By: Shane James O’Neill
“There is a way that seems right to a person, but in the end it’s a road to death.”
The Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods. The world’s greatest golfer, with more awards and fan adoration than most athletes in sports history. Truly, a remarkable record. The man is an icon to sports all over the world.
Tiger Woods drove his career into the gutter when his personal life fell apart in the late 2000’s. His wife (at the time) discovered that Woods was having multiple affairs. Woods stepped back from golf but couldn’t put his marriage and family back together. Consequently, it ended in divorce.
Once his family broke apart, Woods couldn’t get his career back on track. And, for nearly a decade, Tiger Woods had little impact on the golfing world.
However, the man wasn’t inactive. The list of women that Tiger Woods has dated is prolific, to say the least. Sadly enough, many of the relationships would overlap with each other, and no person likes to be treated as one of many.
During this time, Woods was seemingly working toward other awards — dating porn stars, super models, and waitresses. If she was attractive, he’d give it a go. The list is so vast, I couldn’t even pull up a proper tally for this article.
What Tiger Woods Teaches Us
There are all sorts of lies when it comes to porn and hookup culture. Some of us believe we’ll be satisfied when we get married and the only reason we watch porn is to temporarily appease our sex drive. Others of us may be quite content in our singleness, believing that if we could only (or, if we could continue to) sleep around then we’d be happy. Some of us may even believe that if we were married to someone else, we’d be happy.
It’s all a lie, really. We know that. We’re just discontent, so we allow ourselves to believe the lies. It’s easier than facing the truth of our selfishness, and it’s easier than committing.
Unfortunately for him, Tiger Woods stands as a case-study for living into the lies — and not only himself, but his family has paid the price. The man has had multiple arrests over the last few years, DUI’s, drugs, all sorts of ish. Heart breaking stuff. More than anything else, his drive has unmasked his deep loneliness.
Easy to condemn the guy, isn’t it?
Yet, I’ve done all that too. I’ve wondered if Jesus actually cares; I’ve lived in dark places with dark things for company. And I’ve lived in that twisted space that promises so much and leaves you so empty. It’s a hollow way to live.
The crazy part is that we can envy Woods’ sex career as much as we look up to his sports career. I had to check myself repeatedly while researching this article. The dude has slept with some of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. But then you come across pictures of his DUI where he looks terrible, like an aged and broken man. The women Woods cheated on his wife with ended up in a drug house because of all the hate and death threats from his fans. A girl who was once so very beautiful used terrible things to hide from the guilt and shame inside of her. It wasn’t just the external threats she ran from, it was the internal threats she couldn’t seem to escape.
A Brilliant Conclusion
From here I actually don’t have some grandiose and brilliant conclusion. There is no clever spin of words or simulating insight.The contrast is clear — follow in the way of Woods or follow in the way Jesus. Go look at Woods’ life. Feel the despair. See the broken family. Then go read the Gospel of Mark. Look at Jesus’ life. Feel his hope. Hear the invitation to be His family.
The lies won’t get us anywhere. Tiger Woods, for the first time in a decade seems to be coming to terms with that. He’s practicing faithfulness, he’s practicing fatherhood, and he’s practicing golf, again. But the man couldn’t play, couldn’t focus, couldn’t find passion, not while he was lying.
Maybe we learn a thing or two from Tiger Woods? Maybe he has more to show us than his golf swing.
“There is a way that seems right to a person, but in the end it’s a road to death.”
Sign up to continue receiving our weekly-blog series on celebrities who fight porn!
CHECK OUT OUR NEW PROTECTOR INITIATIVE!
Shane James O’Neill is the Editorial Director for Proven Men Ministries. He is currently working on a graduate degree in apologetics at Liberty University’s Rawling School of Divinity.