And God Said, “Tebow, Take a Knee…”

It was a good game.  I don’t care if the Vikes lost.  Ok, I do, but it was still a good game.

But facebook was abuzz with talk of Tebow.  And apparently, the validity of his faith.  Coming from fans that probably cheered on Kirby Puckett, who made the sign of the cross every time he stepped up to the plate.  So what’s the difference between our hometown slugger and Tebow?  Or even former Viking Cris Carter who, upon nearly every touchdown, took an knee and pointed skyward?

Moments after I watched Tebow stroll into the endzone for a two-point conversion, he looked up and pointed two index fingers to the sky.  No biggie.  Then one of my friends chimed in, “What, no prayer?”  Apparently, I’ve missed out on the Tebow meme, affectionately called “Tebowing.”  The site shows people imitating Tebow’s signature prayer stance in various situations.

Manny Pacquiao, another noted religious athlete, is known for praying upon entering the ring to fight, and upon the completion of the fight.  But there’s no website devoted to his double-knee-gloves-to-the-face-in-the-corner-of-the-ring posture.  So again, what’s the difference?  Pacquiao was even quoted at the weigh in before his bout versus Ricky Hatton as saying, “only God knows what will happen tomorrow.  Pray for us.”

I consider myself to be deeply faithful.  This may be a surprise to the people around me since I rarely attend mass, I don’t talk about Jesus as my lord and savior, nor do I go around talking about God’s will.  My faith is very personal to me, and I don’t expect anyone else to subscribe to it or even understand it.  It’s what works for me.

I don’t know anything about Tim Tebow’s faith.  If praying in the endzone after a touchdown is what works for him, then I say leave him alone and let the man pray.  But here’re the questions I’d ask Tebow if I could:  Why not point to the sky when you got sacked and fumbled in the first quarter?  Isn’t that as much God’s will as the two point conversion in the 4th?  Do you presume to count yourself blessed only when something happens that you judge to be positive?

My theory about Tebow’s negative attention is based upon the common experience of many Junior High and High School kids around America:  You can’t teach Cool.  We all knew the kid in school (or maybe we were that kid) who was trying so hard to convince everyone else that (s)he was cool that it ended up backfiring and inviting ridicule.  No one questions that Puckett, Carter, and Pacquiao were/are men of faith.  Their gestures of faith felt natural, personal.  With Tebow, it feels like he’s trying to convince people that he’s religious by doing empty gestures and calling it faith.  And just like Junior High, we can smell it a mile away.  It’s like watching Michael Jackson kiss Lisa Marie Presley onstage at the MTV VMAs.  It feels like a stunt; for show.  As if something is being flaunted rather than coming from a place of purity.

Maybe it’s his youth, and he hasn’t come into a personal understanding of his faith yet.  He may simply be doing what his parents, teachers, pastors, and other role models do as demonstrations of their faith.  I think that’d be completely understandable.  Or maybe it’s like what’s written in Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “