Posted on 10/24/2011 7:59:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Evangelical football star Tim Tebow thanked Jesus Christ after leading the Denver Broncos to an 18–15 overtime win over the Miami Dolphins in Florida Sunday, not giving in to critics who are averse to his open display of his Christian faith.
“First off, I have to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and my teammates … they believed in me for more than 60 minutes,” Athlon Sports quoted Tebow as saying right after the surprise win.
It was a dramatic victory. During the first 54 minutes, Tebow’s play was far from impressive. But then it was as if Tebow had suddenly realized the expectations his fans have from the National Football League player who does not shy away from giving glory to God.
“You can’t lose confidence in yourself or you’ve lost already,” Tebow, son of missionaries to the Philippines, said. “When you get knocked down, you’ve got to keep getting back up.”
When less than six minutes were left and the Miami Dolphins were focusing on defense, Tebow rose to the challenge, rallying the Broncos to two touchdowns.
When Denver lined up for the 2-point attempt for overtime, the Dolphins spread their defense across the field. Tebow ran off between the players, untouched, for the conversion. In overtime, Matt Prater kicked a 52-yard field goal, sealing the victory.
Two days before the game, Jeff Darlington, a reporter at nfl.com, said Tebow “has become one of sports’ most polarizing figures.” “Thousands love him to a degree rarely seen,” he wrote. “The same, though, can be said about the degree to which a massive group also hates him… There exists a website called ‘TebowHaters.com’ and a Facebook page dubbed ‘I hate Tim Tebow.’”
“It really blows my mind,” the reporter quoted Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, as saying. “You talk about a guy that’s in the church, doesn’t do drugs, doesn’t drink alcohol, lives right, won the Heisman, won the national championship in college,” said Pouncey, who spent three seasons as an offensive lineman for Tebow at the University of Florida.
Tebow’s acclaim includes being the first college sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy and the first college football player to both rush and pass for 20 touchdowns in a season.
“Maybe people don’t like the fact that he has accomplished so much,” Dolphins running back Reggie Bush told Darlington. “And maybe some people just don’t think he’s a good quarterback. Everyone has an opinion … People look for a reason to hate you. With Tebow, though, it’s almost like they think it’s too good to be true.”
Tebow has cared little about his critics.
At college in Florida, Tebow frequently wore biblical verses on his eye black. In the 2009 Bowl Championship Series, he wore “John 3:16” on his eye paint, reportedly causing 92 million people to search the verse on Google. Later, Tebow switched to “Proverbs 3:5-6,” again causing 3.43 million searches of the verse together with “Tim Tebow.” The NFL, however, later banned writing on the eye black.
I don’t like the Broncos, but I like Tim Tebow
Jesus doesn’t like tuna boat captains?
My cousin Ishmael is going to be disappointed to hear that!
; - )
Christ is offensive to the “world” plain and simple,,, Keep it up Tebow
[GASP!!]
OH, THE HORROR!!!!
/s
It's not, black athletes do it all the time and nobody says a word. My theory: left wingers including the media in particular are hostile to religion but also super sensitive to race so when they hear a black athlete praise God they may roll their eyes but they won't say a word. But if a white athlete does it, and worse, if he has the temerity to do a pro-life Super Bowl commercial, well, this has got to be made an issue. Just a theory.
Eh, I think it’s appropriate for Tebow to thank God that He gave him the talent, ability and opportunity to do what he did. It’s not like anybody’s saying God had $50 riding on the Broncos against the spread or anything so He made the Dolphins screw up (they don’t need His help for that this season!).
}:-)4
Uh, is Robinson white?
Now you’re equivoxating. You started out on a different tack, but now you want to go starboard and address open exhibitions of faith. You have nice day. I’m not up for trying to sculpt jello.
And if the Broncos had lost would he still be publicly thanking Jesus for that?What about a muslim athlete ahouting Allah Akbar after a win, you ok with that too? Or, Heavan forbid, a Mormon praising God for the win?
Depends. Are there any suicide vests or AK47s involved?
They just thank their wives and their holy underwear.
Exactly my point, it just shows how silly it is.
The world hates Jesus and wants Tim to do bad because of his faith in Jesus. That’s why I’m a Kurt Warner fan.
How about those who "wear" their hostility to expressions of faith "on their sleeve for everyone to see"? You certainly had no hesitation to loudly complain on this forum about someone mentioning Jesus. Why don't you keep your own views to yourself "like a bottle of fine wine"? After all, your particular views may be "unique" to you, and no one else may "think exactly like you do"?
Those who want people of faith to shut up would be outraged if anyone tried to muzzle their own views.
I like the guy, I think he is a good kid; however, Jesus had nothing to do with controlling the outcome of a football game.
I never said I wanted them to shut up, not at all, just saying how silly I think it is.
>> They just thank their wives and their holy underwear.
My wife threw out all my holy underwear. The elastic was losing its stretch, too, so I guess it was time.
Oh, and BTW, there are plenty on this thread that would love to see the Mormons just shut up and go away, period. I don’t think I need to name names, they know who they are.
Albert Pujols thanks GOD everytime he blasts one outa the park, as he passes home plate, and no one complains
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