I imagine two responses to this question – “What a silly question!” or “Of course not!” – both of which quickly dismiss the question.
I would ask you to resist that tendency to dismiss the question and go a little deeper. What lies within the question is just how biblical your view of heaven and of sports really is which defines your hope for heaven and your path to redeemed sports.
Randy Alcorn, author of Heaven, recently addressed this question in a Desiring God podcast where he boldly declares –
“I believe there is every reason to believe there would be (sports in heaven).”
To which many object, “How can that be? After all, there can’t be any losers in heaven.”
Alcorn responds, “Why not?” and then gives a personal example. He coaches tennis and talks about how he would celebrate when one of his students developed to the point that that student could beat him. He points to this as an example of having vested interest in another person’s growth and a taste of what it will be like in heavenly competition.
Alcorn then asks the poignant and very important question – “Where did sports come from?” and answers quickly, “Clearly, from God. Satan did not come up with the idea of sports!”
You may not be so easily convinced or those you interact with so easily convinced. (There are many in the world who think differently on this.) For more on this subject, let me point you to another resource that gives a fuller defense for the origin of sports and their presense in heaven:
Blog – “Was there competition in the Garden?”
The origin of sports is of immense importance as we think about the redemption of those same sports and further on to whether they are included in the consummation.
Heaven? I can’t wait to play golf there!!!
