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Sunday, January 08, 2012

Tempest in a Tebow



A football player, Mr. Tebow, was in the habit of dropping to one knee and praying after some wonderful football thing. Of course, there was a controversy between those who believe this is a wonderful way to bear witness versus those who think it has no place on the gridiron.

I have no opinion other than:

 Matthew 6  5-6
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
All of which re-inforces my belief that we are fond of our public displays of how tight we are with God, and the people of this country actually - covertly and secretly - are not Christians at all, but some other sect... perhaps an offspring of Manicheanism. No, definitely these generations are not Christian.
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5 comments:

Unknown said...

Amen, my brother. They are not Christians. But I'm not particularly disturbed by Tebow and the many other sports people who think God cares about how well they do at the plate or how many TDs they score. I just think it's silly. To do it and to be upset by it. So what?

Montag said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Montag said...

Hmmm... or those who think God reserves good parking spots for them... and their children unto the seventh generation...

It is an adoration of the self.

It gives us a stage to present our jejune dramas of the world, wherein Sports are transformed from action-art (I think sports are "art, by the way!) into a morality play of the Hero, or the dying and reviving god.

Surely now you are recalling Robert Cooves' "The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. J. Henry Waugh, Prop."
Sports as the divine drama... I must read that book again!

Unknown said...

Adoration of self is a universal ailment. Which is why every mystic of any stripe proclaims that nothing can be really seen or understood until the self is basically eradicated.

The Tebow brand of Christianity is childish, but apparently it's not petulantly childish. That's OK. First, do no harm.

Montag said...

I agree, but once again we are replacing religion with celebrity...

I remembering reading about kids in Cairo competing with each other in acts of religiosity to try to be more of a religious celebrity than others...

By the time we are old enough to appreciate the mystic abnegation of the self, for many it is too late.