On Klosterman on Tebow

I recently read a remarkable and humorous take on the whole Tim Tebow fascination sweeping the pop culture landscape. What makes the piece so unique is that it comes at the "Tebow Thing" from a non-Christian, but very honest, frank perspective. The columnist is Chuck Klosterman who is a regular contributor to a rather funny, but also rather coarse, sports journal website co-hosted by ESPN, Grantland. The piece can be found by clicking this link.


I found the whole article to be refreshing. It's probably safe to say that most American Christians are Tebowphiles and the majority of Tebow-dislikers are probably non-Christians. So when Klosterman approached this article with vulnerability, disclosing his hesitancies towards belief in the whole God-helping-Tim-Tebow thing but all the while being open to the possibility of its existence, it impressed me and I respected Klosterman for it.

In the end, Klosterman rightly realizes that this whole controversy is ultimately about faith. And I think that is exactly where God would want the Tebow Thing to lead. If that is the case, if having the conversation about faith is the goal sought, I believe that's one more grain of sand on the scales indicating that perhaps God is behind the Tebow Thing. Regardless of winning or losing, even if Tebow takes a catastrophic hit to the knees that ends his career this Sunday, the platform has been erected -- the conversation is taking place -- God has gotten the attention and interest of the people He loves for just another brief moment. And that brief conversation will give Christ's Body a chance to show people the character of Him who loves them without fail.

The obvious question that someone is bound to ask, and should, is: Well, if Tebow doesn't play another down, how does God get glory from that or how does that prove there is a God behind all of this?

Answer: Any number of ways, many of which depend on Tebow's own response. For the sake of brevity, I'll make two crucial points. First of all, as stated before on this blog, God loves resurrections. Nothing seems to prove his existence more or bring him greater glory than bringing people back when all was gone, for nothing is impossible with God.

Secondly, I would argue that God thrives more on perceived failure than He does on perceived worldly success. In support of that claim I offer nothing more than the indefatigable Persecuted Church. Throughout history, in every place, the Persecuted Church is dealt death after death, destruction after destruction, and yet it continues to expand and excel and win. Victory through defeat. Hope through suffering (Rom 5:3-5). Life through death. And that is just how God would have it. In the world's eyes this is backward. But God's ways have always been backwards to man's. Or is it the other way around?

This is why Klosterman is quite right. In the end it does all come down to faith. For it certainly takes trust to be led through the bad in order to have the good. And a great deal of trust at that when trusting Someone unseen. Which, getting back to Klosterman, is where much of the "cognitive dissonance" comes in. Indeed, how can we trust when our eyes and minds seem to tell us differently? That is a great deal to overcome. But if we are to make it in this life, "overcome" we must. And that is why the Bible so vehemently exhorts us to do so, particularly in its final pages (1 Jn 5:4-5, Rev 2-3, 21:7) .

One more final point in response to Klosterman. He and many other skeptics who think the Tebow Thing not so unfathomable, believe that there are, in fact, valid reasons and statistics for Tebow's and the Broncos' not-so-unfathomable success. They would point to things such as: Coach John Fox's brilliance; the Denver defense growing more cohesive and effective; Tebow's natural physical assets of speed and size, ideally suited for running; among other things.

Well, apparently the whole Tebow Thing may not be solely statistical or even isolated to Tebow or the Denver side of the football. In a Yahoo Sports column, Doug Farrar commented on the admission by Miami Dolphins linebacker Karlos Dansby that the Tebow Thing not only has God written all over it but actually brought some of the Dolphins themselves closer to God.

All of that, of course, by no means proves that God exists. But it is one more grain of sand. And it all comes down, not to proof, but to faith.