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Tim Tebow is probably the most famous current half-rate quarterback in the NFL. He's not famous for his prowess on the field. He ended the season with a 46.5% completion for 1,719 passing yards, and 12 touchdowns in 14 games. Denver finished with an 8-8 record. Compare that to another 8-8 record quarterback with a 78.2% completion for 3,474 passing yards, and 26 TD's. Mike Sanchez and the Jets didn't make the playoffs.
What's Tebow famous for? His religion and his devotion to passive proselytizing with his John 3:16 strips under his eyes and his prayerful kneeling after impressive plays. So why is he so bad for Christianity, as the title of this blog claims?
As Carter Turner, a religious studies professor, points out in a recent article, his actions are bringing the very nature of God into question. Tebow prays to God for a first-down, or a touchdown, or a victory. God rewards Tebow's devotion by granting his prayer. God intervenes in the lives of the devout and prayerful and worthy. But what happened against the Patriots? Did God decide that Tebow hadn't genuflected enough? Did God decide that Tom Brady, with his illegitimate son and his almost-illegitimate second son, was more worthy of the victory?
And what of people who pray ceaselessly every day that their child or parent or husband with cancer be healed? What of the farmers in Texas who prayed for rain last summer? Did God ignore their prayers because they weren't devout enough? Which is why Tebow is bad for Christianity.
For people observing this, it calls upon the nature of God. Some people will say that God had other plans and not to question the working of God. Then why pray? If God has plans that we are not privy to, that sounds a lot like predestination. God has preordained that something will happen so it does. Like Tebow's connection for a touchdown. Or the Holocaust. Or 9-11. See where this leads. Just what has God preordained? But if God answers prayer requests for touchdowns and football victories, why didn't God answer the prayers of the students at Virginia Tech praying for their lives?
In the very public nature of Tebow's religiosity, he leads people not to finding salvation through Christ but to questioning the existence and nature of God. Is God the Great Clockmaker of the Deists? Or is God the Intervener of the Evangelicals? Does God answer prayers? How does God decide whose prayers to answer?
And whose God answers prayers? The God of Tebow who lets two of his teams lose championship games? What about the God, Allah, of Muhammad Ali who allowed only five losses in his career?
People are wondering whether God is helping Tebow. They want to know for certain whether God answers prayers and intervenes in our daily lives. Because in today's world of economic recession, climate extremes, and the general limits and frailties of human existence, there ain't a whole lot certainty.
[The opinions expressed in this article are the sole views of the author and do not necessarily express the views of the blog audience. Should anyone feel moved to leave a comment, please keep your comments on topic and do not attack the author. And before leaving any comment, read about No True Scotsman before posting.]
Everyone else is doing it. Might as well jump on the bandwagon. Remembrances of, thoughts about, lives changed by 9/11.
To begin, a friend and former co-worker was in a meeting at the Pentagon that fateful morning. My firefighter neighbors confirmed that he probably didn't know what was happening and that he didn't suffer.
My city has received renewed threats on this anniversary. The police and other security officials near my office have stepped up their presence. A current co-worker doesn't want to be within 200 miles of here this weekend. Not being able to decamp to our home state, she has promised her mother not to leave her apartment at all this weekend.
Yet, I'm not afraid.
Fear won't prevent me from going to the mall, or the grocery store, or the pub to watch football. I am more terrified of driving on the interstate in a deluge of a rainstorm than I am of being targetted by a terrorist. I'm more fearful of dying of cancer than of dying at the hands of some vengeful zealot hellbent on driving a figuative stake through our collective capitalist hearts.
They didn't do their job. If they were successful terrorists, they would have filled me with terror. They didn't. They didn't defeat me. Like a child who tells the monster under the bed that he is no longer afraid of it because it's not real, I have told the monster in the fertilizer-and-fuel-oil-packed rental truck that I am not afraid of him. He may kill my body, but never my spirit.
Because I am not afraid.
[Title taken from this.]
Homecoming at the local high school was last week. As part of the Leadership Club, Deirdre chaired the dance committee. Yet she still participated in the other activities during the week leading up to the game and the dance that night.
Some of the girls in Leadership decided to cheer on the football team at the game by painting their midsections (between sport-bra and waistband levels) with the letters of the high school mascot. You've seen guys at football games with letters on their tummies spelling out GO TEAM or some variant thereof. Except these were all girls.
I didn't think much of it; in fact, I thought it was a cute idea. Until I saw a picture of the girls in the Leadership room before the game.
I have to hand it to them. They know what Awareness Month October is. And they even captioned the photo appropriately. But when four of the girls (with Deirdre as the "S") spell out T-I-T-S and file the photo in the "Save the TaTas" album on one girl's Facebook page, I have to wonder if they spelled that out while in the stands as well.
Nah, I would have known about that when the vice principal called to have me come pick up Deirdre from the game.
What heathens we are! We skipped church today. But our priest gave us special dispensation last night at a cocktail party raising funds for a new piano for the parish.
Mr. Gaelic was away on business this week. It was also Homecoming week at the high school. Deirdre was out every night as she was on the Homecoming committee. Friday night started the weekend with a bonfire at the high school which we were informed not to go to. Instead we headed next door to our neighbor's impromptu art gallery.
He's a closet artist and finally decided to show his work by turning his living room and dining room into an art gallery, complete with a tended bar on the front porch and signage with prices for the artwork.
The weekend continued early on Saturday with our First Annual Muffins and Mugs party. Everyone was instructed to bring their our mug. Our homebaked muffins included regular, blueberry, blueberry-corn, orange, lemon-poppy seed, bran, apple-gingerbread, banana-nut, carrot-raisin (using carrots from my garden), and chocolate-chocolate chip. Following our Saturday morning party was our neighborhood art festival. Then a quick shower before the cocktail party at the former ambassador's house and a stroll around downtown near the river. We still had to stay up to make sure that Deirdre got home safely from the Homecoming dance.
Thinking back on it makes me tired. Which is why we slept late, skipped church (with our priest's blessing), and took a car ride for two in the country. It was heaven. We rode through beautifully cool backroads stopping for things like farmers' markets and scenic overlooks. Now I need to work the fruit we bought into our menu. At least as afternoon snacks or in Mr. Gaelic's lunchbox.
- Monday
- Breakfast: baked apple
- Supper: spaghetti, sala
- Tuesday
- Breakfast: cerea
- Supper: pinto beans, risotto with peas, baked acorn squash with maple syrup
- Wednesday
- Breakfast: cinnamon toas
- Supper: baked eggs, toasted baguettes (use only half a loaf), mesclun salad with pears, walnuts, and goat cheese
- Thursday
- Breakfast: cream of wheat (okay, okay, I know that's a brand name, but I was raised calling it that just as I learned Kleenex instead of facial tissue and Vaseline instead of petroleum jelly
- Supper: lentil soup, fresh home-baked bread
- Friday
- Breakfast: toast, fig preserve
- Supper: tuna casserole, salad
- Saturday
- Breakfast: whoopie waffles
- Supper: cassoulet, baguettes (other half of the loaf)
- Sunday
- Breakfast: sausage gravy, buttermilk biscuit
- Dinner: roast chicken, potatoes Anna, broccoli
Did you notice that I used the apples and the pears from the farmers' market? They don't call it Home Economics for nothin'.
Jennifer Hudson? Beautiful. The Boss? Rockin'. The ads? Creative. The game? Incredible. The food? Depends.According to some news sources, the average person's choice of finger foods racked up as many calories as some people should consume in an entire day. Stop the grumbling. I can hear you, "Why didn't you write about this last week?" Would knowing that eight buffalo wings and four tablespoons of blue cheese dip pack 920 calories have stopped you from having another one? It now seems that everywhere you turn you're bombarded with ways to exercise more, cut calories, and decrease your waist size. "Yeah, Wifey, even here." So, whatcha gonna do? Other than the hour and a quarter of vigorous push-ups to offset those eight wings and blue cheese, what are YOU doing to watch your bottom line? I need all the suggestions I can get, 'cause all those beers last night really add up.And one last thing. Go Steelers!!!
