This is what separates Tebow from most Religious "Leaders"

[zoogs]

Nice one liner, but incorrect. What I'm not accepting of is his lack of acceptance. That's an extremely important distinction that you should understand.

 

I don't have a problem with Christians. I have a problem with Christians who feel that everybody needs to be Christian.

 

To draw an analogy, it is like Person A saying "We need less discriminators in the world" and Person B countering by pointing out, "But you're discriminating against discriminators!"

 

Sounds clever, but it really isn't.

[knapplc]

Nice one liner, but incorrect. What I'm not accepting of is his lack of acceptance. That's an extremely important distinction that you should understand.

 

I don't have a problem with Christians. I have a problem with Christians who feel that everybody needs to be Christian.

 

To draw an analogy, it is like Person A saying "We need less discriminators in the world" and Person B countering by pointing out, "But you're discriminating against discriminators!"

 

Sounds clever, but it really isn't.

 

It's a line in the sand that doesn't need to be drawn. Sure, in some way I'm sure Tebow would like everyone to practice the faith he believes is the "correct" one, in much the same way that HuskerBoard members kid guys like fro daddy and Bucky about becoming Husker fans. Tebow isn't forcing you to choose his religion - heck, he's not even actively trying to convert you. He's just stating his beliefs. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

I've just never understood the problem people have with this. I don't particularly care for Tim Tebow. My solution? I don't waste time ragging on the guy or getting upset about how he expresses himself, I just tune him out. I don't watch him on TV, I don't read articles about him, and I don't (typically) engage in discussions about him. My life is much the better for it.

 

If more people tried that, the hype surrounding Tebow would die down. You guys getting all riled up about him help perpetuate the mythos. Turn the channel, stop talking about him on message boards and stop reading articles about him. The media will get the hint.

[HSKR]

Nice one liner, but incorrect. What I'm not accepting of is his lack of acceptance. That's an extremely important distinction that you should understand.

 

I don't have a problem with Christians. I have a problem with Christians who feel that everybody needs to be Christian.

 

To draw an analogy, it is like Person A saying "We need less discriminators in the world" and Person B countering by pointing out, "But you're discriminating against discriminators!"

 

Sounds clever, but it really isn't.

 

It's a line in the sand that doesn't need to be drawn. Sure, in some way I'm sure Tebow would like everyone to practice the faith he believes is the "correct" one, in much the same way that HuskerBoard members kid guys like fro daddy and Bucky about becoming Husker fans. Tebow isn't forcing you to choose his religion - heck, he's not even actively trying to convert you. He's just stating his beliefs. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

I've just never understood the problem people have with this. I don't particularly care for Tim Tebow. My solution? I don't waste time ragging on the guy or getting upset about how he expresses himself, I just tune him out. I don't watch him on TV, I don't read articles about him, and I don't (typically) engage in discussions about him. My life is much the better for it.

 

If more people tried that, the hype surrounding Tebow would die down. You guys getting all riled up about him help perpetuate the mythos. Turn the channel, stop talking about him on message boards and stop reading articles about him. The media will get the hint.

 

 

EXACTLY! Tebow is a lot like Rush Limbaugh in that way. The more the haters hate on him, the more attention they are inadvertently giving him in the end which a lot of the time seems to turn as a positive to their side.

[knapplc]

Bingo. As with Tebow, I do not care for Rush. The ONLY way I hear about Rush is through message board posts, or if I happen to see a headline describing yet another foot-in-mouth situation. I don't like Rush so I don't consume his shows. Pretty simple solution.

[rawhide]

One nation under God; I've heard that somewhere else hmmmmm.

 

1954 was a good year

 

 

GBR

[JJ Husker]

Champion asked Tebow what he thought needed to change culturally in America.

"First and foremost is what this country was based on: one nation under God. The more that we can get back to that," Tebow said to applause.

Read more: http://sportsillustr...l#ixzz1rVXW8zWL

This is exactly what I find distasteful about Tebow's position.

 

What needs to change culturally in this country is more acceptance of differences in belief, not the uniting of a particular demographic or narrow band of demographics against "other" groups that are less desirable or less "belonging" to what this country is about.

Zoogies, you're sure entitled to your opinion but so is Mr. Tebow. I've got no doubts that you truly believe what you stated would make this country better. But I also believe that Tebow thinks this country would be better off if it was much more in line with "One nation under God". It is only your personal beliefs and wants that cause you to assume that Tebow's position is less accepting or of a narrower demographic band than what you desire. You managed to twist his position of wanting what he feels is best for this country into something counter to what you feel would be best. I don't think that is evidenced by the quote he made that you find distasteful. If you want to claim that he feels certain other groups are less desirable or less belonging then you should probably start with some of his quotes that state as much rather than what you think he means. I will be surprised if you can find quotes of his that disparage or are intolerant of beliefs that differ from his own. It is only human nature to think that what you find best would also be best for everyone. I don't think that is anything to villify the guy for.

 

This is much the same problem we have in this country as far as left & right, conservative & liberal, republican and democrat. Each side wants to claim the other side is working counter to the good of all. When what is really happening, in most cases, is that each side really wants what they truly feel is best but they just disagree on what is in fact best.

[zoogs]

What he feels is best is that this country needs to "get back to" "one nation under God."

 

He is entitled to his opinion, and he or any number of people may feel that it is best, but it isn't personal or subjective to say that this is only narrowly inclusive. It is exactly the meaning behind those words, no?

 

This is the second response that has attempted to draw a parallel between my position and Tebow's, as if they were two sides of the same coin, and to criticize Tebow's would be hypocritical. That would have merit if my position were "What this country needs is to get to a nation of atheism."

 

But, that isn't my position. My position is that this country needs to get to a point where Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, atheism....are all on equal standing, none viewed as more central to the country's needs than another, and walls dividing them broken down. Anybody, of course, is absolutely free to disagree with this.

 

Regardless of human nature and how natural it may be to tend to one viewpoint, one of these puts all people on a equal standing, and one of these doesn't.

 

Tebow isn't forcing you to choose his religion - heck, he's not even actively trying to convert you. He's just stating his beliefs. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

I've just never understood the problem people have with this. I don't particularly care for Tim Tebow. My solution? I don't waste time ragging on the guy or getting upset about how he expresses himself, I just tune him out.

 

I suppose my issue is less with Tebow specifically and more with the idea that he expressed. It hardly matters what the name of the guy is, and the fact that he is a famous, celebrated, talked-too-often-about figure doesn't exonerate him from criticism. It's the sentiment that I am discussing, in a forum for exactly this kind of discussion. It's in the Tebow thread because, well, he said it.

 

[knapplc]

I suppose my issue is less with Tebow specifically and more with the idea that he expressed. It hardly matters what the name of the guy is, and the fact that he is a famous, celebrated, talked-too-often-about figure doesn't exonerate him from criticism. It's the sentiment that I am discussing, in a forum for exactly this kind of discussion. It's in the Tebow thread because, well, he said it.

 

My response wasn't intended to say "You should stop talking about this," just that if it's bothersome, turn the channel. People who annoy you consistently aren't the problem, it's you allowing them to do that.

 

I'm with you in the "not a fan of Tim Tebow" category - for whatever reason. He doesn't bother me, though, because I don't let him. It's very liberating.

[zoogs]

Oh, yes. I like the guy enough, I root for him to do well. Following his success and Tebow Time last season was a blast. He doesn't particularly bother me, the idea expressed and how commonplace it is, is what I am getting at. I feel it's worth arguing against. That an otherwise very admirable athlete is an advocate of it...well, it's understandable.

 

I want to be clear, I'm not trying to get into the "Tim Tebow is too open about his beliefs" discussion here. I think I agree with you there, just turn off the channel.

[knapplc]

I don't see what he's doing (or what most Christians are doing) as any different than trying to encourage a guy to become a fan of your team.

 

I also think Tebow is more the product of a media storm created by the confluence of Urban Meyer, the SEC, ESPN's SEC love-fest, and some pretty good teams built around him. He then benefited greatly from the Bronco defense last year, and through some bizarre convoluted process he's got this self-sustaining celebrity thing going on. To me, he's the Kim Kardashian of football. He's popular for being popular more than anything else, and now that he's popular whatever he does is greatly magnified by the press. Then we talk about it, the press sees us talk about it, and they cover him more.

 

 

 

Just wait until some bad thing comes out about the guy. Nobody is totally flawless. He'll have forgotten to leave some waitress a tip at a restaurant, he'll get busted jaywalking, he'll forget to rewind his VHS tape before he returns it to Blockbuster, then we'll have several news cycles about "what happened to Tim Tebow" and the ball will keep rolling.

[JJ Husker]

Zoogies- I can accept that you feel more tolerance and more diversity is what is needed. Heck, I won't even argue with that. However, I tend to agree with Tebow's position that more of a "one nation under God" mentality would help but that in no way implies that it should be at the expense of others religious beliefs or their freedom from being subjected to others beliefs. I understand that many will think a self professed Christian proposing this must mean that "what this country needs is more Christianity" I just don't take it that way. I may be wrong but I think he is a genuine guy simply trying to do what he feels is best with the open mic the media has provided him. I guess what struck me about your post that made me even comment was that you found his position "distasteful". I tend to take it more as that is his position because he honestly and truly feels that would help the country. He may be wrong and you may be right but I personally have trouble faulting a guy for proposing something that has worked for him and that he feels would benefit the country as a whole. It may be misguided but I don't think it falls under distasteful. That's all I was getting at.

[Mavric]

Nice one liner, but incorrect. What I'm not accepting of is his lack of acceptance. That's an extremely important distinction that you should understand.

 

I don't have a problem with Christians. I have a problem with Christians who feel that everybody needs to be Christian.

 

To draw an analogy, it is like Person A saying "We need less discriminators in the world" and Person B countering by pointing out, "But you're discriminating against discriminators!"

 

Sounds clever, but it really isn't.

His "lack of acceptance" is his belief. Thus, you don't accept his belief. To try to wash it away in semantics is disingenuous at best. You can't claim you are accepting then explicitly state you're not accepting in the next sentence. It just cannot be both ways. You are free to say that you feel that your belief is better than his belief but that would also be what you are criticizing him for.

 

 

You also try to have it both ways in your second paragraph. Christians believe that everyone should be Christians. Some do a lot more about that belief than others but that doesn't change the belief. What you're really saying is you are more accepting of Christians who don't take their faith as seriously. Again, you are entitled to your opinion but you should at least be honest about it.

 

Incidentally, I would be 99.9% certain that if you were to ask Tebow, he would not consider himself better than anyone else, regardless of religion. You are somewhat skewing his words when you say he has a "lack of acceptance". He isn't putting himself above anyone else but he is saying his religion is better - there is a distinction there. A great example is Ron Brown and Ameer Abdullah - they obviously don't believe the same things but they are respectful of the other's belief and have a good relationship.

 

As you are fond of analogies, Tebow would be making a distinction between two roads both of which seem to be heading to the same place but one of them has a bridge out. It doesn't matter how good of a driver you are, you aren't going to get where you're trying to go by taking the road with the bridge out.

 

To ask Tebow - or any Christian - along with most other religions to be more "accepting" of other view points is to ask them to go directly against what they believe. Most believe that there are at least a few things that cannot be compromised on to be true that their religion's teachings. Thus, it isn't possible for people who don't believe those same things to be considered followers of that religion. Again, you can believe differently if you choose but if you are saying your belief is better, how is that different than Tebow?

[zoogs]

His "lack of acceptance" is his belief. Thus, you don't accept his belief.

 

You're darn right I don't accept his lack of acceptance. The same way I discriminate against discriminators! I also don't accept the racist or intolerant, which makes me pretty intolerant, too, eh?

 

Sorry, that's a weak argument.

 

However, I tend to agree with Tebow's position that more of a "one nation under God" mentality would help but that in no way implies that it should be at the expense of others religious beliefs or their freedom from being subjected to others beliefs.

 

I don't think that is possible. How does this not come at the expense of the marginalized minorities, whose existence is deemed counter to the needs of this country?

 

I may be wrong but I think he is a genuine guy simply trying to do what he feels is best with the open mic the media has provided him.

 

I will agree with this.

 

As a non-religious person, though, I will object to the suggestion that I ought to be, or that it would be better for the country if there were less people like me, every time and by whomever it is expressed.

[MLB 51]

His "lack of acceptance" is his belief. Thus, you don't accept his belief.

 

You're darn right I don't accept his lack of acceptance. The same way I discriminate against discriminators! I also don't accept the racist or intolerant, which makes me pretty intolerant, too, eh?

 

Sorry, that's a weak argument.

 

However, I tend to agree with Tebow's position that more of a "one nation under God" mentality would help but that in no way implies that it should be at the expense of others religious beliefs or their freedom from being subjected to others beliefs.

 

I don't think that is possible. How does this not come at the expense of the marginalized minorities, whose existence is deemed counter to the needs of this country?

 

I may be wrong but I think he is a genuine guy simply trying to do what he feels is best with the open mic the media has provided him.

 

I will agree with this.

 

As a non-religious person, though, I will object to the suggestion that I ought to be, or that it would be better for the country if there were less people like me, every time and by whomever it is expressed.

You hater you.

[Foppa]

The '700 Club' was named because Pat Robertson, after 16 attempts, a tutor, and cheating...finally achieved that combined number on his SAT's.