Why I Detest Tim Tebow

People are having a difficult time understanding why I didn't enjoy seeing the Broncos defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday.  Well, it all has to do with the Bronco's illustrious quarterback.

These are portions of an article actually written by another very right wing, Southern Baptist preacher who has a blog - so it's not some liberal I'm quoting here.

"The problem Tom Krattenmaker, the writer of the article, has with Tebow is the staunchly conservative brand of Christianity that Tebow promotes. He points out that Tebow takes off-season missionary trips to Asia under the auspices of his father’s organization, The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association. According to Krattenmaker, the bottom line of that organization is: “Only those who assent to its version of Christianity will avoid eternal punishment.” He then cites two examples of the concerns he has with the organization. First, the ministry boldly states, “We reject the modern ecumenical movement.” Second, the ministry’s literature estimates that 75% of the inhabitants of the Philippines “have never once heard the gospel of Christ,” even though more than 80% of Philippine citizens identify themselves as Roman Catholic."

In another passage, he discusses athletes and thanking Jesus.  These are the points I keep trying to make.  What kills me about this guy is that he then reiterates his agreement with the bigotry of fundamentalism and  gets in another dig at Catholics not being Christian:

"Tebow can talk all he wants about the power of the Lord, but when it came time for him to choose a college team to play for, this home-schooled son of a missionary didn’t pick a small, Christian, ultra conservative, non-ecumenical school that barely had a football team. He picked one of the most secular ”football factories” in the United States. Think about that. There’s the power of the Lord, and then there’s the power of incredibly gifted teammates. It’s easy to shine for Jesus when the greatest disappointment you have to face in a season is the gap between winning a national championship or having to settle for finishing second in your conference and in the top five nationally.

"My son Ryan is a Christian. His belief in Christ is real and he is a great kid. He’s also a good athlete whose best sport might very well be football. However, through no fault of his own, he suffers from attending a school system that rates very low in sports. He never won a football game during his 5th-grade season. Likewise for his 6th. That 6th-grade team scored three touchdowns total. Ryan ran for two and threw for the other one. This season was his middle-school, 7th-grade season. He made all-conference, but his team won one game.

"Since Ryan and Tim Tebow both claim the same Savior, why does that Savior work so hard to get Tebow his wins and acclaim but allows Ryan to get gang-tackled season after season? I submit that Tebow’s natural ability and otherworldly teammates have much more to do with his athletic success than Jesus. I say that Jesus isn’t nearly as personally involved in the outcome of sporting events as Christian athletes want to believe. Put a batter up against a pitcher and the outcome will depend much more upon how good the pitcher’s stuff is than how often the batter prays.

"Please understand that I’m not trying to completely eliminate Jesus from sports. After all, His sovereignty knows no limits. And let’s face it, any Savior who knows the number of hairs on a person’s head has to be interested in all of life, right down to the minutest details. But we need to get back into the realm of reality on this subject. If an athlete wants to thank Jesus for allowing him the health to compete, that’s fine. If He wants to give Him praise for dying on the cross for his sins, that’s a form of witnessing. When it comes to final scores, though, he needs to keep his mouth shut about Jesus. If Jesus was really that actively involved in that department, Notre Dame would never lose a game. Remember, that’s the school with the famous “Touchdown Jesus” shrine. Oh, wait, scratch what I just said. I forgot, they’re Catholics."

Now you know that I'm not someone who is exactly "Rah, rah Catholicism" but the audacity of any fundamentalist who proselytizes on a belief system that picks and chooses who gets to go to Heaven just frosts my ass. You can go online to research a complete list of those they find unworthy for Heaven but why get yourself as worked up as I am?  I find these people to be evil and dangerous. My 85 year old Mother has been a devout Catholic from birth.  I sincerely doubt that Tim Tebow gets to go to Heaven and my tiny Catholic mother is going to Hell.


I also wanted to make clear why Tebow's presence in Denver does not bring me any joy. I will use my own faith to pray for the day when he and his Jesus Pants head back to Florida. Jacksonville can have him, I'm sure he'd be happy there.