Whether Tim Tebow is a true christian is unknown to me. That, of course, is utimately betwen him and God. That notwithstanding, I find these comments very interesting and agree with them...
Only here's the thing: The current wave of criticism leveled at Tebow isn't about football. Not really. Oh, they will all swear that it is.
...
"So what gives? Why does even Tebow's own coaching staff and management offer so little public support?
Jake Plummer, the latest to take pot shots at the embattled Denver quarterback, might have been speaking for anti-Tebowites everywhere when he said in an interview on a Phoenix radio station that he would like Tebow more if he would "shut up" about his faith in Jesus Christ.
And with that little comment, the cat, as they say, was out of the bag.
Plummer said what the commentators wouldn't say. Their dislike for Tim Tebow is not, as they would have us believe, about his throwing motion or his completion percentage; it's all about his open professions of faith and his goody-two shoes image. When it comes right down to it, we don't want heroes who are truly good. We want them to fail the occasional drug test or start a bar fight from time to time. It makes us feel better about ourselves. Tebow, however, doesn't make us feel better about ourselves. People like him make us feel a little convicted about the things we say and do. So we find a reason to dislike them. Or, when Tebow says that glory goes to God and the credit for a victory goes to his teammates, coaches, and family, we are suspicious. An increasingly jaded culture, we don't believe that anyone can say such things and really mean them.
So we wait.
We wait for evidence that he really isn't that good. We hope to see him kick a player on the ground, drop an F-bomb on television, or Tweet pictures of his privates. In the meantime, we always have Penn State's Jerry Sandusky to make us feel better about ourselves."
"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because fyou are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."
Comments from Kevin Reid on seeming contradictions about what true saving faith looks like according to differnet biblical authors:
a) Different use of ‘justified’ – the word justified in the Bible normally means ‘made right’. So in Romans 3- 5 when Paul is talking about being justified by faith, he is talking about us being made right with God through faith in Jesus. Yet justified can also have another meaning. It can mean ‘proved right’, or shown to be in the right, that’s how we often use the term today, to justify your actions is to show that they were right. In 1 Timothy 3:16 the word is used to speak of how Jesus was ‘justified’ by the spirit, (there it is usually translated ‘vindicated’). Clearly Jesus did not need to be made right with God the Father, but he was justified or vindicated in that he was shown to be right through his resurrection. So here in James 2:24 when we read that a person is justified by what he does, and not by faith alone, it has that sense of shown to be right, not made right. Your faith is shown to be genuine by your actions.
You see that difference in the way James refers to Abraham. In Romans 4 Paul refers to Abraham, and shows how he took God at his word, believed his promise, and he was justified by his faith. Here James refers to another incident in Abraham’s life. Genesis 22 where Abraham is ‘tested’. His faith is shown to be genuine by his actions. he doesn’t just say he trusts God, he is willing to do what God says, even when that means risking the son he loves.
...
b) Different situations being addressed. When Paul is speaking in Romans, about being justified by faith alone, he is addressing those who think we are accepted or rejected by God based on whether we keep the law. Paul is saying no, if it’s on what we do, all except Jesus fall short, we can only be saved on the basis of what Jesus has done. On the other hand James is addressing those who are saying they have faith, so it doesn’t matter how they live. James is showing that how you live matters, it shows whether or not your faith is genuine.
If you look back through history and compare what happens when the federal government intervenes during a downturn in the economy with what happens when the government leaves the market free to work its own way back, doing nothing has by far the better track record.
First of all, this country existed for a century and a half without the federal government intervening to save the economy. No downturn in all that time was as severe or as long-lasting as the downturn that persisted throughout the decade of the 1930s, when both the Hoover administration and the Roosevelt administration intervened on an unprecedented scale.
There was no Federal Reserve System to help - if that is the word - during downturns before 1914. One of the few things on which liberal economists like John Kenneth Galbraith and conservative economists like Milton Friedman agreed was that the Federal Reserve made the Great Depression of the 1930s worse.
In April, after we listened to Joel Osteen tell us to "stop and smell the roses" in a sermon review during an episode of Fighting for the Faith. my daughter, 12, wrote up "Joel Osteen's Ten Commandments" and after reading them crossed out "Ten" and changed it to "Eleven" and added another.
Joel Osteen's Ten Eleven Commandments
Stop and smell the roses
Change your behavior
Get up early with your kids, drink coffee and say "ah"
Tell your spouse that you appreciate them
Talk to your family about nothing
Call your parents and tell them how much you love them
Appreciate your little girl's footsteps while you can
Tell a lot of stories
Tickle people's ears
Make less money to spend more time with your family
I love this line about bigfoot sightings in yet another story about...a bigfoot sighting (emphasis mine):
A Spokane, Washington woman, out for a hike with friends two weekends ago, says she may have captured video of the mythical Bigfoot, the elusive man-ape hybrid who walks upright, has excessive body hair, and seems impervious to in-focus photography.
I'm not exactly a conspiracy theorist but I can see arguments on both sides of alot of the theories out there. The other day we saw this video of a demolition in Texas and my wife and I had the same reaction. "It looks just like 911...":
If you still think this is a free country, think again. From The Economic Collapse:
In the United States today, thousands upon thousands of ridiculous federal regulations tightly control almost every area of our lives. One example of this is that starting on January 1st, we are no longer going to be able to buy certain kinds of light bulbs in the United States.
...
Manufacturers will no longer be able to make the 100-watt Thomas Edison bulb after Jan. 1, 2012, followed by the 75-watt version in Jan. 2013, and the the 60- and 40-watt bulbs in Jan. 2014.
Give 'em an inch and they'll (eventually) take a million miles:
Some people may not think that light bulbs are a big deal, but the truth is that the fact that the government tells us what kind of light bulbs to buy is just another sign of how rapidly liberty and freedom are dying in this country.
A post at www.seahawks.net discussing the most underrated players in Seahawks history (emphasis added):
Most under rated by Seattle fans? Chris Warren. Look up his career stats..and consider the teams he was playing on.
If its under rated over all? This is going to sound weird, but its Steve Largent. He gets recognition..but not like he should. Considering his era, the teams he played on, the fact that in most seasons he was the only real threat..that he routinely broke double and triple coverage.. most seasons he averaged over 16 yards a catch. Im honestly not sure he wasnt better than Jerry Rice. Im not insane..I have reasons. Jerry Rice had legit, pro bowl WRs across from him. He had Montana and Young throwing to him. He played in the West Coast offense and with a different set of rules.. and one of the reasons he could play so long was because of the WCO..in the WCO if you lose a step it doesnt matter, because thats not what its about.
When you talk to non-Seattle fans.. they lump Largent into groups with Art Monk or Harold Carmichael... ridiculous.
In response to all the hate coming down toward the Hawks. Posted at seahawks.net:
The Seahawks didn't ask to be in the NFC West. We were perfectly content in the AFC West, we had established rivalries with the Donkeys and Faiders.
The NFL shoved us to the NFC West because it was convenient for them. Now its convenient for us and we get some sort of advantage out of it, and all the whining starts.
Well, the NFL is apparently ashamed of the Seahawks...uhh...actually, that is nothing new. They have put up the playoff schedule release and listed each team (with their regular season record)...that is, each team except the Seahawks, who of course finished 7-9. Embarrassing? I suppose, but I'll be watchin' as far as they make it...
American Football Conference: 1. New England (14-2, AFC East champion), 2. Pittsburgh (12-4, AFC North champion), 3. Indianapolis (10-6, AFC South champion),4. Kansas City (10-6, AFC West champion), 5. Baltimore (12-4), 6. New York Jets (11-5).
National Football Conference: 1. Atlanta (13-3, NFC South champion), 2. Chicago (11-5, NFC North champion), 3. Philadelphia (10-6, NFC East champion), 4. Seattle (NFC West champion), 5. New Orleans (11-5), 6. Green Bay (10-6).
