Apostolic Friends Forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by *AQuietPlace* (Post 1128339)

Great witness for the cause of Christ?

Or in direct violation of Jesus' command to not make a spectacle of ourselves praying in public?

Is he drawing attention to Jesus? Or drawing attention to himself? (however sincere and genuine his intentions may be)

Opinions?

I think it is a great witness for Christ. I don't think he is drawing any undue attention to himself. He has been in the spot light since he was in high school, but people who don't really follow sports are just now hearing about him, but in short he is doing absolutely nothing different now than he ever has. Though he is more popular now than he has ever been, he continues to carry himself humbly.

Two years ago, before he ever played in the pros he and his mother made a pro-life commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, in which he was widely criticized by NFL players, sports talk show host, and the secular media at large. That is really the root of all the Tebow hate.

When he was drafted by Denver, their coach was widely criticized and most sports analysts agreed that Tebow would never be able to play QB in the NFL and was a horrible pick. Denver struggled and Tebow barely got a chance to play, and that coach (Josh McDaniels) was fired in the middle of that season, and one of the biggest reason was that everyone assumed he made a major blunder by drafting Tebow.

Denver hired John Elway to make football team decisions and John Fox to be their new head coach, neither drafted Tebow, and the collective thought was that he wasn't good enough so they used Kyle Orton as their quarterback. Denver lost 4 out of their first 5 games, people were calling into sports talk radio shows, even buying billboards calling for the Broncos to play Tim Tebow. The Broncos decided to give him a chance, even though originally John fox said there was no way, no cicumstances in which Tebow would be the starting QB (all of this happened this season, seems like 2 completely different worlds). Anyway, Elway and Fox give in because they are losing, season is going no where and give Tebow a chance to play, and essentially to prove to their fan base how atrocious Tebow is so they can draft a new QB this off season. Except the team starts playing better, and they win, then lose, then win, win, win, win. At one point they had 1 win and 4 losses with Orton at QB, and 7 wins and 1 loss with Tebow at QB, same players at all other position, well except the fact that they gave up on the season and traded Brandon Lloyd, their top receiver, and one of the NFLs leading receivers the last 2 years.

Anyway, back to the religious aspect. Tebow has always talked about honoring God and that football didn't define his life. In college he was mocked by media (and no doubt students alike) for his faith including the fact that he was still a virgin because he was waiting to get married. Your not suppossed to play on the football team and not go mess around with the frat girls. Much less be the superstar quarterback. Much less win the heisman trophy as the nations best player, and in the process of winning 2 college championships. I heard them on the radio making fun on him on the radio when he was still in college (not viciously, but just kind of mocking him for being naive and simple) because he was on a mission trip in the Phillistines, circumcising babies, when other college quarterbacks were "living it up".

As for "tebowing", kneeling after a touchdown, thats nothing new. I've seen it all my life in sports. It was so common when I was a kid that the characters in the Madden football game would do it. Its been done not just by hundreds, but literally thousands of players in both college and pro sports. The reason its such a big deal with Tebow is he actually lives its, that he is not shy about his faith. That said, he is also not a put it in your face kind of guy either.

I don't think its over the top at all. In everything we do, we ought to do it as Jesus would. If we play football we ought to do so the same. By that I don't mean stats or performance, but a pure attitude which honors God, exemplifies sportsmanship, and keeps the game in perspective. I think Tebow does that. Especially when sometimes players on the opposing team seek to injure him and insult him, he remains kind towrads them. I think he is a great example of Christianity, becuase quite frankly many Christians could not handle the fame, money, popularity and criticism that he has handled without either thinking more of themselves than they ought, or going on the defensive against some of the things people say.

In addition to all that he was homeschooled, which only adds to the stigma in our society, especially for a public figure.

Here are a couple of videos, I think are pretty revealing as to what kind of Christian he is, and I don't understand why any Christian would criticize him. Fact is, if all the Christians who are in the public eye behaved themselves as Tim Tebow christianity would be taken alot more seriously by the people in the world.

An interview with Tim Tebow which includes a response on former Broncos QB Jake Plummer's comment that Tebow talks about Jesus too much:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7JN2gUMtew

Tebow on the field, what he says to his guys, etc. This was the game where Charles Barclay pleaded with the Bears to "stop the madness" and shut everyone up by putting it to Tebow, and the game which the Bears superstar Brian Urlacer paid Tebow a backhanded compliment calling him " a good fullback" after the game, thus implying he is a terrible quarterback. If you watch the video you will notice Tebow being kind to Urlacer (#54)during the game, complimenting him and talking about fishing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grM2sb7VYSs

He is a Christian in everything he does, not his performance on the football field, but his treatment of others, his humilty when receiving praise, his patience when receiving criticism. Of course he's not perfect, none of us are, but his life in the public eye puts the TV preachers to shame.

A shorter video, what he said after beating the Jets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNBPEEYL6F4