James M. Redwine

New Testament

Chance Favors the Prepared

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At the IU Bookstore. Photo taken by Peg Redwine

Roman soldiers cast lots, gambled, on which soldier would take Jesus’ tunic/robe (See John 19:22-29). The New Testament refers to this shameful activity to help portray the crucifixion as even more humiliating. Each of the Gospels mentions this story that helps set forth the evil of the event and how Jesus was demeaned. In other words, gambling is not an admired activity, at least when it comes to stealing the clothes of Jesus.

Indiana University had no knowledge of Brendan Sorsby’s gambling addiction while he played quarterback for IU his red-shirt freshman year of 2022. The NCAA informed Indiana University after Sorsby’s illness came to light while he played at Texas Tech; he had also played at Cincinnati after he left IU and gambled while there too, although there’s no evidence Cincinnati was aware of it.

In a podcast from Texas Tech, Tech’s president, Lawrence Schovanec, the head Athletic Director, Kirby Hocutt, the assistant AD, Grant Stovalle, and the head football coach, Joey McGuire, all defended the court decision that ruled against the NCAA’s ban of Sorsby from playing college sports. Their strong, collective position was that the most important issue was dealing with Sorsby’s gambling addiction. No mention was made of any potential harm to college sports.

If someone bets a beer on who will win the Rose Bowl, unless that someone is a player in the game, no harm results. However, if a quarterback bets thousands on his team to lose, questions should arise. It is not that people do not have sympathy and understanding of addictions. The difficulty is integrity of a college sporting contest as affected by the addiction. These must remain completely separate issues and should be dealt with accordingly. Help the former player deal with his or her mental problem but do not enable them to help tear down legitimate competition. In other words, ban them from college sports. They can still go pro if good enough and if they do not bet on the game.

I have no wish to see Brendan Sorsby’s life further destructed by his illness. I hope he gets treatment and that it is successful. However, I cannot help feeling great relief that Sorsby was not at IU in 2024-26 as we climbed out of obscurity to be national champions. We have suffered too many years of losing to see our moments of glory besmirched.

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Cultural Myopia

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It is no one’s fault. It is a universal curse. We often can recognize virtues in our friends, but may misinterpret the motives of strangers. What someone from another culture means to be irony, sarcasm, humor, even friendly banter or simply an off-the-cuff comment we may take with umbrage.

If a university student calls out “From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea”, that student may mean two countries that include Palestine and Israel. Whereas, another student may conclude it is a call to eliminate either Palestine or Israel. The cultural history of both students can lead to ascribing ill will when none is intended. The odds of misinterpretation are greatly increased when people from neither student’s culture see fit to project their ignorance of both students’ backgrounds upon the controversy.

Another near-sighted source of misunderstanding is the overlaying of at least three religious traditions upon all involved. Fundamentalist Christians may conflate their interpretation of the Old Testament’s Book of Isaiah with the New Testament’s Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John when the topic of a Messiah arises. Confusing matters further is the Quran’s teaching in Surah 3; Jesus is revered by Muslims, but as God’s messenger, not His biological child.

The most puzzling aspect of all the armed and unarmed conflicts among the three Abrahamic religions is each emphasizes making peace and performing good works such as healing the sick, giving charity and forgiving others. Yet, for at least fifteen hundred years each faith has often been used as a sword against those of differing religious and other cultural practices. One wonders if those who profess to venerate their Torah, Bible or Quran have truly studied them or are simply regurgitating coffeeshop/barstool catchphrases.

We currently appear to be carrying on our ancient traditions of denigrating those whom we see as apostates. In the past this may have been simply illogical, immoral and ignorant but of only transitory and limited concern. However, today we may not have progressed in our mutual understanding but we certainly have matriculated from slingshots and lances to weapons that truly are god-like or, perhaps, Satanic. Unfortunately, unlike the gods, we cannot reverse the effects. Perhaps we should actually implement the sage actions each religion’s sacred tome champions and beat our swords into ploughshares before we have no arable lands left to plow or peoples to plow them.