Yes, but they're 'our cheaters'

For the last few years, Major League Baseball has operated under the shadow of an illegal-steroids scandal.

Most recently, high profile Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz confirmed through the players association his positive drug test in 2003. Former teammate Manny Ramirez, who has already served a 50-game suspension this year for violating baseball's drug policy, also tested positively in 2003, according to New York Times reports.

Terrence Moore, writing on FanHouse.com, said, "David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez formed an artificially inflated duo to slug the Red Sox to [their] World Series titles in 2004 and 2007."

That is troubling to many fans. But not all.

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This week, a FanHouse.com poll asked, "Do you think Boston's recent titles are now tainted?" Out of about 5,000 respondents, only 56 percent answered "yes." Almost half of the respondents apparently believe it was OK for Ramirez and Ortiz to take performance-enhancing drugs. I imagine that most of those voters were Red Sox fans.

On an ESPN MLB broadcast this week, network commentator and former Mets GM Steve Phillips noted that fans who robotically support these players are essentially saying, yes, these players are cheaters, "but they are our cheaters."

During the game, a Tampa Bay Rays fan could be seen holding a sign reading: "We play by the rules in T.B." However, I wonder what that fan's attitude would be if one of his beloved players were revealed as using illegal performance enhancers.

And that brings me to my point: It has become common in the modern culture for people to defend wrongdoers when those individuals are members of their team or their political party or their family. Sadly, I have seen this culture even invade the church.

So what's the problem? I chiefly see this as a dilemma that can infect our children, while further serving to break down our national morality.

Let's examine a hypothetical situation. Let's say a father is a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan who has raised his son to also be a loyal team supporter. When it is revealed that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, the father says, "That's OK. Those guys are part of our team."

The son's views on baseball, sportsmanship and even the law are affected by the father's sentiment. Does the son grow up thinking it is all right to defend other's misdeeds, or even his own wrongdoing? Maybe drinking and driving, cheating on his taxes, cheating on his wife? Sin often begins small, but the cycle can become unbreakable.

We need to teach our kids that misconduct bears – or at least should bear – a cost. Our personal ethics should not be attached to who is affected by what we believe. Rather, our ethics should remain in place no matter who or what is affected by those standards. Ethics that change with the situational tides are not ethics at all; they are policies of convenience.

As a Christian father, I find myself continually examining my life to ensure that I am a living example to my children, who are certainly scrutinizing my actions more than I realize. I don't ever want to send the wrong message to them through my carelessness or self-serving ways of life. My personal ethics should be based on God's Word – which does not change – and not on the existential policies of man that are constantly compromised.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (NKJV).

As Christians, we need to take this verse very seriously. Instead of being wishy-washy people who will selfishly counteract our ethics or our doctrines on a whim, we must live joyous and holy lives that point to Jesus Christ as the lone source of our personal conduct. That's the ethical core our children must see every time they observe us through their always watchful eyes.