Tiger Woods, the Bible, and casting stones; our final post of 2009
Dec 31, 2009, 4:00 PM EDT
There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the comments section of the Tiger Woods stories here, and many of you have included Bible quotes. I’m not sure that a whimsical sports culture blog is the platform for that, but hey, rock on, true believers. An excerpt from one of Wednesday’s comments:
Now it is time to move on to the next story. I am quite sure there are a bunch of other high profile and low profile people out there fooling around. Who will the next victim be? Who will we seek to destroy next. Be careful it could be YOU. Let the man without sin throw the first stone
Many of you have gone to the “cast the first stone” quote, and many of you have mangled it. Actually the exact wording, from John 8:7, goes like this: So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Readers have provided many colorful variations of that, as you’ll see following the jump.
Some other commenter variations on the theme:
* I’M SURE YOUR BAG OF SINNER STONES ARE GETTING HEAVY. AND YOU ARE JUST THE ONE TO LAUNCH THEM, ARE’NT YOU? — Chicords
* blah blah blah Bruce L. The actual quote from the bible, if translated directly, is “let he who is without ‘this’ sin, cast the first stone.” So I’ll cast away. I hope he gets aids. — Mark
* I am very entertained by Tigers athleticism, a little let down by this behavior. But I remember where it says somewhere, that Let he whom is without sin cast the 1st stone. — Mr.Marv
* praise the lord, get me some stones, my throwing arm is warming up. — Rolling Stone
* I’ll cast the first stone. Hell, I’ll cast the second stone as well. — john
Ha, ironic! Since it’s in the Book of John that we find the quotation in its entirety:
John 8
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Clip and paste any portions of that you’d like in future comments, but please don’t fly by the seat of your pants and do it from memory. From now on, no one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle.
And that’s a good place to leave things as we embark on the grand new adventure that is 2010. To cap the old year and ring in the new, since we’re on the subject of comments, I’d like to leave you with my favorite one so far. On Tuesday I wrote about Tiger, and posted a photo of him in the underbrush. I imagined him in Mexico, a bit lost and confused after his ball had been stolen by a lemur. Moments later, this arrived:
* Pretend he’s in Mexico here and a lemur just stole his ball? Lemurs are indigenous to Madagascar, not Mexico, you dolt! — Phil
Happy New Year, Phil. Happy New Year, everyone.
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- Mister Magoo - Dec 31, 2009 at 11:20 PM
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The quote depends on which of the many interpretations of the New Testament you are quoting from i.e., in The King James Version – “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” in The World English Bible – “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her,” etc. I thought maybe you would have paraphrased and come up with “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at Madoff.” Peace. Happy New Year.
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- willmose - Jan 1, 2010 at 9:07 AM
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I would quote Matthew 7:3. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
Like Tiger and everyone we are all sinners. It is the love of God that saves us. I wish Tiger and all of you a happy, peaceful and loving new year.
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- vince bellanca - Jan 2, 2010 at 2:56 PM
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the answer to all questions, or comments, is in the 5 DO-NOTS OF THE
TEN COMMANDMENTS. Either you believe them or you don’t. its your choice. Sure he broke his loyalty to his wife, which is a civil offense, but most importantly he disobeyed The LAW OF GOD. PUT THE LAW OF GOD WHERE THEY BELONG IN ALL PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ESPECIALLY IN THE HALLS OF CONGRESS AND SCHOOLS, AND TEACH THEM TO OUR CHILDREN.
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- ettu brute - Jan 2, 2010 at 5:08 PM
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Somewhere the Bible also says that if you look at a woman with lust you have committed adultery in your heart. So for every Tiger basher out there who has checked out babes via pornography or however, don’t be casting any stones.
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- Thanksforthat - Jan 3, 2010 at 9:23 AM
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We all have hope. Even through these horrible circumstances, hope is spread. And you did it through the good news. I am amazed daily how the Word gets out!! I echo your well wishes for the new year. And I pray for some more civility on everyone’s part.
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- Ken - Jan 3, 2010 at 3:38 PM
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Who cares what the bible says??!! I dare say the VAST majority of ALL of you people don’t even read the bible! When times like this(a person making a bad choice)crop up you cherry pick the bible! All of you making a negative comment should be ASHAMED! Especially in a society where the divorce rate is what, 50%-60% and climbing??!!
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- Anita - Jan 3, 2010 at 5:51 PM
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It’s bad enough he is messing around and only been married such a short time, but he makes it a weekly exercise, like grocery shopping….come on, does anyone else besides me think the young man needs some psychiatric counseling? Get him some help while he is still young enough, otherwise it’ll go on, just like dad did. Really sad!!!
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- Rod - Jan 3, 2010 at 9:05 PM
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I find it most amazing that when people were bashing Tiger, that “church” goers are the ones labeled as casting stones at him. Now a lot of people I know who personally believe the bible and go to church, never even touched on the issue, and a lot of people who I know that never went to church was making fun of Tiger and his situation. So why do people waste time wanting to blame christians with what Tiger is going through? No pastor put Tiger on the spot, the women that he slept with did. So here is my conclusion. The reason why Jesus said that adultery is a sin is because it can lead to this situation Tiger is in right now. Oh and by the way, it was the media who made a big deal out of this…….not a church sermon. People have their own lives and their own issues. So before you blame the bible and the church for stones being cast at Tiger, why not blame the media for starting the whole thing? I guess rolling stones ain’t going to put that in their magazine huh………however keep blamming the church for calling sin a sin. GOD said it, not man. If it’s wrong, then it’s just wrong. The best thing is to just let Tiger deal with this situation with his family and move on.
