Tim Tebow’s Prayer Life – Not Very 2K
Posted: January 9, 2012 Filed under: Two Kingdom Theology | Tags: jockey underwear, sermon on the mount matthew, tim tebow 3 CommentsSkye Jethani author of WITH: Reimagining The Way You Relate To God has posted a “something to think about” article in relation to Tim Tebow and his ever so public confession of faith.
Jethani writes,
But Tim Tebow’s behavior on the field does raise important questions about prayer and how Christians ought to practice it. Andrew Sullivan criticized Tim Tebow saying his public prayers violate Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) where he taught his followers to pray in private: “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6)
For myself, I have a hard time discerning the issue at hand,those that confess Jesus Christ has their Savior and play sports for a living. Not that an athlete cannot be a Christian, but more-so the issue of how the two relate. Later in the article Jethani seems to get to an important issue with Tebow and today’s Christians,
When Christians live and display their religious lives online it can lead to precisely the danger Jesus warns about–seeking the approval of people rather than intimacy with God. I once heard a relationship counselor say, “There can be no intimacy without privacy.”
Maybe if Tim Tebow was a proponent of/for Two-Kingdom living, he would not have such issues of praying like the hypocrites, let alone being a Jockey underwear model.
You can read Skye’s whole article here. It’s worth 2-3 mins of your time and thought.
Gospel-Centered Musings 
A couple of things: first, Jesus’ talking about praying in private doesn’t preclude praying in public. One way to follow Matthew 5:16 is to pray publicly, being aware that one’s life is now being scrutinized. The quote, “There can be no intimacy without privacy” seems to assume that the only time he prays is in public, which I daresay is quite an assumption.
Do you hold hands with or kiss your wife in public? Does doing so mean that you don’t do that behind closed doors? Of course not.
Second, I’m not sure I follow with what the problem of being an underwear model is. It’s not as if he were opting to be a porn star. The statement itself seems to indicate you think a person cannot be a Christian in that vocation or that it somehow damages the cause of Christ.
You say “Second, I’m not sure I follow with what the problem of being an underwear model is…” So your fine with your mom, wife, or daughter as a underwear model? I never said one cannot be a Xian or not, I simply find it hard to claim Christ, and yet be a sex model for advertisements lust.
You said, “I simply find it hard to claim Christ, and yet be a sex model for advertisements [of?] lust.”
I don’t think being an underwear model necessitates being a sex model. I know I don’t know you at all…and maybe if you read my blog you would think I was a little off anyway. But as a man who resists temptation by the Gospel of Christ taking root in my life by faith, I think what you said first assumes way too much about Tebow’s intention and, second, I think the closer analogy would be my son or father (of which, I only have a dad since I’m not married). I would be perfectly fine with my father being an underwear model if he picked up a few muscles along the way, sure.