Teh One Who Knocks
12-14-2011, 10:25 PM
By Joe Weisenthal - The Business Insider
http://i.imgur.com/jHd1t.jpg
Thanks to his deep Christian faith, and his miraculous late-game comebacks, the rise of Tim Tebow has obviously prompted a lot of talk about religion and sports and other related ideas.
Without a doubt, the most extreme version of this discussion appears The Jewish Week in an article written by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman titled My Tebow Problem.
What's Hammerman's Tebow problem?
Basically this: Tebow's rise is so incredible, that if he keeps on doing what he's doing, and somehow leads the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl, then his followers will experience such a wellspring of faith and confidence , they'll start carrying out the most extreme acts imaginable in the name of Christianity.
The most stunning paragraph was this one -- which has, as of today, been edited out of the post -- but which was caught by Human Events magazine...
If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants. While America has become more inclusive since Jerry Falwell’s first political forays, a Tebow triumph could set those efforts back considerably.
It really goes on like this.
Now the funny thing is that Hammerman seems to admit that if Tebow does win the Super Bowl, it would cause him to have a crisis of faith himself:
His story is so improbable that if he were to win it all, a part of me would be wondering whether there is a Purpose behind it, just as I saw a divine hand in the equally unbelievable Red Sox victory of 2004.
Finally, after worrying that Christians will start bashing gays in the event of a Tebow Super Bowl win, the piece concludes:
Unlike some other blue-staters, I do not fear people of faith. I fear people of certainty. The worldwide struggle going on right now is not between good and evil, but between certainty and doubt. It cuts across denominational lines: Progressive and Modern Orthodox Jews lie on one side of the divide, joining mainline Christians and moderate Muslims; and those on the other side are also Jews, Christians and Muslims; the people of certainty.
For me, only one thing is certain. On Sunday, I’ll be praying for the Patriots.
Anyway, the good news is that everyone thinks Hammerman's views are awful; understandably Jewish critics like Seth Mandel at Commentary Magazine are eager to distance themselves from such paranoia.
http://i.imgur.com/jHd1t.jpg
Thanks to his deep Christian faith, and his miraculous late-game comebacks, the rise of Tim Tebow has obviously prompted a lot of talk about religion and sports and other related ideas.
Without a doubt, the most extreme version of this discussion appears The Jewish Week in an article written by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman titled My Tebow Problem.
What's Hammerman's Tebow problem?
Basically this: Tebow's rise is so incredible, that if he keeps on doing what he's doing, and somehow leads the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl, then his followers will experience such a wellspring of faith and confidence , they'll start carrying out the most extreme acts imaginable in the name of Christianity.
The most stunning paragraph was this one -- which has, as of today, been edited out of the post -- but which was caught by Human Events magazine...
If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants. While America has become more inclusive since Jerry Falwell’s first political forays, a Tebow triumph could set those efforts back considerably.
It really goes on like this.
Now the funny thing is that Hammerman seems to admit that if Tebow does win the Super Bowl, it would cause him to have a crisis of faith himself:
His story is so improbable that if he were to win it all, a part of me would be wondering whether there is a Purpose behind it, just as I saw a divine hand in the equally unbelievable Red Sox victory of 2004.
Finally, after worrying that Christians will start bashing gays in the event of a Tebow Super Bowl win, the piece concludes:
Unlike some other blue-staters, I do not fear people of faith. I fear people of certainty. The worldwide struggle going on right now is not between good and evil, but between certainty and doubt. It cuts across denominational lines: Progressive and Modern Orthodox Jews lie on one side of the divide, joining mainline Christians and moderate Muslims; and those on the other side are also Jews, Christians and Muslims; the people of certainty.
For me, only one thing is certain. On Sunday, I’ll be praying for the Patriots.
Anyway, the good news is that everyone thinks Hammerman's views are awful; understandably Jewish critics like Seth Mandel at Commentary Magazine are eager to distance themselves from such paranoia.