I enjoyed the Superbowl yesterday, which proved a classic game with the 49ers roaring back in the second half for a close game. However, the thing that most captured my attention was an interview shortly before the game by Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Lewis is the face of the Baltimore Ravens and many have complained that he is hardly an inspiring figure given his prior indictment for a double murder. Lewis was asked about this continuing controversy and he came up with a curious claim of proven innocence: God cleared him. It appears that in sports and morality, nothing succeeds so much as success.
In an interview with Shannon Sharpe, Lewis was asked directly about how the family of the victims in 2000 objected to his being treated as a hero on the team when he has never shared what he knew about the murders and is believed to share responsibility in the death of two men. He was asked if he wanted to say something to the family members of the victims:
Here is Lewis’ response:
LEWIS: “It’s simple. God has never made a mistake. That’s just who he is. You see? And if our system, this is the sad thing about our system — if our system took the time to really investigate what happened 13 years ago, maybe they would have got to the bottom line truth.
But the saddest thing ever is a man looked me in my face and told me, ‘we know you didn’t do this. but you going down for it anyway.’To the family, if you knew — if you really knew — the way God works, he don’t use people who commits anything like that for his good. No way. It’s the total opposite.”
Putting aside the claim of divine acquittal for a second, the suggestion that he was blameless and merely a convenient scapegoat denies reality. The incident in question occurred at a post-Superbowl party on January 31, 2000. Lewis and his friends Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, got into a fight with another group of men. That led to the stabbing death of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. It was later learned that Oakley and Sweeting had bought knives earlier in the week from a Sports Authority. After leaving the scene, Lewis’ blood-stained white suit disappeared and prosecutors accused him of dumping the evidence. Baker’s blood was found inside of Lewis’s limousine. Many felt that Lewis should have been tried, particularly after Lewis admitted that he knew the men bought the knives at the store during a prior autograph session. He also gave a misleading statement to police following the killings. However, he was allowed to enter a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice. He was givens the maximum sentence for a first offender by the court (12 months’ probation) and the highest fine meted out by the NFL for a non-drug offense ($250,000). Oakley and Sweeting were later acquitted of the charges in June 2000 and the crime has never been “solved.” In 2004, Lewis reached a settlement with the four-year-old of Lollar and Baker’s family.
Given this history, it is bizarre for Lewis to claim that if they “took the time to really investigate what happened 13 years ago, maybe they would have got to the bottom line truth.” The police (and many others) believed that the truth was obvious. Two men were stabbed after Lewis’ friends bought two knives and got into a fight with these men. They succeeded in defeating the charges but critical evidence was missing.
Now, to the main reason the interview stood out: the divine acquittal claim. It is perfectly bizarre that Lewis believes that not only does God pick winners in football games but does so to clear a person like Ray Lewis. Here is how it works in Lewis’ mind. God watched the NFL games and whenever Lewis plays, he uses his divine power to guarantee a Ravens victory in order to clear his name as one of the righteous. (This assumes of course that God has no favorite on the other teams). It appears that, with Tebow not playing, God moved on to Lewis for rigging games.
As bizarre as this seems to rational people, it is not much different from saying that God let your neighbors die but protected you from a hurricane or tornado or car accident. Of course, Lewis is claiming a level of divine guidance that dwarfs such claims. He insists that God has allowed him to flourish on the football field because of his innocence and “if you knew — if you really knew — the way God works, he don’t use people who commits anything like that for his good.”
This also ignores all of the truly evil people who flourish in life. Stalin died in his sleep after decades of war crimes and every type of wickedness. Mao did pretty well despite the Cultural Revolution. Then there are those countless felons, torturers, and others who thrive despite their crimes. It is a religious view that only O.J. Simpson would understand.
Then again, it might not be God who’s protecting such “creatures”:
Source: USA Today
“EastBroadwayLong Beach 1, February 4, 2013 at 8:39 am
Wrong Ray…. all this proves is that humans are fallible & there is no ghod.”
No, there is no “ghod” but there is God, the Creator.
And what’s with the picture with “god” [sic] as the caption. Tacky grammatical error.
Know Jesus Know God. Trouble is people in their mind separate the two. Show mercy combine the two.
it says that GOD created man in His image. the religions created their own images of GOD.
as far as the super bowl goes I wrote commercials for it in 2002-03 when I wrote movies, tv shows, and under no circumstances were there in be any reference to any religion, or christianity with the cross like you see in the jared commericials. then I gave everything away in order to get it out to you to be guided.
if religion told you that I was other than what I really am, then you are listening to a false religion. I told you that I am an airborne ranger. and MY SON was ranger, and seal qualifed. so in truth you don’t know if MY son was involved in the raid to get bin laden. I also said that there was a nuclear war, and you don’t know that either. but if people buy and read the antichrists books that they sell about prophecy, those books would be defunct because we have changed history.
just for the record if Jesus ate, HE did what for relief.
so if I am so glorious then you now know why I don’t tell the pubilc where I took a HOLY S—. there are people who would try to sell it to you.
to set the record straight nuns claim to sleep with JESUS, clergy claim to sleep with GOD and preach to have carnal knowledge, then speak against homosexuality??? WE were both sleeping with men in the military.
THE TRINITY ( FATHER, MOTHER, SON WOULD BE ON THE EARTH.) would keep man kind on the right path to maintain evolution. I wrote If you were GOD what would you do?
it is written that I can go on forever and tell you nothing. if you listen to the antichrist you will only jeopardize your soul. if you run out of oil, you starve so the ram commericial was written for the ate-the-ist day.
do you think that dodge will give ME any money. it took place in a time of brother against brother. or was touch down JESUS just another false prophecy? is thirteen really an unlucky number? it is written that people will become superstitious about GOD. THE BIBLE does give reference to a DAUGHTER that is chosen by GOD. the address that She was born under is in THE BIBLE. She is no relation to THE HOLY FAMILY, and the church antichrists disapprove that GOD chose a daughter. Her Father and Mother are written about by name just as MY name is in THE BIBLE and the proper authorities were in the same hospital when I was born. all coded (shrouded in mystery) like the Grand Traverse. THE HOLY OF HOLIES IS HERE and the pope doesn’t like GOD. like I said, satan will fight for your soul to go to hell with him and I’ll send you if you go to him so there really is no fight. THE BIBLE makes this perfectly clear. .. that the world will slip into the abyss while the antichrists rule the world, so when some one is trying to get some rest and a bunch of hypocrites are singing about a bunch of false stories next door, so some can not get their rest. close em down! your supposed to rest on the sabboth, and keep it holy. so play golf! would a qaudripeligic go to a tribe of cannibals super bowl party?
and I look nothing like that image that is at the top of the page. I am much, much better looking.
No one can take a picture of God. The heat from his glory would burn the camera more completely than any known fire.
pete9999-
Apparently the God pictured above bet on the 49ers and lost his Holy Shirt. A lot of 49ers’ fans yelled “Holy Shirt!” at the end of the game.
HenMan
1, February 4, 2013 at 10:12 am
That’s the first picture of God I have ever seen. I thought he was a much younger man. I guess it must be the stress that goes with the job.
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god’s cool with pictures, it’s muhammad that gets all sean penn with the paparazzi. it’s crazy, i know. must be the prophet motive.
No one can take a picture of God. The heat from his glory would burn the camera more competently than any known fire.
I’m guessing that Ray Lewis couldn’t give us God’s take on misprision of a felony.
Gods take is repent or Die eternally. Religions take is what the devil whispers. Eternal burning is a lie.
And when this football player makes a mistake or commits a violation / sin does he then declare that God is angry with him?
To people that die Gods light looks like wrath – anger. Be merciful; Gods light will be merciful. Remember, God has the last say.
…
“By the way, I’m still waiting on your follow-up column after your BLASTING of Notre Dame for standing by Manti Te’o when he couldn’t possibly be innocent in perpetrating the hoax. But I guess that post wouldn’t play quite as well with your little blog community here…”
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The reason Manti “couldn’t possibly be innocent” is because he said he lied. That kinda cuts down on the innocence quotient.
http://www.tmz.com/2013/01/18/manti-teo-nfl-yeah-i-lied-notre-dame-hoax/
he’s likely innocent of the hoax but not the cover-up.
Lewis is right. God is the discerner of the heart. God is the one who sees who gets eternal life or not. Condemners are sure to miss it. Whoever forgives has God in them forgiving. The devil through people condemns people.
Ben Sanders
Well, to be honest, there are not many murderers who can compete with the Big Guys numbers. Not content with just killing infants or individuals He wiped out entire cites and even the whole world, save a few of Noah’s relatives.
But of course he did WANT to do it – you MADE him do it. But he is really sorry about it and promises He will never do it again. Thats a story you still hear in family court today.
I saw this useless piece of skin attacking the guy who reported on his use of powdered deer antler (a PED) by claiming that the guy was attacking God. So we know he is delusional. I guess getting away with murder and being surrounded by people who keep telling you how special you are may not be an ideal environment for raising responsible adults.
What I find even more disturbing is that I ran into a number of Ravens fans who defended his actions after the double murder. It seems as if every NFL team has some number of murderers, rapists, spouse abusers, junkies and generally really bad people on them but that their fans are all OK with that as long as the team wins.
Taking theological advice form Ray Lewis is like taking dieting advice from Jabba the Hut. You can do it, but you look silly afterwards.
Ray should stick to getting run over on running plays and getting run past on passing plays. He did that pretty well last night, but can’t seem to keep his mouth shut when he’s off the field.
Ironically, God does and has use murderers. For example, from the bible:
Moses (killed an Egyptian for beating a hebrew)
Paul (stood by holding the coats of the people stoning Stephen)
Just like your post immediately following the Manti Te’o hoax news, you assert that you know factually much more than reality dictates you possibly can. If you’re unsatisfied with Lewis’ forthrightness regarding the events of that night, then simply say so. There’s no need to assert that Lewis must be blatantly lying, and/or must have perpetrated the homicides.
By the way, I’m still waiting on your follow-up column after your BLASTING of Notre Dame for standing by Manti Te’o when he couldn’t possibly be innocent in perpetrating the hoax. But I guess that post wouldn’t play quite as well with your little blog community here…
Lewis is just one of the many theocrats in sports. Ironically though the backup to Lewis is a strong gay rights and marriage equality supporter, who a state legislator in Maryland tried to silence by writing to the ownership of the Ravens. But anyway, this god seems to have made a big mistake in allowing things like the Holocaust, but that is ok, he made sure that the Ravens won the Super Bowl, because after all, taht is waht is important, isn’t it?