, as the case may be, with intentions of beating the other person into submission.

When I say that I pause for just a moment. There are rules in ultimate fighting. These rules are in place both to help determine a winner and for the safety of the fighters. I can't find anything in scripture that says this kind of behavior as wrong. Paul refers to the games, which included forms of fighting, as a metaphor for the Christian life in 1 Corinthians 9. He doesn't seem to demean them in any way as he does that. Certainly the Gladiator games were immoral because they were fighting to the death. Scripture is clear about that. But these games are more like wrestling or boxing.

I have tried to be honest about the activities that take place in ultimate fighting. What is ironic is a number of these guys who participate are Christians. I don't mean the believe in God, I mean they love Jesus and are actively following Him. This doesn't mean Ultimate fighting is moral, but it does lend some credence to the idea that it might be.

This leads to another question. If ultimate fighting or MMA is wrong, then I wonder if Boxing or wrestling is wrong as well. Certainly these sports have a similar goal.

For the time being I have come to the conclusion that ultimate fighting is NOT morally wrong. I am open to being persuaded otherwise, but to this point I cannot find anything in Scripture that would suggest it is wrong.

What Evangelism Isn't

There is more evangelism methods, books, and seminars than I can shake a stick at. Heck I even have my own method of evangelism. In the end evangelism is only one thing, it is telling sinners who need to repent and be forgiven the true story of Jesus death and resurrection. The gospel is the atonement, it is the cross, it is the resurrection.

I have noticed that my story doesn't supply forgiveness, it is only an example of it. My story doesn't supply atonement, it is only about how I have received it. My story doesn't have any of the things in it necessary for it to be the gospel.

Christianity Today has published part of mark Dever's book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. It echo's this concern that I have had for some time, check it out.