Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

I’m a huge college football fan and love the University of Alabama.  So I’m not a fan of the University of Florida or any other team for that matter.  But I have been impressed with the football player Tim Tebow. Not only is he one of the best college football players that I’ve ever seen but he is one of the finest young men I’ve ever seen.  He is a devout follower of Jesus Christ and an intense competitor. I’m saying this when the guy almost single handily tore my Crimson Tide heart in the 4th quarter of the SEC Championship game last month.  

There have been many stories about Tim’s faith, his mission work and his outspoken beliefs in the media. But all of a sudden these have become targets for those who don’t like what Tim Tebow stands for. There are people in the media looking for some “smoking gun.”  They are looking for some slip up and can’t believe that he is for real.  

I’ve said before that I enjoy listening to Sports Talk Radio.  Birmingham has some good shows on JOX. Much better than larger cities like Atlanta and Charlotte. One talk show host who gets a lot of attention is Paul Finebaum. Paul has been an institution in the Birmingham market since I was in high school.  Paul makes every fan mad occasionally but for the most part he is an equal opportunity ripper.  When Bama was struggling during the Shula years he ripped Bama.  This past year he has been all over Auburn and LSU. (BTW, he is a Tennessee graduate.) He is like a shark that sees blood. But “usually” he is fair.

Last week he had lawyer that is on the show fairly regularly. This lawyer said he thought Tim Tebow was a great player but he was sick of him. Not as a player but as a Christian.   That topic became so hot that it carried over to all of the shows on JOX this week. The conversation got out of hand in my opinion.  In a world of Pac-Man Jones, Roger Clemmons, Pete Rose, OJ Simpson, TO, etc….. you would think the media would love a young man who practiced what he preached.

But what I’ve found is when people don’t understand something they make fun of them or their beliefs and start rumors.  The calls and commentary about Tim Tebow started making fun of Tebows beliefs and the fact that he is a “VIRGIN.” Many of the Radio Show hosts except for Jay Barker and Al Del Greco (one went to Bama and the other Auburn) were making innuendos that Tim Tebow didn’t like women.  They mocked his faith and called him a fake.

So is this what the world has come to? If a person lives a blameless life they are going to be called fake?  If you remain a virgin until you get married, are you going to be accused of being a homosexual?  I waited until I got married and am happy that there is a young man like Tim Tebow.  I’m appalled that a young man can’t live his faith out without dirty old men who are under conviction for their own sorry lives ripping him apart. If the shock jocks and media don’t like Tebow wearing John 3:16 on his eyes or saying “Praise God” for his efforts what do you want him to do?  Do you want him to say, “I want to give myself all of the credit because I worked hard and I’m the best?”  What is wrong with giving God credit for your talent? What is wrong with living a pure life?

I know what is wrong– seeing someone like Tim Tebow reminds people who are away from God how sinful their lives are.  He doesn’t point fingers at you but his good deeds rub some people wrong because they have no self control on their own.

What do you think?

[World Net Daily]

John 3:16″ has appeared in various forms at nationally televised sporting events over the years, but after University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow inscribed it on his eye black for last night’s BCS National Championship game, the biblical reference became the most popular search item on Google.com.

Google Trends this morning had “John 3:16″ ahead of searches for actress Mary Lynn Rajskub and the Windows 7 beta download. Searches for the Bible verse reached a peak during last night’s game.

In previous games, Tebow, an outspoken evangelical Christian who was born to missionary parents in the Philippines, sported on his eye black Philippians 4:13, notes Christianity Today. The verse says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The well-known verse John 3:16 is commonly presented as a summation of the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Read more here.

[From me]

I am by no means a Gator fan, but I am a Tebow fan.  What a winner on and off the field!  Imagine what our world would be like if we had more Tim Tebows!  Now, I want to encourage him to go pro!

What do you think?

Let me say up front I’m a life long Alabama Crimson Tide fan. I have no stake in this year’s NCAA football BCS Championship because the TIDE stunk this year. But this year has been wild with all of the # 1’s and # 2’s losing week after week. THE POLLS AP & Coaches stink!

This week Missouri and West Virginia #’s 1 & 2 went down leaving Ohio State @ #3 and Georgia @ # 4. The logical progression is #’s 3 & 4 would move up to #’s 1 & 2, right? NOOOOOO! The NCAA and the media have their darlings. So LSU who lost to Arkansas just a week ago at home and barely beat lowly Tennessee jumps from # 5 to # 2 over Georgia. Something is fishy!

Could it be because Mark Richt is a fine man of morality (he is an outspoken believer) and doesn’t go tooting his own horn? I am definitely not an Auburn fan but a few years ago they got ripped off when they went undefeated and didn’t get a shot at the National Championship. It is time to take the Championship out of the hands of the RUSSIAN judges and put it on the field.

The NCAA is a farce. They pick and choose which rules they want to enforce. They put Oklahoma and Alabama on probation for something their administrations had nothing to do with. But Southern Cal and Tennessee can pay players and get a slap on the hand. Show some consistency. Georgia is getting robbed! Those student athletes competed by the rules and what does it get them? I’m sick of this. It is time for the NCAA to go.

What do you think?

41-17  ROLL TIDE! 

[NBC 5]

Aggravated assault charges have been filed against a church deacon and a University of Oklahoma Sooners fan after officials say he grabbed a University of Texas fan between the legs during a scuffle in an Oklahoma bar. A couple of months before the annual Red River Shootout between the Sooners and Longhorns, words were exchanged at Henry Hudson’s Pub between a Sooner fan/deacon and a Longhorn fan. Witnesses said it was because Longhorn fan was wearing a UT T-shirt.

The church deacon makes his living as a government auditor and had gone to the bar that night for one reason — to play darts.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Darts? They don’t have a dart board in the Family Life Center?

This sounds like a great joke. I’m just glad it didn’t happen between Bama and Auburn. Truth is better than fiction.

[HT] Monk in Training