After an unfortunate interaction on Facebook, I decided to back off, do a little research, and write a thoughtful blog entry on a phenomenon that has already received more attention than one would think possible. Such is the lightning rod of faith.

My original intent was to comment on the fad of “Tebowing”, as it seemed pretty clear to me that it falls under the discussion of prayer in Matthew 6. I do not follow spectator sports, not do I watch much television, so I was unaware of the level of fervent devotion that this player has inspired in his fans. It seems apparent to me that he is considered untouchable by certain sections of the population, and is an easy target for mockery by others.

I am neither of these, but the phenomenon and my personal involvement with members of both demographics brought up some topics for me that I believe have haunted me for most of my life, beginning in early childhood, somewhere around 3rd grade.

I will not bore you with the details, other than to point out that it was made clear to me on many occasions growing up that I was not a member of almost every group that could arise, from schoolyard cliques and gangs, to youth group at church, not to mention sports fans, and even fellow athletes, when I would take the chance of participating in group sports, formal or otherwise.

The connection here is that I was never that good at speaking the language of these groups, whether it was knowing the athletes they idolized and their stats, or having the right possessions and experiences to be considered “in”. Another time I am reminded of this, sadly, is every time a pastor decides to use a sports illustration in a sermon.

This is not to say that I had no friends, or that every member of every group ostracized me, but it was the norm. Thank God for those sensitive individuals who reached out to me in my times of loneliness, and for the opportunities that I did find for social development and interaction, although many of the groups I did become a part of led to my further distancing myself from “the norm”.

l had asthma as a child, which led to a lack of outdoor activity. While having a negative effect on my physical development, it had the positive aspect of giving me a lot of time to read, which helped greatly to develop my mind. Unfortunately, this made me even more of an outsider. Thank God for fans of They Might Be Giants, Weird Al, and good science fiction.

So, anyway, I never fit in. This experience reminds me in every way of my childhood, except that I no longer desire to be a part of any group, and am thoughtful enough to figure it out and articulate enough to express how I feel about it. Enough said. I grew up and found my way through life, and with God’s blessing and guidance, actually met and married a woman who appreciates me for who I am, and does not expect me to prove her honor by joining all the popular groups and working my way to the top of them.

More so, this is the model we have adapted within our family home. More on that later, in another post.

SO…

In case you think that I tricked you into reading about me instead of Tebow:

The Tebowing phenomenon is fine. There have been many before, and there will be new ones. But let’s be honest with each other: Does prayer need to be public? I have no doubt that even many practitioners of the Tebow had previously never considered making their prayer life public, but had adopted the private practice of taking a few moments aside, wherever they were in daily life, to consider some matter in prayer, or to merely thank God and glorify Him for some blessing in their life, or after noticing some previously taken for granted aspect of His Creation. This happens to be the method that I have adopted, due to personal matters of conscience, though I obviously do not hide the fact that I am a christian. This blog, for example, and the fact that I have not chosen to change my name, are ways in which I choose to be open about my faith.

Let us consider an attitude like the one above to be the attitude adopted by Tim Tebow during his moments of prayer on the football field. It is not his fault that he happens to be under such scrutiny and emulation, is it?

Let us consider also, for a moment, the possibility that Tim Tebow had adopted some other pose while praying. There are various other “acceptable” poses that one can witness at any church one happens to be in during their worship and prayer times.

To avoid further criticism, I will let you choose which pose to consider.

Now, had he chosen to adopt that pose instead, would we then see a phenomenon of people across the nation repeating that pose and posting pics of themselves on the internet?

If your answer is yes, fine, but I would argue not, since the creators of the Tebowing site were quick enough to notice the play on words created by the juxtaposition of his pose and his already popular name.

Therefore, the creator of this fad is not Tebow, but rather of the the sharp individual who noticed this similarity and popularized it, first with photos, and then later, with a website, which amounts, in this day and age, to a business startup!

Do you truly believe that the real motivation behind “tebowing” and then posting the pics online is a reverent respect for God? Is it possibly a misunderstanding of how christians are most effective with their witness? Or is it similar to many other ways of attracting attention to the self and getting a little of that 15 minutes of fame that is so important to all of us, especially since the popularization of the internet?

Have you ever considered how many other popular behaviors were created in a similar way? Have you even criticized or picked on someone for not agreeing with one of these behaviors, that is, for “not fitting in”?

Is it offensive to you to be asked how much of your public behavior is truly based only in scripture, and how much is merely reflecting the attitudes, clothing styles, and personalities of those around you and in the popular culture you choose to absorb? Do you even consider, for example, the source or sources where you get the information that forms your opinions? Are you even aware of the information contained in other sources, or do you easily write off their validity as bias, while not applying even that basic criticism to your own opinions or sources? Or do you live the justified life of the unexamined self, blissfully ignorant even of your own existence?

I know my own years in that mindset ended far too soon for my childhood self, but in other ways extended far into my adulthood, until I opened my mind to the thoughts and opinions of the people around me who I was hurting with my judgmental, self-righteous behavior.

Which is why, instead of continuing with a pointless argument that I waded into due to a lack of consideration, I chose to do a little research of my own, and develop my own opinion further, citing multiple sources and opening my mind to the possibility that I am wrong. In fact, I will even end this blog without the expected conclusion, instead listing the sources that I read and considered during it’s writing.

Till next time,

I, M. A. Christian

Sources:

a good summation.

I do not necessarily agree with all of this article, but he does make a few good points:

of course (look at all the pictures): http://tebowing.com/

Depending on your opinion of Tebow and where you got the information that helped you form that opinion, this might interest you.

an interesting collection at Queen of Sports.

and the initial article I read on Tebow, which I found most interesting:

A piece about the super bowl ad.

the video, which I think is pretty funny by the way! http://youtu.be/xqReTDJSdhE

by the way, though this is definitely a topic for another blog, in case you think any of this is motivated by my opinion on abortion, let me just say for the record, that I personally was counseled to seek abortion for one of our children. I chose not to. I would never choose abortion, and I would never counsel a friend or loved one to do so, but I do not believe that gives me the right to take away even one of another person’s freedoms.

As I may have said before: Morality cannot be legislated.

And of course, I welcome your comments, especially suggestions of further reading on these topics. Thanks for reading this far!

mac

The whole argument about evolution is a nonissue for me. Being raised a Christian and attending public school meant that I was exposed to both points of view, and frankly, I have never seen much in one that disproves the other. Science is about observation, first of all, so I have always appreciated those who study our natural world and explore and experiment in order to discover natural laws and further aspects of our reality.

It has never really occurred to me while reading my bible that I should somehow ignore the basic proofs of science while striving to take what I was reading literally. My belief that God created the earth, and indeed the universe and everything in it, dictates that God is above and beyond all natural laws, not governed by them.

Who would God be to us if we were able to apply our scientific study to Him as well? I believe that He is sovereign over us, not the other way around. If we could study God, or disprove His existence by some scientific discovery, then He would not be a God worthy of worship.

Still, there are those who seek to use whatever proofs they can find to either prove or disprove the existence of God. To a person who does not believe in God, this, for example, might prove interesting: http://www.anatomyatlases.org/AnatomicVariants/SkeletalSystem/Images/19.shtml

However, if one reads further, we find that a similar study has been used to prove that in the Garden of Eden, the serpent originally had feet: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section2.html#atavisms_ex2

Why one or the other? Does your faith or lack of it depend on tails, or the lack of? We are within the natural world, and are made of the very same materials, such that man is described in the bible as being formed of dust.

I merely seek to calmly regard any information presented to me and then to contemplate the purpose and place of that information within all creation, so that I can thoughtfully decide upon my actions within the world without being biased or manipulated by anyone less thoughtful. Although I do not see myself as able to use my logic to approach the sovereign omnipotence of God. I trust in His guidance, and I use the intelligence He has given me to the best of my abilities.

And in what will no doubt be seen as the furthest tangent possible, how then does that give any of us the right to legislate morality on anyone else?

But that will be the subject of my next post.

Till then,

I, M. A. Christian

I am one of those “born from above,” regenerated, fundamental, radical, Bible-thumping Christians that probably 95 percent of your readers can’t “tolerate.” Oh, no!! The “t” word.

Anyway, I do believe in the complete separation of church and state. In fact, let’s go a step further. Why don’t all you pro-abortion, tree-hugging, ultra-radical, lunatic left, Christian-hating, “free-thinking” — and even worse — liberal “Christians” and Democrats separate from us fundamentalists completely?

I wonder what would happen if I were in the position to let all you folks who think alike pick out 70 percent of the United States. Whatever you don’t want we Bible-thumping, radical Christians will take. You run your “tolerant,” feminist, God-hating, liberal part of the country and we’ll run our 30 percent.

We, of course, will have a Constitutional Republic, schools that actually teach reading, writing, math, U.S. history, civics, etc. No psychobabblers allowed. We might even have the 10 Commandments (not the 10 suggestions) in the schools. Kids will obey, will behave, will advance in school based on merit. In sports the first three places will get ribbons, awards, etc. The rest will try harder next time, or maybe never place at the top. That will be an indication for them to try something else.

Let’s see what our 30 percent of the country will look like compared to your 70 percent after, say, a couple of generations.

You can tax people as much as possible, since the politician knows best on how to spend your money. You can have abortion (child-sacrifice mills), socialist government (better known as mob rule), welfare, psychobabblers dealing with all the invented disorders, the created “victims,” of, well, everything!! You can have courts where the judges do not have to follow any objective standards. They can rule any way they want, depending on their feelings. Like the 9th “Circus” Court of Appeals. It could be your role model.

Just a suggestion. You see, there are many of us Bible-thumpers that would love to have separation from all of you folks.

Peace!!

– Don Fahrenkrug

Colorado Springs

the above was posted from: http://www.csindy.com/colorado/letters/Content?oid=1120795

That does not, however, mean you!

I have finally been convinced that my way of remaining calm in the face of fear might be of interest to you.

Here is a brief sample:  (After watching Contagion)I do not place my faith in the CDC or the WHO or the WWW or any human institution.  I merely believe that neither I nor my loved ones will come to suffer or die unless it is allowed by God.  So I trust God.

Now, I know that I have immediately opened a can of worms, because you may have already formed your opinion of me.  In fact, it is highly possible that you have already stopped reading.

Maybe you left the site in a hurry.

Good.  Now, if you are still reading, I would like to tell you why I am writing this publicly:  I have always had a great difficulty being a part of groups. I have finally decided that I will no longer be a member of any group, in fact.

An avowed outsider, if you will.

So why do I retain my faith in God?  It belongs to me, not to whatever group claims my membership.

And I have a very logical, scientific mind, which has of late been insulted by the portrayals and behavior of people of faith with, shall we say, questionable intelligence and motivations.

Still interested?  I hope to add to this frequently, so check back often.  I may post in the morning, or even later tonight!

Who knows?

Till then,

I, M. A. Christian

patience, my dear
your wait is almost done
I am adding to your number one more
one by one by one…

paradise awaits!
The last hour is over
the bride will be wed to her everlasting lover!

O Glorious Good News!
The Savior is here!
The Summation of our Adoration and Fear!

O Man, if you could only see the beauty
the gift that was given freely
that which I have made so ugly
HE HAS MADE PURE
HE HAS MADE CLEAN!

when you said to me
that I must return
carrying a message that made my hands burn

then I knew
that you were the one
He is adding your number to His!
one by one by one…

and I pray in faith
that daily you’ll know
a spark and an ember has begun to glow

and on it the breath of the Word we must blow…

(I thought things were getting a little dark with all the posts from Berton, so I decided to start another category with some of my newer songs.  Today my daughter turns 12! – mac)

like why if life is good

then death must be better

Death sweet death

will you lead me to life

or will I always crave the knife

How to recognize death should he come for you

Death floats by like a balloon

You will realize that there are those in the room

who have been switched off, unplugged

and that you can identify (with them)

stick out your hand

and pray to Jesus not to let that thought cross your mind

because to know death is to be dead.

Sweet forgetfulness.

Is it strange the nurse who heals me                    Socially

is smoking as she wheels me down the hall?    Acceptable

and in the night when someone steals me         Suicide

I don’t notice cause I hardly feel at all?              Sticks

Seu Jorge’s 10 David Bowie covers for Life Aquatic
Jeff Tweedy – Sunken Treasure
J Mascis – Martin & Me

This might be complicated, since the ownership of some of the songs is in question.  In addition, Berton may soon be placed under house arrest, or at least some sort of curfew.  Add to this the fact that he is wearing a halo until he is at least partly recovered from a cervical fracture and thoracic compression fracture, and I think we’ve got the poor guy pinned down for a while.

Next, I’ll post a short poem, What A Way to Go by Berton Breton about the incident referred to above.