“I love Christians, I just don’t think they should marry or have children”.
Edit: Other more traditional Christians may hark back to a time when sermons were delivered by prophets or clergy, rather than athletes.
I wouldn’t want to go to church on Easter and have Larry Fitzgerald give the sermon. Tim Tebow isn’t an ordained minister. He’s an egomaniac loving the hero worship from the same morons who vote for Rick Perry.
I wouldn’t want to go to church. Full stop. So I don’t really care who gives the sermons.
I really don’t get your continued outrage here, dale.
I’m an atheist, with no time for religion, church, or Tim Tebow, but i simply don’t see what harm it does for him to deliver a speech (which is essentially what a sermon is) to a group of like-minded people on a day that is an important, shared holiday for them.
Why do you care so much? How is it hurting, or even affecting, anyone except the people who choose to go to the church? Presumably Tebow didn’t make a unilateral decision to invade the church at Easter; i assume that the minister and congregation invited him to speak.
I wouldn’t want to see Larry Fitzgerald give a sermon either, but then again i’m not interested in going to church at all. And if i were a Bible Belt Christian in America, i could see myself being interested in what a high-profile Bible Belt Christian like Tebow has to say.
dale42, this says a lot more about your bad qualities than it does for Tebow’s.
Maybe…maybe…you should give it a rest.
I know a quite conservative Christian (young earth creationist, homeschools children). He works on a golf course and absolutely despises the culture surrounding professional sports. I don’t think he’d be particularly interested in the interpretation of the beatitudes, say, from a guy on a contract for several million.
Well, i stand corrected, then.
The fact that this one guy you know doesn’t like professional sports invalidates my whole argument.
Timmeh gets his ego felated.
The congregation gets to go all Squeeeeeebow at hearing our young hero speak.
The church gets more asses in the seats and a lot more dollars in the collection basket.
We get to point out how fucked up the whole thing is.
Wins all around.
I’ve never heard anyone who actually knows him call him an egomaniac. Quite the opposite. Why don’t you dump on some actual egomaniacs out there in the sports world-- Lord knows there are hundreds.
Actually, I’d hope that many in the congregation are as enlightened as him and wish to seek inspiration from those that are familiar with the Scripture rather than celebrities.
Look, i don’t know much about Tebow, but the impression i get is that he is actually a pretty damn devout Christian. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were, in fact, quite familiar with the Scripture.
Also, why does his talk have to be based specifically on scripture? Tebow has experience of what it’s like to be an open and committed Christian in the public sphere. He’s been idolized for his football playing, supported by many Christians, and mocked by many non-Christians in the United states. It seems to me that he might have something interesting to say about maintaining his faith in the constant glare of publicity.
If there’s one thing i know about Christianity (and religion in general, for that matter), it’s that people often find spiritual inspiration or instruction in their own everyday lived experiences. Maybe Tebow’s just going to talk about some of that stuff to an interested audience.
I have no particular interest in defending Tebow. He’s a mediocre quarterback, his whole kneeling schtick is stupid, and i don’t have much time, either, for public professions of faith by athletes during media interviews. But i’m also just not sure why anyone cares what he does on his own time, with other consenting people. If he wants to speak at a church, and the members of the church want him there, who cares? And if some members of the church would prefer a different speaker, they can stay home or go to another church on that particular Sunday.
He could perhaps grant them a bye that week.
Many years ago, when I had friends who attended a megachurch in the Chicago suburbs, we went to a service and former Chicago Bear Mike Singletary gave the sermon. (At least I’m pretty sure it was Singletary… the years have faded my memory. It was one of the more famous former Bears of that era).
Anyhoo, it was fine. Christian celebrities are given the opportunities to speak at Protestant churches all the time. I’m not a fan of Tebow but he’s a famous, devout Christian so I’m having a hard time getting bent out of shape over this. At the very least it will put asses in the pews on Easter morning.
Do you not lose the rhetorical privilege of playing the “how is this hurting anyone” card when you sign up for the anti-abortion movement? When you’re a spokesman for passing laws that hurt people it’s no longer your private, magically exempt-from-criticism religion, it’s down and dirty political oppression, and the people you target should have every right to fight back.
Could you cite for me where Tim Tebow has entered into such a political fray? Does stating a belief automatically enter you into a ‘movement’?
Ryan Leaf probably has something to say about all this.
I’m uncertain as to how dalej42’s throwing a snit-fit because a Christian is going to speak to other Christians on Easter is fighting back. Please enlighten me.
To be fair, Tebow has made anti-abotion commercials. So, yes, I would say he has inserted himself into the political fray.
However, why anyone would be upset that a devout Christian would attend and speak at a Christian services is baffling.
I have not seen these. Could you summarize? Are they ‘please don’t have an abortion’ types, or ‘this should be illegal’ types?
Tell me which church, synagogue, temple, mosque, clearing in the woods, that Ryan Leaf is giving a sermon at, and I’m there!
There’s a motherfucker who knows how to party.