[Photo from Mania.com]Tebow did it again, proving he is one heck of a football player.
But could he have done it without the help of his god? That's the real question.
It seems he's had the Lord's help all along. Because of a Florida law passed in 1996, Tebow, a home-schooled child, was allowed to play football for a public high school which he did not attend. The christianists have lots of power in Florida.
All that is water under the bridge, as they say. The real point of interest is Tebow's bible verse. Watching the game last night, I wondered how those Oklahoma defensive linemen felt looking up to see Tebow's ferocious face flaunting "John 3:16"? Yikes! Did they think, "Uh, oh, God's gonna get us!"
Yup, Tim changed the verse. Perhaps Tim figured for a big bowl game in which he certainly wanted his god's help, Phil. 4:13 was too prideful: "I can do all things..." So, Tim took out the "I," and scribbled a reference to another verse which stresses God's love, or lack thereof:
John 3:16 - "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life."
This verse has been the rallying cry for christianists for years, and is why they go off to convert little heathen kids in the Philippines, India, Israel, etc.
That's because they interpret it as being exclusionary; those who don't have faith are excluded from God's love and will burn forever in hellfire. But that is not a necessary or necessarily correct interpretation of the verse. In fact, the verse says nothing about the fate of those who do not have faith in God's "only Son." Furthermore, what kind of god "loves" the world but then sends most of its inhabitants to an eternal torture chamber?
We must also wonder why the verse promises that those with faith will never die, when it is obvious that everyone dies?
Notice, too, there is nothing in that verse about atonement, or Jesus' death being a propitiatory sacrifice offered to assuage our "guilt" and appease the God. Actually, the verse does not define what "faith in him" means at all.
The Gospel of John, author unknown, was written in the 2nd century by a nasty anti-Semite, steeped in the Gnostic tradition and the traditions of the Mystery Religions. The Gospel of John
ignores the more Jewish Jesus of the Synoptics and presents a mystical, heavenly being who descended from heaven to save the world.
John 3:16 is simply a summary of one more version of the Pagan Mystery religions. The same story had been told over and over again for centuries: God sent his son, often born of a virgin, most often on December 25, frequently in a cave or manger, in order to save the world, who then dies, most of the time on a cross, is buried, usually in a cave, and then is resurrected and returns to heaven. Those who have faith (learn the secrets of his truth) will find God.
That's the story told by the Gospel of John. It was an ancient and well-known story in the first century CE.
So maybe God had nothing to do with the Gators' win? Maybe Tebow and his teammates did it all by themselves with no help from the three Christian deities? Maybe he didn't need to scribble on his face?
But some people are scared to death of the Bible. It's a magic book, filled with all kinds of dire predictions and promises and fearsome gods.
Perhaps that's why Tebow wore the verse on his face; not because he thought he manipulate God into giving him "strength" to win a victory, but simply to scare the hell out of the Sooners!
