Tebowing Inspires People Around the World to Kneel Before God

[John81]

Tebowing Inspires People Around the World to Kneel Before God


by Ben Johnson



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!”

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[Salyan]

I was looking at the pictures on that tebowing site, and I couldn't help thinking that 'tebowing' has replaced 'praying' for some of those people. Nothing against Mr. Tebow himself, but I don't see this phenomenom of copying him really giving glory to God. It gives glory to Tebow, and to those people who have posted pictures of themselves copying this action in very public places. Whatever happened to praying in the secret place?

Matthew 6
⁵And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
⁶But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

[Guest]

I was looking at the pictures on that tebowing site, and I couldn't help thinking that 'tebowing' has replaced 'praying' for some of those people. Nothing against Mr. Tebow himself, but I don't see this phenomenom of copying him really giving glory to God. It gives glory to Tebow, and to those people who have posted pictures of themselves copying this action in very public places. Whatever happened to praying in the secret place?

But, then again, their isn't anything wrong with praying publicly, not to be seen of men and solely to invoke God's grace and blessings. We do pray openly at church in Jesus name.

[John81]

It's good that some real Christians have been encouraged to not hide their faith.

It's bad that so many others are using this for show, to draw a connection between themselves and Tebow rather than them and God, or to simply draw attention to themselves.

I don't think we can blame Tebow for any of this. From what I've seen and read, he has consistently lived like this for years; he's simply being who he is in Christ. Some take the good from this and benefit and then there are those who take it elsewhere.