At church this morning, the Pastor Emeritus conducted the service,
since our Pastor is on vacation. In the children's part of the service,
the Pastor Emeritus was criticizing those who mock Tim Tebow for
praying in public, when there are so many real problems in the world.
The Pastor Emeritus then referred to the story in II Kings 2 of the kids
mocking the prophet Elisha, with the consequence that she-bears came
out and mauled them (see my post on II Kings 2 here).
The Pastor Emeritus said that God does not like for his children
(Christians) to be mocked. He also said that we should not judge
whether or not Tebow was sincere in his prayers, for that is between him
and God.
I think that people have made legitimate criticisms of
Tebow-ing: that we shouldn't pray for something trivial like a football
game, when there are real problems in the world, plus we should not
assume that God supports one sports team and not another; that Jesus
tells us to pray in our closets rather than flashing our religiosity in
public (Matthew 6:5); and that Tebow should pray with his team-mates
before a game rather than going out by himself and praying before an
audience.
(UPDATE: See Yvette's comment and the documentation she provides that Tebow does not pray for his team to win the game, but rather that he might handle the game in a godly manner and that God might protect the players.)
I also think that it's all right to criticize
Christians. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of
his day. And sometimes people need to talk about their negative
religious experiences in order to heal.
But I am trying to get something edifying out
of what the Pastor Emeritus said this morning, because I did feel that
he was on to something, even if I did not agree with him completely.
First of all, like the Pastor Emeritus, I don't think that it's my place
to judge whether someone else is sincere or not. I'm not being
absolute here, for there is corruption that should be exposed, but I
cannot judge whether or not Tim Tebow is sincere when he prays. Second,
I don't want to mock people for having religious beliefs, for I respect
that religion is how many get through life. Third, I agree that there
are more serious problems than Tim Tebow praying before a football
game.