ITS A SIN !

[heavydude 0]

I was doing a search the other day for Skydiving forums..just out of curiosity to see what exists besides this site. Stumbled upon a hilarious discussion by Christians debating whether Skydiving was considered a SIN.....
First Booze, Surfing, now Skydiving...

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Was it the "Putting one self in undue risk" arguement?

BTW I predict this landing in the Speakers Corner.

[airtwardo 7]

http://www.christianforumsite.com/general-discussions/13484-do-you-think-its-sin-go-skydiving.html

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[brucet7 0]

I found this post a little interesting, as a Christian skydiver. I found some sites, and the one posted here was mildly amusing.

All I would say is that a few, very few, Christians think or wonder about the correctness of skydiving and put it in theological terms of sin. Others with no religious affiliation at all wonder the same thing in put it in psychological terms of mental illness.

Careful not to broad brush all Christians based on a few who have alternate ideas of what is right and wrong. There are a lot of Christians who do love the sky.

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[AFFI 0]

Bonfire

SC

Anywhere but here...

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[MilliniaS 0]

+1

"Its such a beautiful day outside, we should thank the leader."

"The leader? Who the hell is that? Some sort of leader?" -Homer Simpson.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Careful not to broad brush all Christians based on a few who have alternate ideas of what is right and wrong. There are a lot of Christians who do love the sky.

Many Christian sects have problems with the alcohol (and drug) use at the DZ. Most would object to the tit flashing and general level of sexuality.

It's certainly not a place for the children. It's a place for adults who generally don't feel confined by the norms of society.

[heavydude 0]

I am with you there, I went to Catholic school forever when I was young.....I think thats the reason I hate to waste a Sunday indoors. Like somebody posted previosly the argument against was of unneccessary risk. But idealogically life is all about risk anyway..it all ends the same whether your careful or not. Realized that several years back when I realized how little control you have in life. I do know one thing if I ever have a malfunction....I"ll sure be prayin while pulling the handles ! All this reminds me also of an obituary several months back in Skydiving, an older Skydiver was terminal with cancer was quoted something to the effect of "I shouldve taken more chances" That statement kind of has stuck in my mind, might as well have fun while you can.

[Gene03 0]

An old friend of mine one day after landing out on a bad spot was confronted by a "church lady", who asked "Why are you Boys out here skydiving on a beautiful Sunday morning, WHEN YOU SHOULD BE IN CHURCH WHERE YOU BELONG?"

Not being one to mince words or hold back his opinion, He replied,
"Lady, 10 minutes ago we were closer to God than you'll ever be."

Needles to say they didn't get a ride back to the airport from her or her brow-beaten husband.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Even though I consider myself agnostic I figure that, if there is indeed a God, he would be pretty ticked off if I showed up at the pearly gates with a body that wasn't used up to the max.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[BikerBabe 0]

Ran across a guy once at my former church who felt that if ALL of your activities weren't done to glorify God, then you shouldn't be doing them. Not so much that they were sinful if they didn't...just that he couldn't ever see skydiving as a way to possibly glorify God, so therefore it was a waste of my time.

*shrug*

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[434 2]

it is fun, so it have to be a sin!

[godziller 0]

First Booze, Surfing, now Skydiving...

OH NO! I am so going to hell

[Baksteen 84]

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...just that he couldn't ever see skydiving as a way to possibly glorify God, so therefore it was a waste of my time.

While on a skydive I am a lot "closer to Him".

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[Para_Frog 1]

To skydive is human...

To BASE jump - divine.

- Harvey, BASE 1232
TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA

BLiNC Magazine Team Member

[jtnesbitt 0]

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....I"ll sure be prayin while pulling

You got it backwards....it's pull THEN pray

I actually posted a nice long analysis of the question of christian morality when it comes to skydiving but a mod decided or one reason of another to delete it. I wasnt going to post it again but I will to see if it gets deleted again.

I went to catholic school my whole life then Xavier which is a jesuit university so i have had to deal with this stuff my whole life. I got in a big fight with one of my theology professors in my Contemorary Ethical Issues class. We were discussing the differece between moral, immoral, evil, and intrinsic evil. Apperently anything that causes harm to the body, or prevents human flourishing is intrinsicly evil. Also, if you fail to take measures to protect this human flourishment it's also intrinsicly evil.

Example:
1)You cut off your arm = intrinsicly evil.
2)A Snake bites your arm, the poison spreads, you die = intrinsic evil
3) A snake bites your arm, you cut it off to prevent spread of poison = moral

The conversation then moved to the POTENTIAL to do evil. The professors arguement was that if you engage in activity that puts one in harms way (intrinsic evil) when there is little or no possible moral redeaming factor, then the activity is immoral at best, and likely intrinsicly evil. I began to argue with him about skydiving and base jumping and he got so frustrated with me he abandoned all tact and eventually told me I was not only immoral and involved in evil activities but that i had suicidal tendencies and needed to seek professional and religous council then changed the subject.

I got an A on the final by answering each question in my head and then writing down the exact opposite argument on my test

On a side note while this professor was a member of the catholic church and held an office in the local diocey he was not a Jesuit. I have had several jesuits as professors and I can't help but think Jesuits would be totally cool with skydiving and base jumping

"If this post needs to be moderated I would prefer it to be completly removed and not edited and butchered into a disney movie" - DorkZone Hero

[brucet7 0]

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Quote

Careful not to broad brush all Christians based on a few who have alternate ideas of what is right and wrong. There are a lot of Christians who do love the sky.

Many Christian sects have problems with the alcohol (and drug) use at the DZ. Most would object to the tit flashing and general level of sexuality.

It's certainly not a place for the children. It's a place for adults who generally don't feel confined by the norms of society.

That is a wholely different issue than the one presented by the OP. I consider myself fortunate that my DZ, while not the bastion of holiness, is a place where some of the things you mentioned are not the focus. During the jumping day, people are polite, quietly profane, and generally civil people.

I visit on occasion another DZ and if I were to live near there, I might stop jumping because of the crudeness. I do not judge them, but prefer not to be present for all the junk that I hear there. I know that I am only going on days when I can pack outside so I don't have to be in the trailer to hear it.

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[idrankwhat 0]

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Stumbled upon a hilarious discussion by Christians debating whether Skydiving was considered a SIN.....
First Booze, Surfing, now Skydiving...

It must have been one of the lost five

[johnhas1 0]

As a person who will preach and talk to people about God from time to time. I have also been told skydiving is a sin or I'm tempting God. But I will talk to and meet people who may never step into a church that I meet at the DZ. And if I always jump with a rig I'm not tempting God.

Some people are so afraid to live that they will hate you when you do.

I tell people I'm about as close to God when I leave the plane as I can get.

People fear what they don't understand and if the church has fixed all the other problems of the world like murder, rape, theives and other crimes than come talk to the skydivers. There are bigger problems in this world than people enjoying life at 13,000 ft.

[DZJ 0]

I've always thought the Earth was at its most beautiful when you're hurtling towards it or floating above it. If you're inclined to believe that the Earth is God's creation, then what better way to appreciate it?

[heavydude 0]

Most of the DZs here in CA are pretty respectable, Perris seems failrly serious all the times I have been there also. Most of the Boozing and strange stuff in my opinion seems to be from the yahoo tandem crowd... Of course it could also be that I havnt been to the real rowdy parties yet ?
Skydiving in my opinion is farly upscale, on the outside it has a radical look but its more aviation-mainstream when you look inside the sport. The Aviation group is fairly mellow in a Jimmy Buffet sort of way...that is compared to some skateparks I have taken my son to ! My wife is making me go to church this weekend..however the weather is supposed to be bad, oh well.