I think one of the oddest traits of modern American Christians is our tendency to emphasize things that are rather foolish. We can be serious about the most amazingly unimportant things while, at the same time, caring nothing about things that really do matter. For example, we actually talk and care about "cheating" at solitaire.
Solitaire is an interesting game. Most of us old guys learned solitaire when we were young, using actual cards. Everyone has some amount of time spent alone and solitaire was a way to get through that time. There are lots of kinds of solitaire, but the same concepts apply to all of them.
Basically, you have a playing board with cards and a deck of cards and you play the cards from your deck onto the playing board, hoping to get everything played out to end up with four sets, one for each suit of cards. Each game has "rules" that we learn as children. Nowadays, everyone plays on their computer (it is much faster than dealing every time). But the same "rules" apply.
If you want to get a group discussion going, ask if it is "okay" to "cheat at solitaire." In any church I have attended where I have done this, there is an immediate condemnation of "cheating" at solitaire. Whatever rules you are playing, they tell me, you must follow the rules or you are "cheating" and that is "bad." In some groups, they will tell you that the rules you follow (which you learned at home) are not the "real rules" and that you are "cheating" every time you play because they know the "real rules." This becomes a serious moral issue to them.
If I may say, this is one of the silliest arguments I have come across, the idea that "cheating at solitaire" is a moral issue at all. Who are you cheating? No one else is playing. It is a game. You play it to have fun. By yourself. Who wants to re-shuffle and re-deal the stupid cards all the time. You are just fooling around. There are no "rules" being "broken." So, if one play doesn't work, just undo it and try something else. Who cares?
In golf, people will argue over "which tees" to use when driving at the start of a hole. People will say that it is "wrong" to use certain tees. Why? As a professional told me once when I asked about what tee to use, it is a game. Just play however you want to play. If you are not playing for money or pride with others, then enjoy yourself. I promise you I never hit a ball that is sitting on a rock or a root or next to a tree. Why should I break a club in a game that is supposed to be fun?
The same people who say they would "never cheat" at solitaire will, nonetheless, speed on their way home. They will violate written laws, enacted by a lawful authority, empowered by God Himself (Rom. 13), and which God Himself orders them to obey. Why? So they can get to Wal-Mart quicker.
We are such odd little creatures. We create standards that make no sense (no cheating at solitaire) and ignore God's standards in so many other things. When the Bible tells us that we are God's children, perhaps part of that meaning is that we remain yet so immature that we do not understand what matters to Him.
Solitaire is an interesting game. Most of us old guys learned solitaire when we were young, using actual cards. Everyone has some amount of time spent alone and solitaire was a way to get through that time. There are lots of kinds of solitaire, but the same concepts apply to all of them.
Basically, you have a playing board with cards and a deck of cards and you play the cards from your deck onto the playing board, hoping to get everything played out to end up with four sets, one for each suit of cards. Each game has "rules" that we learn as children. Nowadays, everyone plays on their computer (it is much faster than dealing every time). But the same "rules" apply.
If you want to get a group discussion going, ask if it is "okay" to "cheat at solitaire." In any church I have attended where I have done this, there is an immediate condemnation of "cheating" at solitaire. Whatever rules you are playing, they tell me, you must follow the rules or you are "cheating" and that is "bad." In some groups, they will tell you that the rules you follow (which you learned at home) are not the "real rules" and that you are "cheating" every time you play because they know the "real rules." This becomes a serious moral issue to them.
If I may say, this is one of the silliest arguments I have come across, the idea that "cheating at solitaire" is a moral issue at all. Who are you cheating? No one else is playing. It is a game. You play it to have fun. By yourself. Who wants to re-shuffle and re-deal the stupid cards all the time. You are just fooling around. There are no "rules" being "broken." So, if one play doesn't work, just undo it and try something else. Who cares?
In golf, people will argue over "which tees" to use when driving at the start of a hole. People will say that it is "wrong" to use certain tees. Why? As a professional told me once when I asked about what tee to use, it is a game. Just play however you want to play. If you are not playing for money or pride with others, then enjoy yourself. I promise you I never hit a ball that is sitting on a rock or a root or next to a tree. Why should I break a club in a game that is supposed to be fun?
The same people who say they would "never cheat" at solitaire will, nonetheless, speed on their way home. They will violate written laws, enacted by a lawful authority, empowered by God Himself (Rom. 13), and which God Himself orders them to obey. Why? So they can get to Wal-Mart quicker.
We are such odd little creatures. We create standards that make no sense (no cheating at solitaire) and ignore God's standards in so many other things. When the Bible tells us that we are God's children, perhaps part of that meaning is that we remain yet so immature that we do not understand what matters to Him.
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