Quick Thoughts on the Replacement Refs

We all saw it yesterday. The officiating in the NFL is noticably poor. It's not just the media, the announcers, or the complaining players. It truly is worse. There's so much to talk about here, but here's two quick thoughts.

I feel bad for the replacement refs.

Of all the different parties to blame in this debacle, I blame the replacement refs the least. I really find the vitriol towards the replacement refs, especially on Reddit, totally over the top and just plain mean [1][2][3]. These are people that probably love football more than you or me or most fans out there, and they were given the opportunity to do something they've probably dreamed about for a long time. They probably didn't realize how big of a jump it would be, and just how difficult referreeing in the NFL could be, compared to D-3. It's basically the same game, right?

Just think about it from these guys' points of views. One of these refs has been officiating Division 3 football for longer than he wants to be, holding on to the hope that one day, maybe the SEC or Big Ten would give him a call for big-time D-1 football. Then one day he get a call from the NFL, asking if he wants to ref professional games - games with players that they watch on TV, with crowds larger than the few hundred that attend D-3 football games. Incredibly excited, he agrees, and proceeds to share the good news with his immediate family and friends. Sure, the gig might only last a few weeks, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime that there's no way he can pass up. The first week of the season, he let's all of his friends and family know which game he'll be on, so that his son can see him on national television for the first time and brag about it to his friends.

But the game is too fast for him. The plays, too fast. The rulebook, too fat. The players, too argumentative. The coaches, too deceptive. The fans, too intimidating. He tries to make the right calls, but it's hard to tell if he's actually doing a good job, with both coaches yelling at him, the players arguing with them, and the crowd loudly boo-ing every time a call is made against their team. Emotionally, physically, and mentally drained, turns on the TV in his hotel room, only to find that all the sports analysts seem to agree that all replacement refs did a horrible job. He logs onto Facebook and Twitter to discover that the entire sports world is united against him. What makes it worse, his name is made public, and he begins to receive death threats for certain calls he was so sure he made correctly.

It's so easy to see refs as mere commodities and forget these are real people with real emotions. I don't mind occassional boo-ing, or even the occasional BS-chant, but villifying these refs or wishing harm upon them is really over the top for me.

The regular refs (NFL Referees Association) need to share some of the blame.

It is well accepted that the NFL deserves a TON of blame for not getting this deal done. They deserve blame for thinking that replacement refs would cut it in the NFL. They deserve blame for not properly equipping the refs. Two illustrations borrowed from Reddit (one of which is mine).

Analogy #1

The officials suck, but the NFL hired sucky officials. You get what you pay for. We're pissed about that?

My analogy: The NFL promised everyone a great dinner and took us all out to dinner at McDonalds. Now everyone is yelling at the McDonalds employees for serving up McDonalds food and not serving up four star food... No shit, we're at fucking McDonalds.

Analogy #2

I'm not saying they aren't responsible, but I think they're doing the best they can.

If a guy needs to fix some pipes in his house but is too cheap to hire plumbers and hires a cheap amateur, he shouldn't be surprised if there's water leaking again in a few weeks.

But a CBA is a two-party agreement. Both sides need to make concessions. From what I know about the talks (from ESPN and Mort), the NFL has made it clear that they are willing to make compromises on the economic terms, but the referree union is resistant to the operational changes the NFL is proposing, most of which many people would agree with. Mort mentioned in the ESPN post-game report yesterday that some of the changes the NFL proposed include benching referrees with poor performances and training new referee crews to try and phase in new, younger refs. It's totally understandable why the referee union would be opposed to those changes, but let's not pretend that they aren't in part to blame for the deal not getting done. The NFL is offering what they think will benefit the league in the long run, and the union refuses to compromise.

With the mounting pressure on the NFL to get the deal done, I wouldn't be surprised if they just folded to the union's demands, without the CBA they wanted in place. Next season, when we're complaining about some blown call and demanding the benching of some official, we don't have the right to blame NFL for not trying to put it in place.

Jesus Culture and Hillsong - Mostly Love, a Little Hate

I've been going through a spiritual dry spell recently, and listening to Hillsong and Jesus Culture during really work has really helped me to remember God more during the day. It's really awesome because there are full hour and a half worship session videos on Youtube, and my two favorite are probably I Heart Revolution by Hillsong and Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture. I especially love One Thing Remains that's done by Jesus Culture (I actually bought this version for a dollar on Amazon Mp3). . Whenever I listen to this worship music at work, I find myself singing or humming along. Hopefully it doesn't bother the people I sit around too much...

Jesus Culture - One Thing Remains




Anyways, even though I really like Jesus Culture and Hillsong and I tolerate most of the little theological/worldview differences in the music, some of the stuff in the music is absolutely too ridiculous that I find it difficult to worship to. The following are some of the idiotic lyrics that I really object to.

Come Away - Show Me Your Glory



Interestingly, this is the song right before my favorite song of One Thing Remains. Here are the lyrics-

"I see the cloud, I step in
I want to see Your glory as Moses did
Flashes of light and rolls of thunder,

I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid

Show me Your glory, show me Your glory, my God
Show me Your glory, show me Your glory"

I find it either incredibly arrogant or incredibly naive for someone to think that they can "handle" the fullness of the glory of God. What makes you think that you are more holy or righteous than Moses or Isaiah? Even John got all confused when an angel of the Lord appeared and he bowed down and worshiped it. John, one of the fathers of the Church, who walked with God on earth for three years, couldn't even handle the glory of an angel. Do you really want God to reveal the fullness of his glory to you? I think it would really benefit whoever wrote this song to read RC Sproul's Holiness of God and rethink those lyrics.

Jesus Culture - Fill Me Up



I absolutely hate this song. It really doesn't give me anything lyrically (well I guess Jesus Culture songs don't normally anyways), but I don't really like the melody either. Also in the few lyrics there are, there's borderline heresy.

"You provide the fire
I'll provide the sacrifice
You provide the Spirit
And I will open up inside"

"I'll provide the sacrifice." Really?! Really?! Have you read the Bible? Don't you know the narrative of scripture that God and God alone provides the sacrifice?! Old Testament. Abraham and Isaac. It was God. New Testament. Jesus. He is God. This isn't some Reformed vs. Arminian difference (like in the third and fourth lines). This is Bible 101. This is the gospel. I can see how they might mean giving yourself as a sacrifice, with "fire" referring to the Spirit. But come on. I can't help but get angry every time I hear this song.

Hillsong - I Heart Revolution Video Snippet

In this little video snippet, the people from Hillsong Church are talking about how important it is to love people, including those near us. Their approach is a little moralistic, but it's okay and I don't really disagree. Then this guy, comes up.

"As long as we are preaching the gospel with our actions, I think we're fulfilling the Great Commission, which is to go out and make disciples."

This is absolutely wrong on so many levels. "Preaching the gospel with our actions" alone would give some pastors fits, but it's a common mistake, and somewhat forgivable. But then he throws in the Great Commission. Do you really think that being nice to people and feeding the poor is fulfilling the Great Commission? If I may ask, how are you going to baptize people by your actions? Is being nice to people really "making disciples"? You've got to be kidding me. You may not hold to the whole unreached people's group thing with the Great Commission, but as a full-time minister, you can't possibly really think that the Great Commission amounts to nothing more than just being a good person by "preaching the gospel with your actions." My goodness.

I know this has been a really negative post, but in reality, I really like Hillsong and Jesus Culture and God has used their music in my life, even if they are kind of wacky sometimes. I guess I just felt the need to rant a little bit about the bad songs that I really dislike.

My Testimony at Knox

Two days ago, I got to give the following testimony at Knox. I was only given 5 minutes, and had I had more  time, there was SO much more that I wanted to say. But anyways, here it is.

Good morning, Knox Church. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Caleb, and I’m a recent graduate of U of M. I don’t actually attend Knox anymore, because I’ve moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana for my new job, but I did attend Knox for four years when I was here.

I first visited Knox a few weeks into my freshman year when I was looking for a church to challenge me spiritually and intellectually. The richness, honesty, and depth of insight of Pastor Chuck’s sermons kept me coming back.

It is through Pastor Chuck’s preaching that I learned one of the most important lessons of the Christian life my first few months here at Knox - and that is that the gospel isn’t something you learn and you “graduate” from. It’s not something that you learn, get over, and go and learn deeper and more majestic things. No. The gospel is huge. The gospel is beautiful. The gospel encompasses all of Christian life. And every Christian should be striving to understand the gospel more deeply every day.

What I appreciate so much about Pastor Chuck’s preaching is that I think that it’s impossible to visit Knox and to leave without hearing the gospel. It doesn’t sound the same every week, and he doesn’t use the same words every week, but the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are always central to his sermons.

But it’s not only through the preaching that my understanding of the gospel deepened. The people of this church embody the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 2, it says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”

Knox Church, you smell good. I’m not talking about the bathrooms here which smell deliciously of Fruit Loops, though it is that too.

This church has a real gospel fragrance, an aroma of the knowledge of Christ, which I first got a whiff of as a freshman smelling those donuts and bagels after service. Your love and care for college students is a real, tangible way that we college students get to experience Christ’s love through you. So on behalf of myself and all the college students that attended Knox, past and present, thank you for all the things you’ve done to display your love to us.

But the gospel fragrance of this church isn’t smelled simply in what you do, but it’s simply who you are. I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, and I don’t think it will, but I love how Knox is a church of just ordinary people. Believe it or not, I didn’t realize this when I first came in and saw the big, beautiful church building and all of you beautiful people all dressed up, and it wasn’t until I sat in Sunday school and got to talk to some of you and hear your stories that I really realized that this church is full of people with family issues, relational issues, and spiritual issues, just like mine. I take comfort in knowing that I’m not surrounded by a group of “super-Christians” without any problems. And in Sunday School, I take comfort in knowing that in knowing that I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand what Pastor Bob is talking about all the time, and that I’m not the only person that doesn’t know as much church history as he does.

And while you are ordinary people, most of you are still more experienced and advanced in life than most of us college students. But your experiences and your lives are the answers to so many of the questions that we have as college students, especially those of academics, career, and how they relate to the Christian life. Questions like, “How do I glorify God in my studies? Can I glorify God by being a doctor, even if I’m not a medical missionary? What does it mean to be a Christian in academia? Is it possible to be active in the church and a high ranking officer in a company at the same time?” We have all of these questions, and the people in this church are a great resource and example to all of us college students thinking through these questions.

And it is for all of these reason that I really believe that churches like Knox, and Knox especially, are perfect for college students. So if you’re a freshman and this is your first or second time here at Knox, I really encourage you to consider making Knox your home church for the next few years. And if you’re already a college student here and have been attending Knox, I challenge you to go to Sunday School. It’s only an hour a week, and it’s a great way to get to know some of the people you worship with every week and to participate in the life of the church, even when you don’t have time during the week to participate in other activities.

And again, to all of you who serve and care for us college students, even kids like me who rolled out of bed and came to church in sweatpants and a hoodie, and kids like me who took more than my fair share of donuts in the morning, thank you so much. God has really used this church to bless me, and so many other college students like me.

Thanks.