Reckless Recreation

(The following is an edited message responding to the question of whether one should purchase insurance when participating in activities involving dangers and risks, such as skiing.)

You can overdo almost anything, but ordinary precautions do not indicate a lack of faith.

For example, it would be irresponsible to ignore home security, and it would not be a lack of faith to lock your door when you go in and out of your home.

In fact, the best reason to be concerned about home security comes from faith in God’s word — that is, you believe in what Scripture teaches about human depravity, and what acts of greed, cruelty, and violence that men are often capable of doing, and so you act accordingly.

To refrain from locking your door and practicing other ordinary security measures is not a sign of faith, but it is what Scripture calls "testing" God. Faith does not believe only what Scripture teaches about divine protection, but it believes all the teachings of Scripture, including what it says about the dangers of living in this sinful world.

It is not only acceptable for Christians to buy insurance, but it is often irresponsible not to do it. When buying insurance, you are often merely taking advantage of an ordinary measure that is there to take care of yourself and your family if something naturally damaging happens under the providence of God. As long as you are acting on the basis of what Scripture teaches, and not what the world says, or out of fear or greed, then it does not contradict faith.

On the other hand, whether it is acceptable for Christians to go skiing is another matter! I am serious about this. Do not assume that something is fine just because it is part of the culture, without even thinking about it in the light of Scripture.

To put it crudely, skiing is nothing more than plummeting down a mountain on two sticks in high velocity for mere entertainment. It is one thing to risk martyrdom for the gospel, another to risk injury or death for recreation. The Christian must consider whether it is a responsible use of his life to be involved in such things.

Here I am not saying that a Christian must refrain from skiing, but I am saying that it involves risks that no responsible Christian should accept without even thinking about it or providing justification for it. It is insufficient to say that every activity involves some risks, since skiing involves a deliberate effort to remove oneself from his regular circumstances in order to embrace greater risks of physical injury or death, and usually for no higher purpose than entertainment.

Again, I am not saying that a Christian must never ski, and not even that he should never participate in any dangerous activities. And of course, there are degrees of risks when it comes to skiing — some places are more dangerous than others, and some people are more skilled than others. I am using skiing only as an illustration, and the main point is not whether it is acceptable to perform a specific activity, but that it is morally reprehensible for a Christian to ignore risks, especially if it is for no higher purpose than entertainment. It is your moral responsibility to take at least the ordinary measures to preserve yourself for the service of God’s kingdom.

Sometimes even before you consider the issue of unbelief, you must consider whether you are testing God. Whether or not you think that skiing is testing God, the point remains that not all recreational activities are acceptable — Christians must accept risks for good reasons, since each has work to do for the kingdom of God. You have obligations. Your life is not your own. In any case, once a Christian has decided to do it, then buying insurance might just be the responsible thing to do.

Let us consider a more obvious example. Whereas many regard it as noble and heroic, I consider climbing Mount Everest to be the height of irresponsibility toward God and one's family. I saw a documentary in which one of the climbers who died had a pregnant wife, who spoke to her husband for the last time immediately after giving birth, and they barely had time to name the baby while he was dying on Mount Everest! I pity the wife, but the husband was a monster — leaving his pregnant wife behind, he went to climb Everest just so he could prove a point. Now, although money is no substitute for a husband and a father, I do hope he bought insurance!

Of course, people climb Mount Everest for all the wrong reasons. How many people are on top of Mount Everest waiting to hear the gospel? Or, how many Christians are living on Mount Everest waiting for someone to help them build a church there? No, people climb Everest usually for something like self-satisfaction, self-realization (whatever that means), or to demonstrate the triumph of the human spirit over a seemingly impossible challenge. But you triumph over a mountain by blowing it up, not by climbing it and dying on it.

Then, to offer a less extreme illustration, after meeting my wife many years ago, I immediately became more conscious about the unnecessary risks that I had been taking. Although I still fall short, since then I have altered some of my habits to better maintain my health for her sake, so that I can serve her longer and better in this life.

Nevertheless — and this is an important point that qualifies all that I have said above — I do not trust in my own carefulness, as if it will help prevent all calamities; rather, I am acknowledging my moral responsibility to God and to my family by exercising ordinary precautions and avoiding unnecessary risks, and then I trust in the gracious providence of God to perform all that he wills in my life.

My sense of love and duty toward another person increased my awareness of the unnecessary risks that I had been taking, and how my irresponsible decisions might affect other people. However, there is no reason to be reckless even if you are single or childless, since your life already belongs to God; nevertheless, he shows patience toward our weak devotion, and sends other people into our lives to remind us of love and duty.

Recommended:

Vincent Cheung, Prayer and Revelation

Vincent Cheung, The Sermon on the Mount