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 Tim Tebow’s penchant for kneeling in prayer has birthed a new word: Tebowing.
November 29th, 2011
12:01 PM ET
My Take: Is Tim Tebow performing miracles?
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN (CNN)–In 1966, John Lennon famously claimed that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." Today that title may belong to Tim Tebow, the Denver Broncos quarterback more famous for praising Jesus than for throwing touchdowns. As anyone who has visited Dallas or Atlanta on any recent weekend can attest, America’s two great religions are Christianity and football. In recent weeks, these two great faiths have come together in Tim Tebow, the new starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos and America’s latest merger of faith in Jesus and faith in the Almighty Touchdown. When viewed from the perspective of “the world,” Tebow is, at best, a mediocre NFL quarterback. When viewed through the eyes of faith, however, he is something like the Second Coming of Joe Montana. And maybe Something More. On this burning question of Tim Tebow, I must confess to being an agnostic. But I understand the fervor on both sides. Skeptics generally concede that Tebow, an outspoken Christian, was an extraordinary high school and college football player. After all, he won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, and led his University of Florida team to two NCAA football titles. But those who refuse to bow down before Tebow insist that NFL football is another game altogether, and when it comes to that game Tebow is a passing fancy. They attribute Denver’s near miraculous 5-1 run during his reign as a starter not to his offense but to the Broncos defense. They point out that he throws about as well as Peppermint Patty, and that in one of his wins he completed only two passes more than Charlie Brown (which is to say two). His completion percentage (45.5%) is last in the league. Skeptics are also turned off by Tebow’s public displays of religion. Tebow used to cite Bible verses on his eye black. And his tendency to be found praying while his teammates are strutting has added a new word—“Tebowing”—to the lexicon. True believers say to hell with all that. What matters are the intangibles. Tebow is a winner. He may allow his team to fall behind, but in the end he leads the Broncos to victory, often in a fashion that can only be termed miraculous. Which is to say, when it comes to the Almighty TT, you gotta have faith (or not). In his book “Faith and Belief,” the Religious Studies scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith describes how the notion of “faith” changed over the centuries from something like “trust” to its modern-day meaning of “belief in the unbelievable.” And that, it seems to me, is what we are witnessing with Tebow. It is simply not believable that a quarterback who cannot throw would turn a team from a 1-4 also-ran to a 6-5 playoff contender. But Tebow has done that, in part by running and in part, well, by faith. There is, to be sure, Tebow's faith in Jesus. But perhaps more importantly, there is the faith of his teammates in him. Not to mention the adoration of legions of University of Florida alums, and of fans in Denver and beyond. As a scholar of religion, I have little expertise in football, NFL or otherwise. But I cannot help weighing in on a few comparisons between TT and JC: Jesus: turned a ragtag band of 12 apostles into the number one religion in the world Tebow: turned a ragtag squad of 11 football players into an NFL juggernaut Jesus: prayed a lot (to God) Tebow: prays a lot (to Jesus) Jesus: ran the money changers out of the temple Tebow: runs the spread option Jesus: miraculously saved a wedding at Cana by turning water into wine Tebow: miraculously led the Broncos to last-second victories against the Dolphins, the Jets and the Chargers. Coincidence? You be the judge. As for me, I'm sitting back and waiting for Tebow to do something truly miraculous. Like winning a game without completing a single pass, or running back a punt for a touchdown, or kicking a 50-yard field goal to win a game. Meanwhile, I am happy to report that Jesus is still more famous than Tebow. At least for now. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Stephen Prothero.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.
Ok! Just when I thought the new couldn't get any sillier – it does. Obviously, Stephen Prothero needed to get some publicity to help his book sales. Did not work for me.
Not performing miracles, But like Roger Staubach he is focused totally his profession instead of out drink'n & running ho's
@DamianKnight
Above you said you believe it to be true. I assume you meant innovationsforseniors' post about Jesus and him rising from the dead. Maybe you believe all of the bible? Do you believe in other supernatural claims listed in there?
do you believe the wind is made up of matter even though you cannot see it?
You can "see" it. It moves leaves in the trees. I hope you are being sarcastic.
and yet, you can observe the order of the universe from macro to micro and not determine intelectual design?
@Apples2Apples
I agree. Atheists are amusing....they have all the evidence that they need prove intellectual design and even then....oh well...they are amusing....they are probably going to get all tangled up with themselves reading my comment however. I believe they have so much faith in themselves that they don't like to be challenged.
This god people speak of, or intelligent creator, has not shown itself, ever. The things we observe from micro to macro aren't afraid and therefore don't hide themselves from us. Apparently this "god" creature fears humans so much so that it can't ever show up for a dinner party, or a candy bar. Nothing. You'd think something powerful enough to create an entire Universe would be able to get it's own TV channel just to broadcast a "Hi, I really do exist" message on occasion.
There is no order. The universe is governed by kaos and gets more so all the time. And if there were a designer (which there is not) he would need to have a designer as well (an on and on and on). And you can say god doesn't need a creater. What would be more ordered than god?
@Giant,
At the risk of sounding rude and abrupt, I ask you, since you claim that the universe is chaos, have you ever heard of Phi?
Apples and Chris... I feel sorry for you that you choose a belief and then evidence to support it rather than letting the evidence take you to whatever truth there is, regardless of what you want to believe. There simply is no way of knowing if there was or was not a creator. Judging by all of the evidence there doesn't seem to have been one. And if there were, it's highly obvious that it is not an interactive one. More of a wham, bam, thank you mam type. Either way, I haven't met a single Christian that actually practices their faith the way the bibel tells them to so don't kid yourself about making it to some heaven. Unfortunately for you, you will have squandered the one life you do have fearing and following the same lies every other religion on earth do, but in your own language. Congrats to you.
Tebow would not want to be compared to Jesus. When you understand who Christ is and that He lived and died for us, your life will never be the same. Your life will NEVER be the same. Give Him a chance. Read the Gospel of John.
absolutely. my favorite book of the Bible as well.
Read Tom Paine's Age of Reason first.
You like the bible? AWESOME! Hey, let's all gather round and talk about where Jesus said he'd return before his followers died!
Say, any of you christians know what verses I'm talking about?
*crickets*
Yeah, I didn't think you would. Your kind never do! But it's in the bible : )
I started at the beginning and couldn't get past leviticus and deuteronomy. Things get better?
Things get stranger. Lots more people are doomed. If you're into murder, the bible is the best book ever.
Terrible comarison. Who can be compared to God's Son? Timmy is more comparable to Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who ran for the glory of God in the 1924 Olympics. For the movie buffs, go watch "Charoiots of Fire". But what do I know, I'm not a "religion scholar".
Amen for that.
I thought we were ALL God's children?
Someone was able write a full article about this stupidity? To summarize, prayer is useless. The end.
Then why waste your time on a religion blog? Your not being trueful to somebody.
You posted the same similarly stupid comment twice.
"...your not being trueful..." What does this mean?
Tebow is nothing compared to Aaron Rodgers....and Rodgers doesn't look for attention....he's a natural!! And a great one!!!
Yeah, but Rodgers can't get all the christian crazies creaming in their pants. That's when you need Tebow!
With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion.
God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble."
and ignores the starving
And enjoys killing thousands of people in Tsunamis on the other side of the globe during football season.
hardly
So, those tsunamis never happened? Is that what you're saying?
"hardly." A sophisticated argument to deal with. Checkmate?
If Tebow had decent receivers, maybe we we wouldn't be having this conversation.
He had one of the better in the league with Lloyd but that didn't help him. He isn't a QB, he is a tight-end impersonating a QB.
Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ. The difference we have is that our saviour, Jesus Christ, was buried and then rose from the dead and now he sits at the the right hand of God. All founder's of religions are still in the grave.
Jesus promised the end of all wicked people. Odin promised the end of all ice giants.
I don’t see many ice giants around.
Logical fallacy.
Christian mythology states that Christ was divine. That means he follows rules that the other, mortal founders of religion do not.
And on top of that, your understanding of other religions is clearly quite lacking.
Oh, and don't forget the part where your God is a fairy tale.
Uh, you need to research all of the Messiahs through history. You will find that there are a whole lot who "rose from the grave" and that your Jesus story is a combination of several older stories. BAM!
@Innovations,
I appreciate what you're saying, but just be aware, that the non-believers will criticize and mock you for your beliefs. It's the way of this blog. 🙂
@DamianKnight
Why do you appreciate what he is saying? He believes a fairy tail!
@Giant,
Because regardless of what you and others say, I don't believe it to be a fairy tale. I believe it to be the truth. You may commence with the mockery and unfounded assertions to my intelligence.
@DamianKnight
I won't mock. But I will ask why you believe.
@Giant,
That's a very broad, open question. Care to narrow it down and I will answer it to the best of my ability?
You can also believe the Redskins are destined for the SuperBowl, but it still doesn't make it true.
Best part (for you) is that you can never be proven wrong. I mean, the proof is there, but you aren't capable of viewing it in an unbiased light.
He reigns! Thank you for posting this 😉
@DamianKnight
Above you said you believe it to be true. I assume you meant innovationsforseniors' post about Jesus and him rising from the dead. Maybe you believe all of the bible? Do you believe in other supernatural claims listed in there?
The truth. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I hear this word from the believers often. If you want truth, read the bible and you'll find that it is false. It proves itself to be false. It astonishes me that people actually believe in it when it has been proven time and again to not be truthful in it's claims.
It is very much a religion. To not understand that or to consider your faith some kind of exception to this is deluded.
@Giant
Here are my beliefs on the Bible. In essence, yes, I believe the scriptures to be true. However, I am also cognizant of the fact that the writings in the Bible are not and will never be a scientific text. The writings there were never intended to be codified and placed in one large text. They were merely various authors chronicling their faith, and therefore they had their own perspective on the way things happened. There are many inferences and direct statements that have to be taken in context, given that this was written over 2000 years ago by people whose culture has to be understood.
Likewise, there are statements that are omitted because the intended readers would have known what was being spoken of. For instance, when they make reference to Joseph of Armithea's tomb where Jesus was laid. The exact location to that isn't noted because the people of the time reading it would have known that location without it being expressly said, similar to if I made reference to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which we all know is located in Arlington National Cemetery without me specifically saying it.
As to the supernatural events that occurred? Yes, I believe they occurred because I believe God is capable of anything.
I hope I answered your question. I'm sure it spawned more.
He also said he would return "before this generation shall pass"....
Likewise, there are statements that are omitted...
--
Doesn't this invalidate it as the "word of God", if humans have not only written it, but also edited it?
@DamianKnight
Yes, many more questions. But this would be too difficult in a blog. Suffice it to say that what you wrote above only inclines me to disregard religion even more. It makes it more evident that the bible, and religions in general, are man made with all the imperfections I would expect to see (and have seen ) in other man made endevours. Isn't it more likely that this is the case? I would guess that you would demand much more evidence for the existance of bacteria than you ask for proof of the bible's supernatural claims. But don't those supernatural claims require the most intense proof? They contradict directly proven sciences.
@Madtown,
Please read the entire statement. I explained what I meant by "omitted." They were statements that need not be said because the intended reader would know what they were talking about. See my example regarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
@Giant,
I don't take it as my responsibility to convince you. You asked me a question, and I answered it for you. However, to answer your second question about bacteria, the answer is no. Bacteria are natural, God's works are supernatural. One requires definitive scientific proof (because it is within the realm of science), while God is in the realm of faith, that which doesn't require specific proof. Jesus said to Thomas, "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” – John 20:29
@DamianKnight
I didn't ask you to convince me. I was just giving you my ideas about what you said. I think you are getting defensive where you don't need to be.
However, I would like to mention that you are falling into a trap. You are quoting the bible as a means for believing in, well, the bible. You are letting someone else (from 2000 years ago) convince YOU by telling you that having faith (and disregarding reason in so doing) is a good thing. It isn't. You need to trust your own mind to decide what is reasonablel and what is not.
@Giant,
After re-reading my post, I can see where it appears I was coming off as defensive. That wasn't my intention and I apologize if I offended you in any way.
As to the "trap", I disagree. I believe in God. I believe that the Bible is His word to His people. That said, my comment was more backing up what I said with the Bible, rather than using the Bible to prove my perspective. All of these posts are my own personal beliefs and are not intended to be or should they be taken as, anything more than my own viewpoint.
The problem I see with your argument, however, is we all use other sources to affirm our beliefs and/or to gain information. When someone asks you what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, how do you know? Watch the news or look it up on a website? How do you know that Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years imprisonment? Because you read it, heard it or saw it on the news? Maybe heard it from a friend? These are sources you trust because it is impossible for you to be everywhere and know everything all at once. So we ALL rely on sources for our information. The conflict merely comes from, which sources do you trust versus which ones do you not? We see this all of the time with media outlets. Conservatives tend to like Fox News, Liberals tend to like MSNBC and both will say the other is wrong. All of this to say, I trust the Bible as a source. And I am perfectly willing to accept that you do not and that's fine. There's no condemnation here and I hope none on your side either.
@DamianKnight
I don't see that as a problem with my argument. If you tell me you went to a store today, I believe you. That is because your claim is not one that would be earth-shattering if it were not true. And I therefore have no reason to doubt you. There is not a lot invested in that claim. Likewise I believe the weather report on the news because I have seen in the past that it is correct most of the time. Therefore it is reasonable to believe thet they have a testable procedure for predicting the weather correctly.
But you see that the more fantastic the claim, the more focus we put on proof. There can be no more fantastic claims than those in the bible. Yet nothing like these have occurred in recent times, where we have the technology to test their validity.
Anyway, peace my man. Thanks for staying civil with me.
Innovations, you'll find that the kind of truth you spoke in your post will be torn and shredded to pieces on forums such as this one... We see the words of Yeshua comming to pass before our eyes.... But we know what is even yet to come!
Yes, Christ Jesus is risen, becaue no grave could hold Him. No other "messiah" can claim that!
Folowing a religion is like floating around in circles in a boat on the ocean. When you get tired of that, grab the oars and row... you might just get somewhere that way.
Me
And yet, you spin your wheels and waste your life on a religion blog. Sure you are being honest to everyone?
Jesus Enrico Lopez is quite a guy too.
He's ok. He doesn't walk on water, but he can swim, right?
Option quarterbacks in college are usually not successful in the pros...but Denver is attempting to create option plays for Tebow and I am enjoying it so much. Two years ago, the boy was in college. It takes time to develop as a pro and I think Tebow has that unbelievable desire to play well. Remember when John Elway couldn't win the big one and now he's in the Hall of Fame. I just hope Elway is as patient with Tim as the Broncos were with him. However, I am so glad that Elway is on board. I have no problem with Tebow thanking who ever he thanks when he's in meditation. I'm not known as a real religious person, but I talk to my God all day long...what's wrong with that?
any idiot who thinks the brocos are a "juggernaut" needs to jump in a lake
Brocos? What is that? Male brassieres?
I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13 TT humbly bows and asks God for strength and courage. Whatta ya think?
I think if your God is handing out touchdowns instead of food to starving, disease-ridden children the world over....
He's a monster.
Psalms 137:9
How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock!
Judges 21:10-24
So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. "This is what you are to do," they said. "Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin." Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
Whatta ya think?
If prayer really worked, why can't Tebow throw better?
amen!
If god actually existed and answered prayers, Rap and professional sports wouldn't exist.
Regardless of what we all think, the fact that we're all so polarized over Mr. Tebow (a quarterback who can't throw a spiral) is pretty hilarious. My goodness, people... lighten up.
Also, so-called "Tebowing" (kneeling down in prayer, pointing to the sky, etc.) is something that athletes have been doing for decades... why is it suddenly so controversial?
Because this self-righteous, egotistical glory-hound uses every minute he can to soak up the attention.
I'm gonna keep posting this until the hypocrites acknowledge it...
“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6).
I agree with you on both statements!!
Because like most evangelical christians he shoves it down everybody else throats every chance he gets.
@Nookster
We (evangelical christians) are required to tell about our faith and the good news (that you have a choice not to spend eternity in hell by faith in Jesus Christ) every chance we get...we'll do the telling you do the choosing...fair enough?
Cris, if you're so strong in your convictions, go to Iran and start preaching on the streets. Otherwise, shut your stinking suck.
Almost forgot....
...Fair enough?
@ Francis Balliardo
...but I want to talk to YOU...not fair?
Classic!
So, you're not going to Iran, right? What about all those muslims over there than need your jesus? They don't deserve to know about the good book? Funny how christians are so convicted here of how they must spread the word, but mention anything uncomfortable and the squirm around it like maggots. Proper.
@Francis Balliardo
Talking to you is as uncomfortable as it is, Francis....but someone's gotta do it. 🙂
The supreme arrogance of religious thinking: that a carbon-based bag of mostly water on a speck of iron-silicate dust around a boring dwarf star in a minor galaxy in an under-populated local group of galaxies in an unfashionable suburb of a supercluster would look up at the sky and declare 'It was all made so that I could exist!
Theism is so very arrogant, as are it's followers.
Goes hand in hand – of course these mooks would believe the entirety of the universe exists for them... they're the same people who think the resources of our planet exist for them to use up as quickly as possible because, after all, their invisible sky genie will just come down and fix it.
The supreme arrogance to think we have it all figured out and that creation is most definitely a quantum fluctuation.
The end is near. Mahabone.
You must be a mason.
the only problem I've got with him is I want to hear about Football when he is interviewed about the games. I don't care to hear about his religion.
Totally agree! I can 100% respect his beliefs but I don't need it to be put in my face all the time. It seems phony and Christians don't exactly have the best reputation these days....
@Steve
Nope, it's (Christian's) their intention to put it on your face all the time. It's just that you keep on having a bonnet in the head when it comes to them.
meant to say, *NOT their intention