I suppose it was inevitable I would write something about Tim Tebow/ Jeff H

Note From Dan: We have a bad habit of posting guests blogs about Tim Tebow after the games, so please keep in mind that Jeff wrote this post prior to Saturday's game. With that said, I'll leave you with a quote from Tebowie: "This is Jesus Christ to Tim Tebow... I hear that you play New England next week. Dude, you're on your own. Brady is too good and I've got better things to do..."

Believing in Tim Tebow -- Read this article before reading the post.

If Rick Reilly can do it, so can I.

So, when the Tim Tebow phenomena began, I was, to be honest, nervous. There are hundreds of horrible ways to talk about celebrity athletes of faith, and most of it is cringe-worthy.

But I recant. I think it's great. I even want him to beat the Patriots this weekend (put the weapons DOWN Boston people).

I think it has two theological meanings.

First, God is nice. Did you read the Rick Reilly article? It seems like for everything we can tell, one upshot of Tim Tebow's faith, however red-state we may want to paint it (and fairly so) is that it leads him to do genuinely nice things.

Whether this makes any particular point about sports, Christianity, or religion I don't know. But I, for one, have a taste for a faith that causes people to do nice things. I am fairly well acquainted with faith of all stripes that makes people mean. I myself can be led to bouts of religiously-based superiority and meanness.

I wonder if this is one testing ground for healthy faith. Certainly it doesn't mean faith is TRUE- there are certainly nice people of almost every religious persuasion. But if I'm looking for faith to impact my life, the idea that it makes mean people into nice people seems like one worthy requirement.

Second, if nothing else, it means God is fun. My theology refuses to believe that God would cause a guy to win football games because he prays and sings Christian songs. There's no way. In fact, my theology refuses to believe God would have much to do with football games at all.

And, certainly, Tebow has lost, and certainly will lose his share. So, point taken, God has nothing to do with this. Right?

Except. Ummm. I'm feeling REALLY awkward here, but I just can't help myself. Except have you SEEN these games? 60+ yard field goals. I mean, I know it's Denver. But TWICE? And 300 yards? Against the Steelers? By a guy who can't throw? And 80 yards in 5 seconds of overtime? Against the Steelers?

I'm so sorry. I know. I went into idiot land for a minute there. Of course any respectable person cannot ascribe divine intervention to a football game. And especially not to some John 3:16 toting 20-something punk.

Except, I'm so sorry. Did you watch any of the games?

No, no, you're right.

But it does give me a funny image. I imagine God at his computer, taking prayers as emails.

"Please support my political candidate. Please let my theological position take the day. Please kill the bad people. Please let me be shown to be right."

I see him rolling his eyes, and then opening another email.

"Please God, let me when a Super Bowl today. Love, Timmy."

And snarky God decides to do something just to mess with our heads.

Of course it's a silly picture. And, at his best, my guess is Tim might wonder what happened to the prayer requests of the sick kids Reilly reports he treats so well. And we can come back down to reality and realize it's just a game, and a few last minute comebacks don't prove anything about theology.

(But, seriously, did you see that throw?)

Comments

[PB]

Funny post! But, watching football is against my religion.

[Brent]

So, I thought about typing up my own post on this, but three would be overkill (like two isn't) so I'll just put my thoughts here, namely on the topic of what Tim Tebow and Evolution have in common. Yeah, going there.

There are a ton of people out there who just can't seem to think about science and faith in the right way. Either God miraculously created the universe out of nothing in six days as the Bible clearly says, OR a blind, random, impersonal process of evolution did it over millions of years and there is no God. It's gotta be either/or. It's either side with the facts or side with magical thinking.

But there's a smaller group of people who just don't accept that. They think its possible that evolution is true AND that God has been involved at every step along the way. Indeed, they think God provides the very foundation for evolution to take place and that without God evolution wouldn't be possible or wouldn't make sense.

Can I submit that the same problem underlies the difficulty with thinking about Tim Tebow? It seems like we either think there is just blind, dumb luck involve here or the magical thinking that God is giving him some super-natural powers on the field (but not against the Patriots - God is apparently a New Englander after all).

But is a third way of thinking about this possible? That maybe a life spend trying to live a holy and Godly life might actually make a difference in the way someone lives their life? That it might, over time, give one a large degree of determination and confidence and humility, and that this might translate into a drive to do one's best no matter the circumstances or one's limitations? That it might translate to a confident belief that one can disregard the odds and that this might actually substantially improve one's performance, say, on the football field?

In other words, can we accept that God really IS helping Tim Tebow, but not in any magical way but in the way he really wants to help each and everyone one of us, by helping us become the sort of people he wants us to be?

Is it possible that when we commit our lives to pursuing God and all he has for us that we might see the occasional improbable miracle happen in our lives?

Ask Tebow.

[Jeff]

Brent Henderson FTW!!!

[Aleric, Visigoth Invader.]

Bravo on your theistic evolution thoughts, Brent!

[Rich]

I love the Vineyard and have visited many times. But what in the world is this ? "It seems like for everything we can tell, one upshot of Tim Tebow's faith, however red-state we may want to paint it (and fairly so) is that it leads him to do genuinely nice things. " Am i misintrepreting this as a slam against Red States ?

This seems like the kind of garbage I would read in NY Times. Why are many Northeastern churches so liberal? Why do so many Christians here listen to NPR which is extremely slanted? (I could go on with examples) Is it pride ? Or is it just ignorance due to surrounding culture. I don't know what it is, but it is really offensive.

[Rich]

Uh Oh Forgive me.

Dave did not write that. Jeff did who I do not know

Rich