Tiger Woods and The Myth of American Royalty

(Originally posted on December 3, 2009)

ESPN’s Colin Cowherd gave this great insight on his show (“The Herd with Colin Cowherd”—12/3/09) when he said that celebrities are the closest thing to American royalty we have.  And in 2009, if we were crown someone King, Tiger Woods would certainly be on the short Short List.

Few, if any, have dominated their sport like Woods.  His dominance is marked by a discipline of mind and body that has helped him attain almost 100 victories worldwide along with 14 Majors.

Woods has been one who is doggedly private, keeping his personal life close to the vest at all times.  Yet, the more celebrity one attains (and make no mistake, with his athletic accomplishments and numerous endorsements bringing him in billions of dollars, he is the epitome of celebrity), the less privacy one obtains.

The pundits are divided on their response.  They say, he is/isn’t a role model.  He is/isn’t entitled to privacy.  He is/isn’t entitled to a confession of a 31-month affair before the whole world.  Some even say this could be, as Rick Reilly contends, a great learning time for Tiger to grow up, alas, in front of the whole world.  What is clear is, we must be careful how high we elevate our athletes or any other fallen person tinged by sin.

As ones who aim to be gripped by the gospel, and as ones who seek to explore the world through a gospel lens, how should we process this?

First, we need to pray for Tiger’s family.  He’s a human being—remember that!  Yes, he does unbelievable things with a golf ball and has ice in his veins in the most pressure-packed moments.  But he spends 16 hours a week playing four rounds of golf—this is what he does, but this is not who he is! He is also a husband, father, corporate mogul, and celebrity.  That’s a lot of responsibility.  We pray that Tiger and Elin’s marriage can be repaired for their sake and the sakes of their children.  And we need to pray diligently for ourselves as well, for sin is always crouching at our doors as well (Genesis 4:7).

Secondly, we need to quit treating those in sports and in the entertainment industry like demigods! Just because someone can shoot or hit or run with a ball, sing or expertly play an instrument does not make them royalty.  Yet, we as Americans fall into this trap constantly.  We see the public figure, and fill in the rest.  Christians understand more than anyone else the true nature of God as He has revealed Himself in His Word.  Elevating men to a god-like status is no worse that those involved in various cults elevating their leaders to god-like status.  And Americans are prone to bow the knee to this cult of personality.  We must take care of whom we elevate to this status—these type of ‘gods’ come and go so quickly and fall so hard.

Lastly, Tiger, like every other person on the planet, is an image bearer of God.  I know not his spiritual condition and I do not claim to make any guesses on that.  But as an image bearer of God (Genesis 1:26-27), each of us are in need of redemption.  Tim Keller in his book “Counterfeit Gods” notes how so many who obtain power or celebrity undergo a significant attitude change.  Keller quotes Cynthia Heimel, who wrote, “The minute a person becomes a celebrity is the same minute he/she becomes a monster. . . .  [So many were] once perfectly pleasant human beings . . . now they have become supreme beings and their wrath is awful.”  Keller adds, “She went on to say that under the pressure of fame and celebrity all your character flaws and miseries become twice as bad as they were before” (2).

We were made to worship, not to be worshiped.  And we were made to worship the true and living Creator God through Jesus Christ, not to worship the created.

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¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (Romans 1:18-23, ESV).

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So we pray for Tiger and Elin and their children.  But we also take stock in why Tiger seems to have fallen off such a high pedestal—a pedestal that many of us created.  We can look at him with pity or disdain—but may we look at him as a fellow image bearer who, like all of us, is in need of forgiveness.  And that forgiveness can be found at the cross of Christ and the Empty Tomb.  May we worship that which is truly the True and Living God in Jesus Christ!

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Dr. Matthew Perry is pastor of the Boone's Creek Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky and runs a blog entitled Gripped by the Gospel (http://www.grippedbythegospel.com).  He is a diehard Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, and Louisville Cardinals fan.