Explaining A-Rod to Caleb

On Friday Caleb came home all excited. That morning we sent him with $7 to buy a book from the schools book fair. He came home with "The 50 Best Baseball Players of 2008". By the way, three Indians made the list (Sizemore, Sabbathia and Martinez). In the number one spot, Alex Rodriguez. Saturday, the news broke that in 2003 that A-Rod tested positive for two different kinds of steroids. The discussion came on Sunday when Caleb asked the question, "Did A-Rod cheat?" Yep, it appears he did (so put your bat down and stop gloating you jackass). It was actually a great chance to talk to Caleb about what I'd call 'cultural sins', though I didn't use those words. We spoke about how sometimes so many people are doing something, like taking drugs to make themselves better athletes, that it seems okay to do it. It might even seem like a necessity (I'm sure many ball player thought they needed to cheat to keep up, and I'm sure many kids have been tempted to cheat in school to keep up too). Problem is, it's still wrong. Now A-Rod will have the asterisk next to his name too (along with Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, Clemens, and all the rest).

If Caleb were a couple years older I would love to have pushed the conversation, urging him to consider what sins we as Christians living in the 21st century West are able to condone because so many people are doing it? What sins are we blinded to in our lives and churches? To me, it's a scary question to ask, but a scarier question not to ask.