Posted on 09/01/2012 11:43:01 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
The start of football season prompted me to visit several sports websites to get an idea of how the putative “experts”expect my favorite college and NFL teams to fare this year.
(Not particularly well).
What struck me is that almost every one of the sites I visited has some sort of photo gallery of cheerleaders, often ranking them not on how well the squads perform their sideline routines, but how “hot” they are.
If that is what cheerleading has come to for many, if not most, male football fans – ogling the young women between plays on the gridiron field – that raises the question:
Can a young woman be, at once, a faithful Christian and a cheerleader?
Ariann Denison believes so.
She was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader from 2005 to 2009, before becoming the squad’s choreographer. She also owns a dance studio that not only offers classes in ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical and “pro cheer,” but also a liturgical class that combines dance with Christian music.
Ariann says that her background as an NFL cheerleader and choregrapher, and her position as owner of a successful dance studio, has given her the opportunity to share the Gospel with young women who may think that cheerleading and following the Lord are mutually exclusive.
“My testimony shocks them,” she told The Good News, a Christian newspaper. “I tell the older girls that I didn’t have my first drink until I was 25. I never went to a club in college. And I kept myself pure until marriage.”
And like the dance students taking Ariann’s “pro cheer” class, there are many young women throughout the country who aspire to be cheerleaders at the high school, college or even professional level, but who refuse to compromise their Christian values.
Indeed, there are more than 500 Christian cheerleading camps and clinics around the country. The girls that attend the camps learn all the yells, the stunts, the acrobatics, the dances that are taught at secular camps.
The difference is that Christian cheerleaders are not about wearing skimpy costumes and performing bump-and-grind dance moves that are more appropriate at a strip club than on a football sideline.
Christian cheerleaders, as Ariann Denison attests, are not offended by male sports fans who think them “hot.” But those young women know they are set apart not by what can be seen on the outside by their male admirers, but what God can see on the inside.
The cheerleading question is an interesting cultural question frankly. Should they be judged on their hotness, which is demonstrated by more revealing outfits? That certainly isn’t consistent with Christian principles.
Then again, isn’t the morphing of cheerleading into their own competitive sport a perversion of what their original purpose is in the first place? Of course it is.
Just some thoughts that have crossed my mind about the growing cheer “industry.”
I’ve always thought sports were invented so we didn’t have to invent Ritalin.
And, cheerleaders were invented because Eve always wants a bite of the apple.
Absolutely! Just like a baseball, football, etc. player can be a good Christian.
If she's hot.. why not?
We are not Muslims, the human body can be a beautiful thing, and I think the answer is a very loud “YES”!
“If that is what cheerleading has come to for many...”
No, that is what cheerleading is.
Competitive team sports are less violent imitations of warriors fighting in battles. Girls who cheer them on are in effect, displaying themselves to be chosen for marriage or at least sexual use by winning warriors or players.
In the good old days of real battles, if their team lost, they might become slaves for the winners.
This is really primitive stuff. And while girls might be biologically compelled to display themselves to desirable males, there is not a whole lot of Christianity going on.
Who is doing the judging? A cheerleader can't be responsible for what other's say/think.
Should a ball player stop playing ball because others think/say he's a hunk?
I don't know, but I wish more of them were pom-pom girls.
Now I have to get all technical. Use to be a given - pom-pom girls were cool. But we live in a weird age now. God invented the feminine nature, beauty, and form. Man, as usual, contemptuously despises what God has created. Man's conscience has become seared with guilt so he has trouble seeing the beauty of God's creation.
God's grace through Jesus Christ has freed us from sin and guilt. We have the gift of righteousness - so come on girls, be yourselves and enjoy who you are - guys too. Unregenerate man and a lot of religious people in their guilty consciences seem to think there's something wrong with healthy expressions of who you are.
Remember: sin shall no longer have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace.
Depends on whether she looks good in a cheerleading outfit....
What's a good Christian ?
Either you are a living like a Christian or not...
Of course a cheerleader can be a Christian...once you are asked to violate your christian principles either quit or take a stand...
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed ADULTERY with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into HELL.”
............................................................This is a tough one for me. I am 70 and still see women I think are hot coming into Church on Sunday.I would have lost both eyes years ago if I did this.
T&A is what cheerleaders are and anyone who thinks different is telling a fib. The girls know it, you don’t see any 200 lb cheerleaders .Janet Reno never led a Cheer.
Neither did Napolitano, or Hillary.
Doesn’t mean all cheerleaders are sluts, but they know why they are there.
So, what’s the definition of a Christian these days? Plenty of churches out there that have no problem cherry-picking the Bible to validate their personal philosophies.
When men stop ogling women, the reproductive future of the human race is doomed.
Where is that eye wash ?
I didn't ask if they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, but coming to visit me in Rehab, in the off season, was Christian enough.
In the old days Daddy still had to approve, not the case these days.
How many Christians of today could adapt to living the Christian walk evident in the primitive Church? The more important question is, should they. Even when Tertullian wrote on chastity and dignity, Christians were getting a little too colorful for comfort, by the Christian standards of the time, not by the world’s standards. At what point should Christians realize they are in the world, but not part of it?
I think the world is going to make that decision for us soon.
Has come to? I am pretty sure that is always been that way.
That said, most men can find something sexual in just about anything, so the coy sexuality of a cheer squad is at best a tease with no real harmful intent. It's kind of like a more public version of the bride throwing her garter: titillating but not really prurient.
And since God judges on intent, if the girls are truly innocent of any sexual wrongdoing, I don't see any reason they can't be part of the cheerleading team and stay true to their values.
So you are equating sports, any and all sports with drug use? Are you really saying that anyone who plays any sort of organized sport is doing so because they are somehow mentally or cognitively defective?
And, cheerleaders were invented because Eve always wants a bite of the apple.
So cheerleaders, all cheerleaders are like Eve and in your opinion, are the root of all evil? Really? Really? I’d really hate to hear your opinions on the band members; you know, those loose girls who play the flute (an obvious oral phallic symbol) or the guys who play the trombone….obviously closeted homos…
Get a life.
Your granddaughter is a beautiful young lady and I know you are proud of her. And don’t let any of the burka and old bitty squad here try to tell you otherwise.
I am amazed at cheerleading today. They teach six-year-old girls to “shake your booty”. When I was in high school every girl wanted to be a cheerleader. When my daughter was in high school, she said the cheerleaders were the ones in remedial classes or parenting classes.
Of course not, what a question. It’s like working at Hooters. Cheerleading is a skin show, nothing more. Sadly.
No daughter of mine. . .
“once you are asked to violate your christian principles either quit or take a stand...”
Running about nearly naked shaking your ta-tas and butt is definitely violating your Christian principles.
“When men stop ogling women, the reproductive future of the human race is doomed.”
You’d best inform Jesus, as He told us not to do that.
That doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate a beautiful women, but you can’t ogle. Unless she’s your wife, then ogle away.
“burka and old bitty squad. . .”
One can oppose young women practically working as strippers in a public forum without being part of a burka or old bitty squad.
Cheerleaders are not half naked...at least not most of them...
Years ago high-school cheerleading was not about shaking your ta-tas and butt....it can be again...
Oh, I won't. We live in the Bible Belt and most of the cheer-leading squads are fairly conservative compared to other parts of the country. She doesn't cheer in high school and color guard is more conservative than cheer-leading. I was pleased that her gymnastics photos were tastefully done. She wouldn't be doing anything that was too revealing.
When she was in cheer-leading in the 8th grade the cheer coach wanted them to cheer to "Save a horse ride a cowboy", a country music song, and the parents pitched a fit and wouldn't allow it. The squad had a new coach shortly after that.
Well you’re obviously in a bad mood and looking for a fight. I was actually just musing about some of the philosophical questions that this subject brings up without taking any strong stands. There is of course an easy retort to your supposed point, but not interested in your gutter today.
What? Can a good Christian sit in judgment of everyone else? I think most here know the answer to that one, but forget from time to time.
I agree. She could never be mistaken for an adolescent boy, and so would be unacceptable to the "fashion" crowd. The only place that seems to use womanly models is Victoria's Secret, and she probably would not be interested in that route.
34 posts & no cheerleaders-in-mini-skirt pics?
The same dolts who would condemn a Christian girl for wearing a skimpy cheerleading outfit are the ones who would condemn Tim Tebow from playing in the NFL because it plays its games on Sundays. They are modern day Pharisees.
Actually, a lot of girls are introduced to Jesus through competitive cheerleading. Christian cheerleading is a big industry in Texas and they do very well for Jesus and the girls.
The teams are judged on their athleticism not whether they are hot. The athletcism required to many of the routines is quite high on the same level as gymnastics and many of the participants have been trained in gymnastics from a very early age.
I,M a former gymnast and some of the routines they do are astounding.
No, I said drug use replaced sports.
Have you been to a high school football game recently? The cheerleaders don’t even watch the game, they just compete for attention by doing a circus routine in a sexy outfit.
They have alienated themselves in an effort to get one over on the males. Gotta get those government funds for themselves.
Melinda, your granddaughter is GORGEOUS! She has a beautiful smile and such sparkly eyes. Hugs!
I am not arguing that some high schools and colleges who have their cheerleaders dress up like Vegas show girls or hookers and perform highly sexual bump and grind routines is very inappropriate. But I do take exception to those that equate all cheerleaders in this group. That a young woman who is attractive, athletic and a cheerleader is somehow automatically prostituting herself and acting like a “stripper” and can’t be a good girl or a good Christian if she is a cheerleader, is ridiculous.
Where are you watching HS football? It sure isn't where I'm watching it. One of the uniforms of my local HS is black jeans and a black and red T-shirt (school colors.) That one is for their community outreach projects - one of which is to be on hand to help out the new incoming freshmen get oriented and find their way around the building.
And just like the males on the football team (or any girl on any other athletic team) they best keep their grades up - or they are gone.
Can't happen to those who KNOW and HEAR and OBEY HIM/His Word.
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Col 2:8
Thank-you!!!
What a beautiful young lady! Grandma and her parents have every reason to be proud of her!
I can only imagine that some schools have more “risque” outfits. Our high school has an extremely conservative looking cheerleading outfit and pom outfits. I watched a game last night... the cheerleaders were very appropriate and downright cute. The cheers were “old fashioned” type... (and this is a public school in a very populated area).
“Hotness” itself, the gushing thereof, or the public display thereof is not necessarily unchristian. I doubt God would make some people that much hotter than others if we weren’t meant to notice. That leaves avoiding vanity, lasciviousness, and maintaining modesty. That last is toughest. But since tv cameras barely linger on cheerleaders and in person for most of the crowd they’re plenty far away it’s possible.
Websites are another thing.
So you are still equating sports with drug use?
Have you been to a high school football game recently? The cheerleaders don’t even watch the game, they just compete for attention by doing a circus routine in a sexy outfit.
Yes I have. In fact I attend a high school football game on Friday, my great nephew’s first HS game – a small town in PA. The cheerleaders were not dressed in “sexy outfits” unless you consider the same sort of cheerleading outfits that their mothers and grandmothers wore to be “sexy outfits”. I saw no bare midriffs, no cleavage on display, no hot pants or g-strings. And the cheerleaders were watching the game and where doing nothing more and nothing less than cheering for their team, there was nothing “circus” like about it. I’m really sorry for you if it is different were you live, perhaps you should consider moving to a better place (or perhaps getting your mind out of the gutter).
They have alienated themselves in an effort to get one over on the males. Gotta get those government funds for themselves.
I don’t even know how to respond to this. You really sound like someone who would be more at home with the Taliban. Yea, if a woman is attractive and doesn’t hide herself under a burka, it’s really her fault if a male (or dirty old man or dirty old woman like you for that matter) can’t control themselves from finding her attractive. As far as “Gotta get those government funds for themselves”, yes, it is a well known “fact” that a large percentage of the big money in government educational grants now days goes to the “slutty cheerleader” degrees. My great niece, a straight A honors student evidently missed out on the big bucks by getting a scholarship in biochemical engineering when if only she had just worn a bikini to class every day, she could gotten the much more lucrative “slutty cheerleader” scholarship instead.
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