"What about the players on the other side of the ball — the ones who lose the game.... Is God not helping them?"

Good stuff.
IN his list of concerns:

4. The Perception That Christianity Needs Celebrities to Be Relevant. When it comes to Tebow-Mania, I wonder if evangelicalism is once again falling into the trap of “celebrity Christianity.” It feels great to have an evangelical Christian at the height of athletic popularity in our nation. It feels even better when he wins; because — in some small way — it feels as though evangelicalism is winning through him.

I am prepared to be in the distinct minority here…how’s that for a bunker mentality? :) Am I the only one concerned that the most famous Christian in America spends his Lord’s day doing something other than assembling with other believers in a local church?

Matt

[Matt Walker] I am prepared to be in the distinct minority here…how’s that for a bunker mentality? :) Am I the only one concerned that the most famous Christian in America spends his Lord’s day doing something other than assembling with other believers in a local church?

Matt

“What is it to thee, follow thou me”.

But let’s examine your claim. Do you do something other than assemble with believers on the Lord’s Day? I suspect you do, you go home, you eat. In fact, before you assemble you do many things and afterward too. Oh my.

Which leads to the next question, as you assuming Tim Tebow does not spend his evenings on Sunday assembling? Oh wait, maybe he is assembling right there with other believers where he WORKS on the Lords Day, eh?

I believe your pietism is getting in the way of vetting your own thinking.

[Aaron Blumer] Good stuff.
IN his list of concerns:

4. The Perception That Christianity Needs Celebrities to Be Relevant. When it comes to Tebow-Mania, I wonder if evangelicalism is once again falling into the trap of “celebrity Christianity.” It feels great to have an evangelical Christian at the height of athletic popularity in our nation. It feels even better when he wins; because — in some small way — it feels as though evangelicalism is winning through him.

I concur. Interestingly enough my local church is currently studying the influence of deviant worship within the Body of Christ, utilizing the introduction of such worship in Israel’s history by Jeroboam (I Kings 12) as the basic outline. Following are some edited notes from a recent Sunday presentation:

A. One of the key elements of deviant worship introduced by Jeroboam in I Kings 12 was in that he “…made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi…”
1. In like manner, a door of opportunity for the introduction of deviant worship into the assembly of Christ today is the promotion to positions of spiritual influence of the Scripturally unqualified.
B. Current developments illustrating the modification or disregard of Biblical qualification standards for ministers, whether in ordained positions (pastor/deacon) or in positions with elder authority, by local assemblies within the Body of Christ.
1. Ordaining of the grossly immoral (homosexuals and others)
2. Ordaining of women
3. Promotion of novices
(a) TRENDS IN PROMOTING NOVICES IN THE EVANGELICAL COMMUNITY
(b) The current evangelical community seems to be almost obsessed with promoting novices to positions of incredible influence in the church granted on the basis of less-than-spiritual factors, and particularly including….
(i) Celebrity
(ii) Sensational pre-conversion experience
(iii) Demographic appeal

[Matt Walker] I am prepared to be in the distinct minority here…how’s that for a bunker mentality? :) Am I the only one concerned that the most famous Christian in America spends his Lord’s day doing something other than assembling with other believers in a local church?

Matt

Millions of hourly workers in the service industry struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their heads work at grocery stores, restaurants (but not Chik-Fil-A!), gas stations etc. on Sunday. And among their Sunday clientele: Christians leaving church services. Also, if Tim Tebow makes Saturday (after the manner of Messianic Jews) his day of worship and rest instead - and keep in mind Saturday is the day off given to NFL players, while a host of hourly workers labor Saturday AND Sunday - what is the issue?

P.S. Preachers work on Sunday too …

Still waiting for someone to come up with a reason why God prefers QBs to linemen and strong safeties. That the world accounts QBs as being more valuable (largely because of the marketing efforts of the NFL) is not sufficient.

Because it is the Quarterback who throws the Hail Mary. Heh.

I’m convinced the Lord confounded the minds of our coaching staff…

There does seem to be an evangelical hyper-elevation of celebrities and politicians who make any reference to God. I’m surprised Liberty U. hasn’t scheduled Tebow for this year’s convocation.

(I’m just kidding, Dan)

[Alex Guggenheim]

[Matt Walker] I am prepared to be in the distinct minority here…how’s that for a bunker mentality? :) Am I the only one concerned that the most famous Christian in America spends his Lord’s day doing something other than assembling with other believers in a local church?

Matt

“What is it to thee, follow thou me”.

But let’s examine your claim. Do you do something other than assemble with believers on the Lord’s Day? I suspect you do, you go home, you eat. In fact, before you assemble you do many things and afterward too. Oh my.

Which leads to the next question, as you assuming Tim Tebow does not spend his evenings on Sunday assembling? Oh wait, maybe he is assembling right there with other believers where he WORKS on the Lords Day, eh?

I believe your pietism is getting in the way of vetting your own thinking.

Alex,

I may not agree with Matt either, but your response is ridiculous. First, you know well he is speaking of doing something instead of assembling, not as well as assembling, with believers because you move in that direction later in your response. Further, I have read enough of your writing to know you don’t confuse spending time around other believers with regularly joining one’s own local church body. You can do better than this to make your point.

[Barry L.]…I’m surprised Liberty U. hasn’t scheduled Tebow for this year’s convocation.

(I’m just kidding, Dan)

I don’t think you are. I absolutely, fully expect it.

One thing nobody can seriously argue with—Liberty, thou art the champion of the “Christian” celebrity du jour.

[Chip Van Emmerik]

[Alex Guggenheim]

[Matt Walker] I am prepared to be in the distinct minority here…how’s that for a bunker mentality? :) Am I the only one concerned that the most famous Christian in America spends his Lord’s day doing something other than assembling with other believers in a local church?

Matt

“What is it to thee, follow thou me”.

But let’s examine your claim. Do you do something other than assemble with believers on the Lord’s Day? I suspect you do, you go home, you eat. In fact, before you assemble you do many things and afterward too. Oh my.

Which leads to the next question, as you assuming Tim Tebow does not spend his evenings on Sunday assembling? Oh wait, maybe he is assembling right there with other believers where he WORKS on the Lords Day, eh?

I believe your pietism is getting in the way of vetting your own thinking.

Alex,

I may not agree with Matt either, but your response is ridiculous. First, you know well he is speaking of doing something instead of assembling, not as well as assembling, with believers because you move in that direction later in your response. Further, I have read enough of your writing to know you don’t confuse spending time around other believers with regularly joining one’s own local church body. You can do better than this to make your point.

I disagree that it is ridiculous but see your minor point on the assembling-however, again how about Sunday night assembling? The post fails to give credit and is harsh in its unverified assessment. Harsh assessments are fine if warranted but without needed citation? That is a dangerous thing I believe.

But let me do better as you suggested:

Matthew 12:1-2

1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

Luke 6:9-11

9Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

10He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Colossians 2:16

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

Tim Tebow is earning a living and providing a witness, albeit Christians differ on their approval of its form, he certainly isn’t doing evil and this is the point of our Lord who would use the Sabbath (let’s pretend Sunday is equivalent to the Sabbath for the sake of argument but it isn’t and is not regulated by the same protocol) to do good, even when its regulations were in place.

I believe that when people start down the road of busying themselves with the formulating the kind of judgments reflected in the post where one is trying to imply a judgment against a man for working on Sunday, I believe they are starting down a sanctimonious road. Tim Tebow demonstrates no slide into reprobation. If one’s absence during a certain season in which his job requires him to work on Sunday was that which contributed to some form of reprobation then that concern might be addressed, at least privately but even publicly, then that might have some merit. But here we have no such issue, rather it is one which I believe is similar to the texts above where a man is doing good and is being accused of something less, at least implicitly.

[Alex Guggenheim] Tim Tebow is earning a living and providing a witness, albeit Christians differ on their approval of its form, he certainly isn’t doing evil and this is the point of our Lord who would use the Sabbath (let’s pretend Sunday is equivalent to the Sabbath for the sake of argument but it isn’t and is not regulated by the same protocol) to do good, even when its regulations were in place.

I believe that when people start down the road of busying themselves with the formulating the kind of judgments reflected in the post where one is trying to imply a judgment against a man for working on Sunday, I believe they are starting down a sanctimonious road. Tim Tebow demonstrates no slide into reprobation. If one’s absence during a certain season in which his job requires him to work on Sunday was that which contributed to some form of reprobation then that concern might be addressed, at least privately but even publicly, then that might have some merit. But here we have no such issue, rather it is one which I believe is similar to the texts above where a man is doing good and is being accused of something less, at least implicitly.

Totally agree, Alex.

Tarkenton says a great God doesn’t care at all who wins or loses. He and Bob Costas and a host of other Christians claim God doesn’t care about football games. They couldn’t be more wrong. He cares about everything. He notices a sparrow that falls to the ground and He notices big business sports games. Plainly stated, God cares who wins and loses.

However — HOWEVER! — this is no way means that God necessarily grants wins to saints and losses to infidels. Nor does it necessarily mean that saints get a supernatural edge. It does mean that in respect of the doctrine of Providence it is okay to say God did something favorable to Tim Tebow last week by granting him a W.

NFL football is not “just a game.” It’s a big business and every game is a huge business affair. If Tim Tebow were in any other business we’d want him to succeed at that business when he was deliberately giving God the credit for his success and using the success as a platform for doing good to the helpless and speaking out the Name of Christ. So, yes, I prayed Sunday morning to God that Tim would win against the Steelers. I felt that he needed that win for his career and I think his career is, at the moment, pleasing to God. And I literally thanked God for his victory Sunday afternoon. I’m sure thousands of others, including his mom and dad, were doing the same. We all knew his career in Denver banked on it.

I don’t feel that he has to win against the Patriots to save his career so my prayers for him are less earnest.But what do I know? I just know that I also want the businessmen and workers in my church to pray to God for success in whatever it is that they do. This doesn’t preclude hard work, opposition, setbacks, discouragement, and even failure. It does mean, however, that whatever successes we do get we can humbly and truthfully say, “God helped me do it.” I think that is what Tim does.

[Bob Bixby] Tarkenton says a great God doesn’t care at all who wins or loses. He and Bob Costas and a host of other Christians claim God doesn’t care about football games. They couldn’t be more wrong. He cares about everything. He notices a sparrow that falls to the ground and He notices big business sports games. Plainly stated, God cares who wins and loses.

However — HOWEVER! — this is no way means that God necessarily grants wins to saints and losses to infidels. Nor does it necessarily mean that saints get a supernatural edge. It does mean that in respect of the doctrine of Providence it is okay to say God did something favorable to Tim Tebow last week by granting him a W.

NFL football is not “just a game.” It’s a big business and every game is a huge business affair. If Tim Tebow were in any other business we’d want him to succeed at that business when he was deliberately giving God the credit for his success and using the success as a platform for doing good to the helpless and speaking out the Name of Christ. So, yes, I prayed Sunday morning to God that Tim would win against the Steelers. I felt that he needed that win for his career and I think his career is, at the moment, pleasing to God. And I literally thanked God for his victory Sunday afternoon. I’m sure thousands of others, including his mom and dad, were doing the same. We all knew his career in Denver banked on it.

I don’t feel that he has to win against the Patriots to save his career so my prayers for him are less earnest.But what do I know? I just know that I also want the businessmen and workers in my church to pray to God for success in whatever it is that they do. This doesn’t preclude hard work, opposition, setbacks, discouragement, and even failure. It does mean, however, that whatever successes we do get we can humbly and truthfully say, “God helped me do it.” I think that is what Tim does.

The other half is problematic. I do agree that God cares about football and everything else in life. But about Tebow “giving God the credit for his success and using the success as a platform for doing good to the helpless and speaking out the Name of Christ” … the problem is that PLENTY of NFL players do this. For instance, the whole Tebowing thing: it wasn’t invented by Tebow. NFL (and college and high school) players have been doing it for years. Also, players for some teams assemble for public group prayers - either at the 50 yard line or in the end zone - before each game. Many players praise Jesus Christ in their postgame interviews, some make crucifix signs or other religious symbols or bow and say a quick prayer after they score a TD or make another good play, and so on. And it shouldn’t be a surprise. Most football players come from the Bible Belt (where high school and college football are huge parts of the culture) plus many are part of groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Yet all this was basically ignored - and in many instances viewed skeptically - until Tim Tebow came along. So now, everyone is behaving as if what Tim Tebow is doing is unique, and that they have to root for him because of it.

The truth is that there is a good chance that there was an evangelical playing for the Pittsburgh defense on Sunday whose career needed a win just as badly as Tebow’s did. Yet praying for Tebow was a bigger priority than praying for that guy merely because THE WORLD chose to make Tebow’s Christian practice a public issue and not the other guy. The truth is that there isn’t a lick of evidence that Tebow the most qualified person to represent Christianity among NFL players. He’s just the guy that the media chose to represent Christianity among NFL players. Whatever reason they had for doing so, it was to suit their own purposes.

Consider this angle: Tim Tebow doesn’t propose anywhere near the challenge to the liberal cultural elites who run the media as the “Tim Tebow is a great role model!” folks would like to believe. Look, the media knows that tens of millions of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians - as well as millions more who aren’t aligned by religion but have conservative or traditional moral and cultural beliefs - exist. Well, Tim Tebow fits the convenient stereotype that the media chooses to portray of social conservatives, rather than challenges it: he is a home-schooled, Southern Baptist athlete from the Deep South, and when he discusses his faith it doesn’t exactly have the erudition of a seminary systematic theology and apologetics professor. Let’s just say that there are a lot of evangelicals in the NFL that aren’t ready-made to be mocked by the likes of Bill Maher or Jon Stewart, and surprise, surprise those are the ones that the media wants nothing to do with despite knowing their religious convictions. And it is equally true that there are a lot of Christians in the NFL that evangelicals would find it a lot harder to identify with - and be represented by - than Tebow.

Ultimately, whatever the media’s agenda is in elevating Tebow above all the other evangelicals in the NFL we have to remember that it is the media’s agenda - the world’s agenda - and therefore is not to be trusted. Put it this way: when avowed atheist Pat Tillman walked away from the NFL to join the military and go fight in Iraq, the media made sure that everybody knew about what they depicted as his “heroic sacrifice” in his rendering service to Caesar. But when San Francisco 49ers RB Glen Coffee walked away from a very promising NFL career in order to pursue becoming a full-time minister, stating that he didn’t need NFL fame and riches to be happy and expressing concerns that life as an NFL player would have hindered his effectiveness as a minister and evangelist, somehow the media didn’t find that story to be anywhere near as newsworthy. We can’t let the world - especially the media - set the agenda for us, and that is precisely what is happening with this Tim Tebow phenomenon.