"http://www.prodigalsonmagazine.com/free/news-47-small.gif" width=
"241" height="68" align="left" style=
"padding-right:6px;">NEWS :: THE CHRIS BENOIT
TRAGEDY
I grew up watching wrestling, longing to be a professional wrestler
from the time that I was a little boy. My cousin, Cliff, and I
would act like professional wrestlers, diving off the nightstands
and furniture…
"http://www.prodigalsonmagazine.com/free/news-47.gif" width="530"
height="147"> I grew up watching wrestling, longing to be a
professional wrestler from the time that I was a little boy. My
cousin, Cliff, and I would act like professional wrestlers, diving
off the nightstands and furniture in his parents’ room, dropping an
elbow on stuffed animals that lay there helplessly. We were the
kings of the double drop kick and many an afternoon was filled with
us soaring through the air, imitating our heroes. (Sorry about that
broken bed frame Uncle Keith and Aunt Joyce!) It was fun for us and
each Saturday morning, I would turn on the television to see who
was wrestling that morning, hoping to see Sting or the Rock N Roll
Express, my favorite wrestlers at the time. I never realized that
dream of being a professional wrestler, due in large part to the
fact that I was too lazy to work out that much. I thank God that He
steered me in a different direction. I stopped watching wrestling
in high school, but in college, we all got back involved in it. I
must admit that I even went to see Fall Brawl one year in
Winston-Salem, NC. Each week in college, we would have Monday Night
Nitro parties and people would go crazy over the storylines and
what incredible move some wrestler pulled off that week. Before too
long, though, I had to shut it off. I remember watching as one of
the wrestlers smacked around a woman and in my mind, the line was
crossed. There is entertainment and then there are things that are
just not right. They had begun to write many sexual situations and
foul language into the scripts and now, beating women was being
glorified, something that I staunchly stand against. At that point,
I put the remote down and walked away from the masses that followed
the sport. Am I a saint? Not in the least bit. Do I feel that more
need to take the same stance? If we are Christian, the answer is
yes. In light of the death of wrestler Chris Benoit this week, I
decided that I would write this commentary out of the conviction
that I felt the Lord placing on my heart. I am but one voice,
however, throughout time, God has done much with the voice of just
one person. I read the headline on a sports web site and continued
to follow it as the facts began to leak out. Yet another wrestler
was dead before the age of fifty and this time, he was believed to
have murdered his wife and his child before taking his own life.
Steroids were found in his house and we have to wonder if that
might have had a part in it. Either way, he had been involved in an
industry that promoted violence and what were the last moments of
his life but a violent encounter that ended in an act of
desperation. Miss Elizabeth died a few years ago of an accidental
overdose and had two weeks prior been the victim of domestic abuse
at the hands of another professional wrestler. The house that she
died in had steroids, testosterone, and saizen. Curt Hennig, known
as Mr. Perfect, died at the age of 44 of what was believed to be a
cocaine overdose. His father believed that it was a lethal dose of
steroids. The saga goes on and on as many wrestlers have committed
suicide or have died from overdoses or lived shattered lives due to
the strain their career placed on them as a professional wrestler.
So, what does this have to do with you the Christian and you the
viewer? It has everything to do with us. For one, when we tune in
to Raw, we are supporting this lifestyle. We are telling our heroes
that they need to look like this, even if it takes the use of
steroids to attain it and maintain it. We are saying that the
violence, especially towards women, is entertaining and that it is
accepted behavior. We are telling them that their stage personality
of self-glorification is admirable, which usually leads them to the
pits of depression and substance abuse. We are telling them to kill
themselves for the sake of our entertainment. The second way that
this involves us is with the wrestling promotions and our support
of them. They are not going to change anything that makes them
money and seemingly each year, more and more people are watching
and attending the events. They continuously push the envelope and
we continue to ask for more. Is that something that God would find
acceptable? The answer to that question is no and we can find it in
His Word. He warns us to never become stumbling blocks and when we
support this, we are the main stumbling blocks. Is wrestling a bad
thing? That is a question that you can answer according to your
conviction. Is the form of wrestling that the WWE presents a bad
thing? There is no question to that. We have watched many of them
for years because in some form, they were our heroes. However, we
have to stand up for them, as we always long to see our heroes
prevail. The way we can stand up for our heroes in the wrestling
world is to stop watching and keep them from killing themselves
through the lifestyle that the wrestling world thrives on.
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