The (Anti)Gospel of Tim Tebow
Are you a follower? If you are, you are certainly not alone. After winning 7 of his last 8 games (most of those in spectacular fashion) and resurrecting (pun intended) a struggling franchise to the heights of the AFC West, the world has officially taken notice. It seems like every weekend #TebowTime emerges as a trending topic on Twitter and becomes the center of conversation for ESPN talking-heads and monday morning quarterbacks alike.
I have always been a fan of football and for what its worth I have long been a fan of Tim Tebow (even though he spurned The University of Alabama for the vile swamps of Gainesville Florida).
For those who may be living under a rock or simply aren’t interested in football, allow me to catch you up to date.
Tim Tebow is a past Heisman Trophy winner and arguably one of the most celebrated college football players of all time. He is the son of an evangelical pastor and spends some of his vacation time working with his father’s mission in the Philippines. He famously wore eye-black with Bible verses inked on it, and has never been reluctant to share his Christian faith in very public ways. Upon entering the NFL, however, he became the target of immense criticism. The football experts chastised the Denver Broncos for drafting him in the first round, claiming that his unconventional throwing motion and ability to make plays with his feet (rather than his arm) would simply not work in the NFL. Earlier this year, Tebow was relegated to third-string quarterback which only added fuel to the already sizzling fire of criticism surrounding his projected inability to succeed as a quarterback at the professional level.
Fast forward a few months and a struggling team with a new coach desperate for wins decided to give Tebow a shot. 8 games later, we are here, with the rest of the world talking about how this incredible athlete and polarizing figure defies all odds and continues to win - albeit in the most unconventional ways. It has truly been an incredible progression and one that has certainly been fun to watch.
However, something very interesting has happened as a result of Tebow-Mania. NFL analysts cannot seem to explain how Tebow - predicted by nearly every expert to fail - just keeps winning. But Christians (perhaps of a certain theological slant) assume that they have the answer.
FAITH.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Tebow’s testimony is great and his faith in the Lord is giving him the strength to stand up against immense criticism and pressure. But the idea that God is blessing the Broncos with wins because of Tim Tebow’s faith is deeply troubling. According to this line of thinking, God’s blessing is based upon an equation. If we have deep faith in God, then God will bless us with worldly success. Is this not the Prosperity Gospel just hidden under a helmet and shoulder pads?
What about athletes on other teams who have a deep faith and yet are not winning? What about believers in Iran who are persecuted for standing up for Christ? What about the members of the early church who suffered and died because of their faith? What about the oppressed and impoverished believers all across the world who are without food and shelter? What about the widow? The orphan?
How selfish and narrow minded of us, as affluent Americans to think that God will bless us with worldly success if we simply have a deep faith. Not to mention that this distorted theology sees God as a means to an end rather than valuing God, himself, as the end.
As the Christmas season approaches I think we need to be reminded that the Christmas story is about Emmanuel - God with us. Not with us, on earth, as a principality or power; but with us as a baby, powerless, born in a feeding trough to a poor, marginalized, outcast family. This, therefore, is the true nature of God.
The incarnation - Christ’s appearance in a life involving suffering and death - claims that God has to be like this. He (God) did not incidentally choose this path. Therefore, a god that many claim is rewarding Tebow with victories but not responding to the cries of the oppressed is a god that I want nothing to do with because that god is not The God of the Bible.
I do think that God smiles and is pleased when he sees Tim Tebow playing great football and practicing a consistent faith in the moral and cultural free-fire zone that is an NFL locker room. But please do not attribute Tim Tebow’s victories to his faith in God. That is not the Gospel. It is the anti-Gospel. And it is, theologically, very dangerous.
The Gospel in Seven Words
In Christ, God’s “yes” defeats our “no.”
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Our “no” is a human rejection of God’s claim on us as our creator, sustainer and lord, a rejection that produces alienation and isolation, even from ourselves. In Jesus Christ, God unmasks and defeats that “no” and signals that we are not our own. We belong to God’s love, from which we cannot finally flee. Grasped by that love, we are enabled to love God and one another.
Non-Violent Christology
The default position for followers of Christ, with regard to war, should be one of non-violence. This is where, in my opinion, the Christian Right goes awry. For high Christology (the idea that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity - 100% God and 100% man) must necessarily commit you to an account of discipleship that places Christians in great tension with worldly presumptions about violence and control. The whole concept of worshiping a crucified savior entails that you cannot kill - because God refused to save us through killing us (which is what we deserved). Therefore, as worshipers of a God who would save us from our wrongs through non-violent means, we must be committed to living in the world with a certain level of respect for the dignity of our enemies. We must live in such a way that we can no longer think of ourselves as, first and foremost, Americans. We must instead think of ourselves primarily as Christians, a people who-if living faithfully-cannot always be trusted with the kind of ideology that America represents.
This is just one position, among many, that must be adhered to, if the Christian Church in America is ever going to successfully reclaim the Christian “We” from the American “We.”
Christology and Superheroes
I’m often asked (actually I’m never asked) what comic book superheroes can tell us about ebionitism, docetism, and atonement theology.
All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.
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Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love—a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek—
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.
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Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.
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For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.
About Me
Sharing the LOVE of God, shedding LIGHT on modern culture, and providing a MELODY to the unforced rhythms of grace.
Patrick J. Craig is an INTJ, coffee-shop loving, book-reading, NPR-listening, question-asking, student, musician, and lover of people.
