No matter what you think about Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow or the public way he expresses his faith in God, what is certain is that he has helped spur discussions on what our lives are all about and where God is in all of it.
Unlike the Tebow-mania that America has seen over the past few weeks, God does not come upon us like the roar of a touchdown. As the prophet Elijah learned, God didn't come as an earthquake, a raging fire, or a howling wind, but as a gentle whisper. God still seeks us in still, small ways, prompting us to consider how we will respond.
That's what Tebow-mania represents for me: an opportunity to reflect, reassess and respond.
Those who believe should embrace chances like this to examine how we can make our faith more real and more meaningful in our lives and in our relationships with others. That's a chance I welcome and which I encourage others to pursue.
For those who have doubts or who simply just don't believe, I encourage them to entertain some fundamental questions anyway. Who is God? Is he real? If so, what does he have to do with me?
For as much time as we all put into faithfully reading the sports page or tracking investments, these questions pose the opportunity to consider deeper, eternal issues. While some may conclude they're not interested, at least they've asked the question.
Some have equated Tebow-mania with shoving beliefs down others' throats. I hope that's not what's happening -- I don't believe it is -- and I hope other believers think twice before joining that bandwagon. Regardless of where you are on the spectrum of belief, there's room for respect for those like Tim Tebow who succeed in inciting others to begin thinking about fundamental issues.
For me, faith is about the good news of having been given a chance to walk a path that allows me to be a better person and participate in something bigger than myself.
That "something bigger" is the work of God that occurs here and now on earth. We are all given the chance to use our unique gifts to help out those in our lives. When we open ourselves up to that, we're opening ourselves to letting God show his love to others. It's in how we treat our spouse. It's in how we help our neighbors. It's in our attitudes toward money and how we use it and resources like our time and energy to strengthen our community and others.
Unlike quarterbacks, God doesn't need defenders. He can take care of himself. Instead, he seeks to take care of us by guiding us toward paths of beliefs, choices and actions that make us whole and which empower us to help others become whole also. The great Hebrew prophet Micah described this as God's desire to see us act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him. We all struggle with putting these ideals into practice, but it begins with considering our answers to the questions that come when we see people like Tim Tebow living and expressing their faith. What do we think? How do we respond?
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It's a way for creative folks to be humble about their talents. They thank "god".
Same way I did when he was at Florida...cheer for Matt Stafford! Go Lions!
OMG LOL! These are not "fundamental" questions at all, much less for unbelievers. They are ridiculous questions that a governor should keep to himself.
Here's a fundamental question for you: Where are the jobs?
And, when (in 2 Kings 2) his successor the prophet Elisha cursed some children "in the name of the Lord" for calling him "bald-head", and two bears appeared and tore the kids to shreds ..........Â. what is it that he learned about the "gentle whisper" of your god?
23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, "Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head."
24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Oh, but governor, I already have.
Who is God? God is the fantastical embellishment of 1st century BC theologians who were seeking both personal enlightenment and a more cohesive set of social organizing principles.
Is he real? No. In fact, the story of "God", if it were a modern day film, probably could not get away with the familiar "based on a true story" preamble. God is based on a true story like Lord of the Rings is based on a true story.
What does he have to do with me? Well, organized religion is used to justify more acts that cause human suffering than anything I know, and it's used by members of your club as justification to tear down our Constitution, restrict our freedoms, ignore our best science, mistreat the world's poor and powerless, and continue our destruction of the only planet we will ever know as "home", so I guess that means that organized religion is the enemy of mankind and a purveyor of human pain. Other than that I'm sure it's swell.
Our founding fathers believed in separation of church and state. Maybe its time we start to practice what they believed.
The media & fans seemed to give praise to Tebow and God when the Broncos won, not much praise when they lost.
As a society, it reflects the tendency to rate style over substance. To naive and shallow folks, thinking someone is so "devout" because they openly kneel in prayer, letting everyone know that's what they're doing, is ridiculous.
Do we really think God only saw the efforts of Tebow and not recognize there are believers, born-again Christians on EVERY team in the NFL? Was the success that Tebow had during the season due to him alone, and not the additional efforts of his teammates? If he had such abilities, why didn't he show it in the preseason and earn the job right away?
If evangelism is what he wants to do, and the arena to do it is the NFL, then understand that is a world of gambling, great salaries, drunkeness of fans, injuries, and short careers, etc. Not representative of the real world.