What's wrong with Tim Tebow?

Nothing wrong with Tebow, the man. Still a lot to develop for with Tebow, the professional football player.

Yeah, that 6-1 starting record of Tebow’s is just horrific. Why do they let him play!?!? He should be like #1 draft pick, Cam Newton who is sporting that outstanding 4-8 record!!

(Just thought I’d get the argument/debate rolling for everyone. ;) )

Signed…..a VERY bitter Carolina Panther fan

IMHO - and that’s all it is: my opinion - Tim Tebow reminds all those with whom he works and competes that personal self control *IS* possible in our society today.

The rank-and-file professional athlete has come to the conclusion that he has earned the right to live a lascivious, promiscuous, “me first” lifestyle.

Now they run into a man who is humble, respectful, abstinent, celibate and unabashedly joyful in his relationship with Jesus Christ. This is a YOUNG man, who among men is supposed to be foolish, unwise, and socially allowed to “sow his wild oats”. Yet he maintains a self control - physically, emotionally and intellectually - that puts them to shame.

No wonder they are angry.

(Full disclosure: I am an unashamed Gator fan. Win or loose, the Gators are family - not the same as my Spiritual family of brothers and sisters in the Lord, but family nonetheless. I have been thrilled to see God honor this young man as he continues to let God shine through his life.)

…especially when he’s crying after losing to Alabama!

It will be interesting to watch Tim Tebow’s path. His football career will be interesting but his life as a believer and how his life in post-NFL establishes itself.

As to his football career, he still has some due diligence. Many quarterbacks have had good starts only to hit a level where they cannot go any further. I do believe that he can play at the NFL level but for how long and with what degree of success is still to be determined.

J-) Them’s fightin’ words, my friend….fightin’ words! 0:)

…he plays football on Sundays, when many Christians believe we should take our day of rest (exception for pulling oxes out of the ditch, firemen, police, etc.). He encourages many believers to offend by skipping the assembling of themselves together in exchange for a TV, couch, and bag of chips. Don’t get me wrong. I am glad that he is a believer and has a good testimony.

especially in light of http://sharperiron.org/filings/12-6-11/21049] this discussion on another thread.

[Rev Karl]…a man who is humble, respectful, … and unabashedly joyful in his relationship with Jesus Christ.

These charactersitics are those of some pastors and missionaries I have introduced my children to. We remind them that these people are the heroes of the faith, and you won’t see them in any headlines, or making much money, and yet are humbly allowing the Lord to work through them. Granted, we don’t follow pro sports much, and I, too, am glad to see a pro athlete with a good testimony. Typically, we understand that role models are going to be found much more locally, and will end up being more life-impacting from an eternal perspective.

[Sean Fericks]…he plays football on Sundays, when many Christians believe we should take our day of rest (exception for pulling oxes out of the ditch, firemen, police, etc.).

Also exempted from the restriction on working on The Lord’s Day: Pastors, Youth Leaders, Music Directors, Church Musicians, (and, in a volunteer capacity) Bible study leaders (formerly known as Sunday School teachers), church security personnel, those who clean up after pot luck dinners at church…

I have not made the time to study this out personally, but one of my pastors once told me that only 9 of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament as instructions for Christian living. The one commandment not repeated: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” We *are* instructed to “forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”, but the Lord’s Day of the New Testament is not observed on the seventh day of the week, and is not a direct one-fo-one swap with the OT Sabbath. Specifically, the restrictions of the OT Law (you cannot work, which includes lighting a fire, travelling more than a “Sabbath Day’s Journey”, etc.) are not transfered into NT Lord’s Day Practice.

If this is not correct, I welcome your correction. After all, how else am I going to become “sharper”?

[Side note. I was in hotel in Jerusalem on a Sabbath day in March this year. Some of the “laws” observed were:

1. an elevator was set aside as a Shabbat elevator: It only travelled one floor at a time, stopping on every floor - except the floor with the business offices;
   
2. on the check in/out floor, all positions at which business was transacted were blocked from the view of observant Jews by a screen;
   
3. up in the hotel, an Hasidic Jew opened the door to his room and waited in the hall for a Gentile to come by so that the Gentile could go into the room and turn on the light - which was considered working on the Sabbath.]
   Good to see everyone around the campfire this morning. Is there any of that campfire coffee left?

The vast majority of the criticism of Tim Tebow is because he is a running quarterback. The same people who criticize Tebow also criticized Donovan McNabb (evangelical Christian who used to lead his team Bible study and organize Christian events), Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham (evangelical Christian who now pastors a church in Las Vegas), Vince Young, Kordell Stewart, Steve McNair and - until he proved that he could throw the football - Cam Newton. Now Tebow did get criticized more than those guys, but only because Tebow’s passing skills are worse - far worse - than all of those guys. But Tebow’s fans ignore that Tebow is being criticized by the same people and for the same reasons as all the other running quarterbacks before him have for over 25 years, and instead convince themselves that he is being criticized because he is an evangelical Christian and good kid.

20 years ago, “Tim Tebow” was Charlie Ward, an electrifying award winning champion from Florida’s rival, Florida State, and Ward was also an open, vocal evangelical Christian. Like Tebow, Ward was by far the biggest celebrity in college sports at the time, on TV and magazine covers constantly. FSU had other star athletes and Heisman candidates before (i.e. Deion Sanders) but Ward was different: while Ward was playing at FSU, the school actually began to receive record numbers of applications for admission. Unlike Tebow, who was oh so oppressed by being drafted in the first round and given a guaranteed multi-million dollar contract and national advertising deals, Ward wasn’t drafted at all. I remember ESPN mocking Charlie Ward and his faith during the draft when folks were marveling about the fact that such a talented, award winning QB was passed up by all NFL teams in 7 (or was it 8 back then) draft rounds. So Ward had to go onto the NBA (where for years he and a teammate of his, Allan Houston, were taunted for their beliefs … Ward was accused of being a religious bigot who allegedly mistreated his Jewish coach for instance, and it was claimed that their Christianity made them “soft”, a charge also made against Randall Cunningham and also NBA star David Robinson.) Amazingly, Ward was even drafted by Major League Baseball - despite his never having played the sport just on his potential as an athlete - but not football where he won a national title and a Heisman and set tons of records. Now the evangelical support system that exists for Tebow now was totally silent when it came to Charlie Ward back in the day, and Randall Cunningham also. And Donovan McNabb … not a few evangelical Christians actually turned against him when Rush Limbaugh made McNabb the subject of a totally bizarre race-based rant, and dislike McNabb solely because Limbaugh attacked him (and not because of anything that McNabb has ever done, because McNabb is every bit the model citizen that Tebow is). Go figure.

Again, Tebow is not being oppressed. Instead, Denver is running an offense designed to utilize his skills and hide his deficiencies. You might call that good coaching, but this was NEVER done for running QBs before Tebow. Instead, running QBs in the past had to learn the passing QB offenses and succeed or fail based on it. Had Atlanta or Philadelphia done the same things with Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham or Donovan McNabb that Denver is now doing with Tebow, there is no telling what those guys would have accomplished. Instead, Vick and McNabb in particular were forced to run the west coast offense, the worst system for a running QB imaginable. John Elway (the Denver GM and the object of intense disdain by many a Tebow fan) though technically wasn’t a running QB was certainly a scrambler, and Dan Reeves wouldn’t do any of the things for him that Denver is currently doing for Tebow either. If Denver wanted Tebow to fail, they could have ensured that long ago by making him run the same offenses that all the other running QBs had to run, and in that case Tebow would have absolutely no chance.

It really, truly is disconcerting that so many people are believing what they want to believe concerning Tim Tebow, preferring it to the truth. Or rather, the hypocrisy. A lot of the very same people who questioned the ability of running QBs in the past NOW want the game to be changed to accommodate Tebow. Basically, the folks who 20 years ago were saying “Charlie Ward can’t play the NFL game” and 10 years ago were saying “Michael Vick is fun to watch but he will never win a Super Bowl” and even 5 years ago were trashing Vince Young (who is very similar to Tebow) are the biggest Tebow fans.

Folks who insist that Tebow is the subject of all this hate and oppression need to explain why Tebow is so different from the MANY other running QBs that came before him … what makes Tebow alone unique and special (when again, several other running QBs were evangelicals just like Tebow).

[JobK] The vast majority of the criticism of Tim Tebow is because he is a running quarterback.

Hey, I agree that Tim Tebow’s technical skills on the field are on par with a those of a High School All American. His success this year (IMHO) is due to the fact that NFL teams have been taken by surprise by the team’s move to mold their offence to match the skills of the player(s) on the field. After a full off-season to review and analyze his play, I am pretty sure Tebow will not be as successful next year as he has been this year. But…

[JobK] 20 years ago, “Tim Tebow” was Charlie Ward, an electrifying award winning champion from Florida’s rival, Florida State, and Ward was also an open, vocal evangelical Christian.

1. I live about 100 miles west of Talahassee. There is a FSU satellite campus here in town. This part of Florida has a strong FSU fan base. Charlie Ward’s Heisman winning season predated my whole hearted 100% leap into Gator Nation, so I watched a lot of Seminole football that year. In all honesty, I had no idea Charlie Ward was “an open, vocal evangelical Christian” until I read it in your post. (!)

2. I believe that the reaction of believers to the “criticism” of Tim Tebow is based on the images of defensive players “Tebowing” after sacking him; also based on comments such as those of Jake Plummer (did I get that refernce right?) that Tebow needs to lay off the overt Christian stuff; also based on media questions about his overt expressions of faith, and his eloquent responses.

I am sure that, if you were to talk with Tebow, he would agree with you that he is of all men most blessed to be in the situation he finds himself. He isn’t complaining. He is Praising the Lord!

Prophecy glasses on. Predicting the Tebow future………

He will be the male celebrity spokes model for evangelical Christianity much as Carrie Prejean was the immediate female celebrity spokes model following her little traditional marriage dialogue in the Miss USA pageant. I foresee a near-future convocation opportunity for him at Liberty University (maybe even commencement if he shows more political motivation), followed by numerous appearances at all the various mega-venues that need a celebrity face every once in a while.

The bloom will fall off his rose in fairly short order as the realities of playing in the NFL take their toll on his win record, but we in the evangelical world will find another spokes model from the sport or entertainment arenas to carry our water for us. It’s what we do.

If this prophecy fails to come to pass then you may stone me with marshmallows.

[JobK] 20 years ago, “Tim Tebow” was Charlie Ward, an electrifying award winning champion from Florida’s rival, Florida State, and Ward was also an open, vocal evangelical Christian.

15 years ago, “Tim Tebow” was Danny Wuerffel, an electrifying award winning champion from UF, and also an open, vocal evangelical Christian. He won the 1996 Heisman Trophy and the 1996 national football championship while playing for the University of Florida. He played for four National Football League (NFL) teams in a 6 year career that was less-than-stellar. After retirement in 2002 he established Desire Street Ministries in one of the poorest areas of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home and the Desire Street Ministries facilities. He made national news with his calls to action and plans to rebuild Desire Street Ministries and New Orleans. (This info is from Wikipedia.)

He stayed in NOLA, doing his part in the name of the Lord to help people and neighborhoods recover. He has a strong, growing ministry, as well as a strong testimony. Few people remember him now. But God knows him, and continues to bless him.

I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I can easily see the same path of ministry opening up for Tim Tebow, perhaps even on a foreign field where we may not ever hear of him again. (ref: Eric Liddle)

Actually,the Ten Commandments are to be observed today. All of them. The one referring to the Sabbath actually refers to our salvation experience.

Heb. 4 has a good explanation of this as it refers back to the promised land which is an example of our salvation experience.

Our lives in light of our salvation are to be kept holy. The neat thing is we have the Holy Spirit to direct us.

As to the other NFL players referred to here. I know Randall Cunningham is a believer, but I did not know any of that about the others mentioned. I

always pray
for those who know and love the Lord. I wll say however, none of them were as expressive about Christ as Tim is.