Tim Tebow criticized by church pastor for ‘wimping out’ on scheduled appearance
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow (15) prays with members of both teams after the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Jets at EverBank Field. (Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports)
The Chosen One just can’t catch a break these days. Only days before Tim Tebow was scheduled to speak at the grand opening of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Tebow cancelled his appearance following a massive outcry from the general public.
Tebow was supposed to be in attendance at the unveiling of the Church’s new $130 million building (money which definitely should not have gone to feeding the hungry or housing the homeless, because that’d be too beneficent). After it was brought to the quarterback’s attention that the pastor of First Baptist, Dr. Robert Jeffress, is an anti-Semitic, racist individual, however, Tebow wisely skipped the circus.
[Related: Tebow's full statement, via Twitter, can be found here]
Now, according to USA Today, Jeffress fired back at Tebow’s decision in his sermon on Sunday.
“I am grateful for men of God like these who are willing to stand up and act like men rather than wimping out when it gets a little controversial and an inconvenient thing to stand for the truth,” Jeffress said. “God bless men like that.”
“There are some people who would say ‘God’s given me a different ministry. God has called me to go preach about the love of God. I’m not called to preach about sin and controversial things. I’ve been called to preach about the love of God. And they’re sincere when they say that. But they are sincerely wrong. The fact is you cannot talk about the love of God. The love of God has no meaning whatsoever unless you understand the judgment of God that all of us deserve.”
Tebow has not responded publicly to Jeffress’ sermon, which in this case is probably the wisest move to make. As for the Church itself, the response to Tebow’s cancellation was far more reasonable. They responded to losing out on the most marketable Christian in the world in a statement last week.
“Mr. Tebow called Dr. Jeffress Wednesday evening saying that for personal and professional reasons he needed to avoid controversy at this time, but would like to come to First Baptist Dallas to speak at a future date,” a statement read.
If you thought Tebow’s time in New York was mayhem, or that whatever city Tebow ends up in in 2013 is going to be crazy — well, you’re right.
However, all of it pales in comparison to whatever is going on in the mind of Jeffress, who is so far off the reservation that is is not even funny, but literally offensive.
Go to the 7:23 mark of the video and see for yourself.
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