Posted on 12/20/2011 2:37:15 PM PST by NYer
DENVER, COLORADO, December 19, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - It looks like a cross between a genuflection and Rodin’s “The Thinker.” The characteristic kneel Tim Tebow makes to thank God after a big play has become a worldwide phenomenon, creating a new craze and stirring controversy over the role of religion in public life.
The Global Language Monitor reports that the term “Tebowing” has become an officially recognized English word. “The rapid rise of the word has seldom been equaled,” it adds. A website, Tebowing.com, quickly collected photos of people striking the reverent pose all over the world, from Stonehenge to Machu Picchu. Coverage of the phenomenon has hit mainstream secular outlets.
In perhaps its most controversial execution, four students at Long Island’s Riverhead High School received a one-day suspension for imitating their gridiron hero in the middle of a crowded hallway. School officials say public safety, rather than religion, motivated the reprimand.
However, more strident voices have criticized Tebow for his outspoken faith and pro-life beliefs. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman wrote a column in The Jewish Week slamming “Tebow’s sanctimonious God-talk.” He added, “His mom’s decision to risk her own life rather than abort her fetus flies against my own - and Judaism’s - values.”
He warned Tebow’s Christian gesture could lead to pogroms and violence. He wrote, “If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants.” He worried “legions of Southern Baptist missionaries [will] hit the college campuses the very next day” to convert Jews who have been “seduced by this unfolding drama.”
Following public backlash, the rabbi apologized for the column, claiming his wording was “clumsy” and any content “deemed offensive” had been inadvertent. The website called his words “more inciting than insightful” and removed the article, which can be read in its entirety here.
Liberal Democratic commentator Bob Beckel, who came to faith following deep addiction and a prostitution scandal, said “Rabbi you’re still a bigot. Here’s the way bigots work: They do things like this, and they pull them back.”
Others criticize Tebow for drawing the media spotlight off their own accomplishments. Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley has said, “I sit at home, start watching TV, and all I’m seeing is Tebow.” Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco agreed, “If you watched ‘SportsCenter’ today, it was Tim Tebow then something else, Tim Tebow then something else, and Tim Tebow then something else.”
Tebow became a source of national controversy after starring in a commercial that made a subtle pro-life argument during the 2010 Super Bowl. Tebow’s mother, Pam, contracted amoebic dysentery while serving as a missionary in the Philippines in 1987. Doctors told her, “An abortion is the only way to save your life,” Tebow wrote in his book, Through My Eyes. “[T]he ‘mass of fetal tissue’ or ‘tumor’-me-had to go.” Her 2010 Super Bowl ad celebrated her decision to ignore the doctor’s advice and have her “miracle baby.” His mother endorsed Colorado’s unsuccessful personhood amendment last fall.
This has led to efforts at retaliation. A pro-abortion blog urged its visitors to “donate $5 or $10 to your local pro-choice organization” for every time Tebow threw a touchdown in Sunday’s football game. (He contributed two touchdowns in a losing effort against the New England Patriots.)
In addition to his faith and support for the unborn, Tebow has said he intends to wait to have sex until after marriage.
Media outlets have reported that “multiple companies” declined to use Tebow as a spokesman because of his faith.
But criticism seems to have little impact on the Broncos quarterback. Last month, Tebow vowed, “any time I get an opportunity to tell [Jesus] that I love Him or given an opportunity to shout him out on national TV, I’m gonna take that opportunity.”
Others, too, have come to his defense. Christian singer Rebecca St. James defended Tebow during a recent episode of Fox News Channel’s Hannity program. “I think most people that are watching tonight would want a Tim Tebow as a role model for their kids,” she said, adding the quarterback is “an outstanding young man with values and morals.”
Randy Smith, sports writer for The Chattanoogan, writes that Tebow is a rare occurrence: an athlete whose private life can serve as a role model. “Tim Tebow will likely not be among the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL,” Smith forecasts. “But he certainly has a chance to be among the most admired men to ever play the game. Rightly so!”
Ping!
I’m filled with awe each time Tebow prays to God to help Tebow humiliate his opponents.
A stumbling block indeed, Lord. Look at people tripping over themselves in response to Tim Tebow! The world is laughworthy.
I LOVE TEBOW! God bless him for having such courage.
Keep it up Brother T, the Lord needs warriors like you.
Lotsa baseball players make the sign of the cross before batting and point their finger to heaven after a great hit.
Are they gonna bash them too?
It is going to become harder and harder to be a Christian. But then He never promised it would be easy.
Now all we need is a million kids to stand up in school, have that minute of silence.........and then say “Amen”.
Just the opposite.
” In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
“I’m filled with awe each time Tebow prays to God to help Tebow humiliate his opponents.”
The New England Patriots did not seem all that humiliated by Tebow on Sunday as Tebow only completed 50% of his passes leading his team to be drubbed by 18 points.
God works in mysterious ways and uses his children to His ends not to mans.
But I know the New England Patriots fanbase was peeing their pants from the very first Denver possession all the way through the first quarter.
I bet that you could hear a pin drop in sports bars all over Boston.
Not desiring to be cynical, but it takes much, much more than kneeling with your forehead in your fist.
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I'm an agnostic, pro-life female, Minnesota Viking fan, who is very fiscally conservative, I am livid at all the haters against this man. What world do we live in???
He is a good, decent, hardworking, talented young man.
Adrian Peterson praises Jesus after every touchdown and the MEDIA doesn't blink an eye. But if a white athlete who is conservative, pro-life and christian demonstrates his faith, somehow he is viewed worse than Charles Manson.
What sick, freaking world we live in.
Keep it up Tim!! Just like Palin, anyone the lame-stream media hates, I love...
How many of us have the courage to join him?
http://www.amazon.com/Through-My-Eyes-Tim-Tebow/dp/0062007289
Seek and ye shall find FRiend :)
BTW, great book. We are Gators and had the distinct pleasure of experiencing the Tebow effect for four inspiring years, and we still learned things we never knew about this wonderful young man.
May God guide our course.
Tatt
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