Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, is the NBA a religion? This is prompted by an article I read recently in the Sporting News, about a recent controversy involving Chicago Bulls player Jaden Ivey. Now, Ivey was recently traded to the Bulls, from the Detroit Pistons, and got off to a little bit of a rocky start as a player for the Bulls involving an injury. Spending a lot of time on the bench. In fact, rehabbing an injury is what he was up to when he was recently cut by the Chicago Bulls, released from the team, his offense. His cause for being released was that on social media, Ivy was critical of the NBA's participation in Pride Month, a month where the league and other organizations and entities celebrate the various sexual expressions of different people within America. Ivy, confessing Christian, went on social media to say that he did not think it was right that the NBA was celebrating. I'll use his word unrighteousness, and instead talked a lot about Jesus, his faith in Jesus, sinfulness, and the need to surrender to the lordship of Jesus. Ivey even went so far as to call out other NBA players, like Stephen Curry, for example, a Gold State Warrior legend, arguing that although Curry is thought of as a Christian, his participation in unrighteousness is indicative of someone who actually isn't following Jesus. Now, Ivy is still going to earn $10.1 million from the Bulls as part of his contract, despite the fact that they let him go, which means the Bulls thought his offense was so negative or so detrimental to the team, I think that's the official language they use. It was actually worth paying him $10 million just to stay away. To which Ivy simply said this, quoting the Bible, what good is it to gain the world and forfeit my soul? I think this story is so important because I got to tell you, initially, I thought about doing an episode on. Look, as Christians, of course, we hold to biblical morality. but that doesn't mean that in every avenue, it's the right time to talk about it. Look, at the end of the day, the company you work for has hired you to do the thing they've hired you to do. And unless they specifically put it in your contract that they also wanted you to talking about your Christian faith, there's a time that you should just do your job, focus on what you're being paid to do. but then this thought occurred to me that the NBA here isn't just saying they're not okay with Jaden Ivey's language. So I'll, get to that in a minute. What they're saying is that they want to be able to tell all their players, all their organizations, all the people who work for those organizations, all the NBA players, players, how to think about sexuality. That's their point. It's not enough to wear the Pride flag on your jersey. It's not enough to be part of just by playing in a game, the celebration of Pride Month or pride nights or anything like that. That's not enough. You also have to only talk about it in a positive way, which is fascinating because the NBA is a basketball league. It's an employer. but when you begin to tell people how they should think about moral issues and what they're allowed to say and not say, you aren't a company, you are religion. That's what it means to be a religion, to hold out a larger narrative whereby the adherents of that religion derive their morality. The NBA's problem with Jaden Ivey is that he did not espouse the religion they told him to, the moral worldview they told him to. You see, once again, this is an example that pluralism and relativism apply to everybody except for evangelical Christians. Everyone gets to hear their viewpoint, everyone gets to speak their mind, everyone's invited to the table. Unless you espouse a biblical worldview instead. The story of Jade and Ivy is a lot like the story of Daniel. the story in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, which is when Nebuchadnezzar built the golden idol that he wanted them to worship. And he said, you are commanded in Daniel, chapter three. When you hear the music do fall down in worship. You see, what King Nebuchadnezzar was saying is, it's not enough for me to be king. What I really want is for you to worship me. What the NBA is saying is, it's not enough for you to be a basketball player. We want you to celebrate what we tell you to celebrate, to endorse what we tell you to endorse. And if you have a contrary opinion, shut up or we're going to fire you. Listen, this is not tolerance. This is not quote, unquote, love. Something I imagine they think they were celebrating at, Pride Month. This is being told to toe the line. Look, Christians have to understand there are certain environments at your work, at your organization's functions, where you can't participate in sin, but you might not share all of your opinions and views on a particular topic. I understand that, but this was on his personal social media account. An account where he shares his thoughts, I assume, about all kinds of things. An account that the Chicago Bulls do not own. But in fact they do think they own. They own him. They own his mind. They own his heart. Well, good for Jaden Ivy for saying, no, you don't. That belongs to Jesus. Listen, this is a conversation that's coming in many forms. For many of us, it's great to have a job. It's great to earn a paycheck. It's great to want to represent your organization well. But only God gets to tell us what is right and wrong. Only God gets to gets to tell us what is good and what is not. And anyone who tries to do that stops being an employer and starts wanting to be our God. And the NBA or anyone else doesn't get to do that. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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