I have never written those words about an athlete before. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever written those words about a person before. But I want Tim Tebow to fail. I want a team to draft him in the sixth round, then I want him to report to training camp, throw a bunch of dying quails and be cut. I don’t want him physically injured; hell, I don’t even want him to live anything but a happy life.
But I want him to fail in the NFL nonetheless, because a famous Tim Tebow is a dangerous Tim Tebow.
Tim Tebow scares me, and—judging from his father’s website, his upcoming Super Bowl ad and mounting knowledge of his way of life—he should scare you, too. Tim Tebow doesn’t play football merely for the joy of the game. He plays football because he wants to spread the word of Jesus Christ. But not merely spread it. He wants you to accept it and, if you don’t embrace it, he wants you to think again about embracing it. And, if you still don’t embrace it, he wants you to think again. And again. And again. If, in the end, you’re still not sold, you will burn in hell. This is not merely Tim Tebow’s opinion—but he knows it, in his soul and heart and mind. Christians who accept Jesus will spend an eternity in bliss. Those who don’t are doomed.
Some call this faith.
I call it f***ing insanity.
I know, I know—everyone has a right to believe what they want … faith is admirable … you’ve gotta respect his feelings. Well, bulls***. I do not have to respect this sort of damaging craziness, where a group of people go to foreign, oft-Third World nations and convert the so-thought-of “savages” (ie: those who don’t know Christ). Wanna know what Tim Tebow and his people think? Go to his father’s website and take a long gander …
• Jesus tells us in John 4:35b, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest!†For over 23 years, BTEA has focused on the incredible harvest of souls that are being reaped within the Philippines; but like any harvest, it is certain to be ripe only for a season.
• Our PLAN is to preach the Gospel in every village in the Philippines in the next few years. The task is great, but God specializes and delights in doing the impossible! We intend to increase our staff of national evangelists to 60. By dividing the country into theaters of operation, with each evangelist assigned to a specific area, and working extremely hard, we intend to preach the Gospel in every village.
• We believe in a literal Tribulation period after the rapture that will last seven years. This time period reflects the shift in God’s working from the Church to Israel. It is during this time that the antichrist will appear. There will be people saved during this period, but many will be martyred. As the Tribulation period comes to a close, the armies of the world will gather at Armageddon. The Lord will then return to the earth to defeat the armies arrayed against Israel and to reign over the whole earth (Revelation 19:11-16; Zechariah 14:1-11). This is the physical, literal thousand-year Millennial rule of Christ on earth. The time will be marked by peace (Zechariah 8:45), righteousness (Isaiah 32:1), and prosperity (Isaiah 35:1-7), and the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2-3). During this time, Satan will be bound.
• We believe that at the end of the Millennium there will be one final rebellion of man ending in a last battle and victory of God. The universe will be destroyed, followed by the judgment at the Great White Throne. Here, all of the unregenerate of all time will be raised from the dead (rather, reunited with their bodies, for the unsaved dead are in hell now [Luke 16:19-31]) and judged on the basis of their works. Everyone judged according to his or her works will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity (Revelation 20:11-15).
Uh, yeah.
Jason Fagone wrote an excellent Tebow piece for Slate, and he feels as I do—we need to stop embracing this dogmatic lunacy merely because it comes from the mouth of a supposed “good guy” jock. I don’t care how nice Tim Tebow is. If he’s in an ad for Focus on the Family; if he believes homosexuality is sinful and women are here to serve their men and Jews and Muslims and agnostics and the rest of us are sinful, well, to hell with him.
There are stands, and there are principled stands.
Let’s stop applauding the former.
