Cheating for Gold
When I was a boy I was told, "Cheaters never prosper."
Tell that to South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh. He admitted to
cheating in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Olympics on his way to winning
the gold medal. In addition to the glory of the gold medal, Van der Burgh
is also credited with a new world record for that swim.
In the breaststroke, swimmers are allowed to take one
"dolphin" kick at the start and one after each turn before entering
into the motions of the breaststroke. The dolphin kick is not part of the
breaststroke, but enables the swimmer to travel faster through the water than
the breaststroke does. The more dolphin kicks a swimmer can get away with
the faster the swim. Video replays show Van der Burgh taking three dolphin
kicks instead of the allowed one. However, the Olympic judges stand along
the deck of the pool and cannot see clearly what happens below the surface of
the water. The judges have no underwater video to monitor the dolphin
kicks so swimmers can sneak in more dolphin kicks than allowed. If a judge had seen Van der Burgh’s extra
kicks, he would have been disqualified from the competition. But no judge saw those kicks.
We could chalk this story into the "things happen" category if
Van der Burgh simply made a mistake and was not penalized for it. But it
appears that Van der Burgh intentionally took two extra dolphin kicks to
enhance his swim. He spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald and admitted to
breaking the rules. He explained that other swimmers take the same
approach to the race.
“It's got to the sort of point where if you're not
doing it you're falling behind or you're giving yourself a disadvantage so
everyone's pushing the rules and pushing the boundaries, so if you're not doing
it, you're not trying hard enough." Van der Burgh told the paper. “It’s not obviously
- shall we say - the moral thing to do, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my
personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to
do it and get away with it.”
In the Sydney Morning Herald story, Van der Burgh related
that in a meet in Sweden in 2010 the race officials used underwater video
technology to judge the swimmers regarding their stroke. He commented on that race,
“‘It was really awesome, because nobody attempted it
(additional dolphin kicks). Everybody
came up clean and we all had peace of mind that nobody was going to try.”
Van der Burgh's ethic seems to be that cheating is immoral,
but if everyone else cheats, you would be foolish not to join the cheaters.
He considers that a failure to intentionally break the rules is actually
penalizing oneself with a disadvantage.
The cheater’s ethic is not driven by a love for cheating so much as by a
practical view of life. This pragmatic view of cheating appears to
have captured the hearts of more and more people to the point that cheating
does not carry the same stigma that it used to.
Studies reveal that back in the 1940’s, only 20% of college students
admitted to cheating in high school; today between 75% to 98% of college
students surveyed admit to having cheated in high school.
Why not cheat if cheating brings good reward? Why not
cheat if honesty places oneself at severe disadvantage to win the prize?
Why not cheat if you will not get caught and everyone else is doing it? These are questions that very few individuals in the
world can overcome. Yet we as believers
have Gospel answers to these questions that drive us away from the cheater’s ethic and
move us toward God’s pleasure.
The Gospel’s
answer to these questions rests in the realm of the eternal. All human accomplishment is measured by their
impact not upon our temporal lives, but upon eternity. Those who possess eternal life are aiming at
a greater prize than those who are living for this world only. God’s Word teaches us that temporal victories
will rob us of eternal joy if we disobey God in order to achieve them and that
obedience to God brings rich reward (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:7-8;
John 6:27;
The Gospel teaches us that we are redeemed out of sin by
God’s grace alone through Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross. Yet God’s grace does not lead us deeper into a
life of sin that alienated us from HIm, but His grace shows us the way out of a
life of sin. God gave us His commandments so that we might know how a redeemed
people can enjoy God and bring Him glory forever and ever. How can we who were rescued from the misery
of sin give ourselves willingly to it? We
forfeit God’s joyful rewards when we give ourselves over to sin. Sin always brings forth death; sin never
gives birth to life.
And to be sure, cheating is sin against God. At least five of the Ten Commandments are
broken when we cheat.
Cheating
breaks the First Commandment.
Ex. 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Cheating
places the god of success above the God of scripture. When we cheat, we acknowledge that we do not
trust the LORD to give us the best blessing.
We cheat because we believe we can accomplish for ourselves a better
life than God can. Cheating and faith
are polar opposites. Warren Wiersbe
rightly said, “Faith is living without scheming.” Faith joyfully submits to God’s intended
outcomes, rather than our own. Faith
trusts God to use His methods to achieve the results He ordains for us, knowing
that He is good, loving and wise.
Cheating breaks the Fourth
Commandment.
Ex. 20:12 “Honor your father and your
mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving
you.
Few
parents beam with joy at the news that their son or daughter was caught
cheating. Perhaps some parents feel
proud and honored when their children cheat to gain success, but even in our
spiritually dark world, cheating most often dishonors the name that our parents
have given us.
Cheating breaks the Eighth
Commandment.
Ex. 20:15 “You shall not steal.
When
we cheat, we rob God of the glory that is due Him in our lives. When we cheat, we rob our community of the
moral strength. When we cheat, we rob our
competitors of a fair contest. When we
cheat, we rob ourselves of the joy of true accomplishment.
Cheating breaks the
Ninth Commandment.
Ex. 20:16 “You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor.
Cheating requires that we lie and cover up our lie. We cannot cheat and be a man or woman of
truth. Jesus taught us that the devil is
the father of all lies. We speak his
language when we cheat.
Cheating
breaks the Tenth Commandment.
Ex. 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet
your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or
his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
The
reason we cheat is because we want something that we do not have. The gleam of the gold medal lures us from our
contentment in God. From discontentment
with God, we lust after something we do not have (a gold medal, a dream job, an
“A” on a test, an illicit relationship, a low golf score, etc. . . ), thinking
it will fill the void. But the person
who is not content with God will never be content. God alone can give us that which makes us
eternally happy.
Do
cheaters prosper? Yes. They sometimes win the gold medal. Do cheaters prosper? No. They forfeit the eternal for the
short-lived; they forfeit true joy for a momentary thrill.
Ritch: Great thoughts and very convicting.
ReplyDeleteJust saw this on USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/story/2012-08-16/performance-enhancing-drugs-testing-cheating/57104818/1
Also, I wonder how the idea of "enforcement" relates to this. Many people excuse speeding on the grounds that there is no enforcement of the law within a range of 5-10 mph over the posted limit. It seems that swimmers make a similar argument: if there is no enforcement of a rule, is it really a rule?
The academic equivalent of steroid use was revealed recently at Emory University. This prestigious school has been lying for over 10 years about the academic records of its enrolled students in order to pad its reputation. The response of Emory's President? Here it is: "It is a minor blow to our reputation."
ReplyDeleteFor the whole story, go to:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/emory-university-misrepresented-student-1501300.html
We have come to a point in our culture where cheating is okay . . . as long as you are not caught. This presents a huge economic problem, among others. If I cannot trust that the person/company I am dealing with isn't cheating me, I will become increasingly risk averse. Risk averse economies do not prosper because everyone holds on to their cash. Hmm, that sounds like what everyone is doing.