Current Event: The Tebow, Texas Saga

This is a new kind of post we are trying out at The Hill and hope it sticks. In this we'll be looking at current events and the theological implications of them.

I frequently read  Pro Football Talk by NBC on Twitter. It is solid reporting for sports junkies (okay addicts) like myself. Frequently they will have a blog about something that is controversial, because honestly who doesn't want to read about controversy. Today I read about how Robert Jeffress, Pastor of the controversial First Baptist Church in Dallas, was "bullying Tim Tebow" from the pulpit. According to the article Jeffress said

"I am grateful for men of God like these who are willing to stand up and act like men rather than wimping out when it gets a little controversial and an inconvenient thing to stand for the truth,” 

he then goes on to say

There are some people who would say ‘God’s given me a different ministry. God has called me to go preach about the love of God. I’m not called to preach about sin and controversial things. I’ve been called to preach about the love of God. And they’re sincere when they say that. But they are sincerely wrong. The fact is you cannot talk about the love of God. The love of God has no meaning whatsoever unless you understand the judgment of God that all of us deserve.”

The  writer of PFT then goes on to blast Jeffress for saying these things and saying that he should have turned the other cheek, while making Tebow look like a martyr. I can say, I agree with both sides..to a point.

First off, I do find Tebow to be a fresh of breath air among pro atheletes with inflated egos (even if he is grossly overrated as a player. I do think he was put in a no win situation with this. Had he accepted his outlet to the majority of people he could reach would be lost. Had he done what he did, well you see the results. He is not in the wrong in this.

Jeffress did say some things right, but many things (mostly his tone) was wrong. I will say we do have to go out of our way to stand up for truth and be willing to let the gospel be harsh. However, this man knocked down a brother in Christ badly. Thankful Tim knows what he has to do to keep the crowd he needs to reach at bay and willing to see that message of love. Do you need to hear the harshness of the gospel and our judgement we deserve to better understand it? Absolutely! Was this Tebow's goal in going to reach out to this church? Most likely not. Tim was going there to encourage, not to convict. For Jeffress to not see that as the goal is wrong. Unfortunately, his church has not had love at all in their message so they are considered radical, even compared to Christians who hold many of the exact same views as them (me included). They need love in their message.

On the other hand, this writer went way too far in his condemnations. Does he have some validity? Yes. But how does hitting someone in the same way that they did come off as Christlike? I do realize this is not their goal and so them sympathizing frequently with causes like gay rights and pro atheism (not kidding, they written articles in the past about it) is not surprising. I do see this as being quite uneven though. First, I am against spending millions of dollars on a single church, but I see a little bit of hypocrisy when this comes from an article who makes its money off of a billion dollar entertainment industry. Greed is greed regardless of where it comes from.

In all, I do think Tebow did the right thing. Jeffress said some right things and many wrong things. And so did the writer at PFT. We just have to remember to give grace to those outside and inside of the church, or those outside looking in (even sports reporters) will question how much we really follow God.