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There is an argument raging that has been steadily gaining fuel over the past few years. At question is the formerly accepted mantle of "Greatest Running Back of All Time." For more than forty years that title has rested firmly in the hands of Jim Brown. Brown was the son of a fourth generation slave family from Georgia. He was born and raised in the St. Simons Island community of coastal Georgia. After amazing people in high school with his athletic prowess in pretty much every sport, he matriculated to Syracuse University in upstate New York where he played both football and lacrosse, graduating in 1957.

During his nine years in the NFL he amassed over 12,000 rushing yards and averaged 5.2 yards a carry for his career. Since that time others have come and gained more yardage than Brown playing one to four more years than he did. As a result of these inflated yardages which have come from more games being played, people are challenging Brown's status as the greatest of all time. Almost half of Brown's career was played with the benefit of only a twelve game schedule. However, what bothers me is the way the rules have changed since then. The rules? Yep! The rules.

I remember playing football in the 1960s. If you were going to block you couldn't use your hands. You couldn't extend your arms. You simply had to get almost perfect position every time if you were going to block your opponent. Then they changed the rules. The games were getting too stagnant. Not enough offense. No one was able to run against the defenses. Nobody wants to watch a game where the final score is 6 - 3. Several years ago I was privileged to talk with one of the men who used to block for Jim Brown. Dick Schafrath was a tackle with the Cleveland Browns during most of Brown's career. He confessed that if the rules had been the same back then as they are now, Brown would never have been touched at the line of scrimmage.

Schafrath pointed out that what is now called blocking would have been called holding or illegal use of the hands. I wonder. Other than Barry Sanders, who basically had no blocking, how many of today's running backs would gain the yardage they're gaining if the rules reverted to the old standard. You see, when you loosen the rules, the game gets easier. Good running backs become great ones and great running backs become legendary. Change the requirements for blocking and watch the yardages fall. Change any requirements and watch success rates come down. In other words, raise the standards of excellence and watch excellence be exceptional. One place where the standard has never been lowered is in the Word of God.

"Therefore prepare yourself in your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' " 1 Peter 1:13-16 That is one standard that is never changing. The challenge to be holy is not based on the morality of the world. It stands firmly in the character of the one who invented it. God is holy. The rule is this; be holy like Him. Man cannot change the rules in this one. But God changes man that he can be holy in His sight. It is called salvation through Christ Jesus. That will never change.

"Voice of Inspiration" from Andy Castro

I See Dead People (Updated Version)