A raunchy website that facilitates extramarital affairs has announced it will award one-million dollars to any person who can prove that New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow has engaged in a sexual relationship.
Since the onset of his success at the University of Florida to his ascent in the NFL, Tim Tebow has endured a litany of personal attacks. He’s been mocked for attempting to live up to the tenets of his Christian faith, including his willingness to publicly evangelize and pledge celibacy prior to getting married.
That a website dedicated to promoting sexual activity outside of marriage has served up such a distasteful offer shouldn’t surprise us, but it should sadden even Tim’s harshest critic, and here’s why:
To mock that which is good and wholesome, to ridicule behavior that is very much in the best interest of all, is to sneer at not just the morals of one man, but the very virtues society should strive to embody and lift up.
Such an offer is also demeaning to women. Setting aside the scriptural incompatibility of extramarital affairs, sexual liaisons beyond the bounds marriage degrade both individuals, but especially women because of the emotional attachment tied to intimacy.
In many ways these types of stories illustrate just how differently two people can view the world. For example, the website’s founder took it upon herself to give Tim some advice.
“If Mr. Tebow is indeed abstaining from adult relationships,” she suggested, “I would encourage him to find a nice lady or two and enjoy his youth and fame as much as possible.”
Having spent a little bit of time with Tim and knowing people who know him well, I can guarantee you that Tim is thoroughly enjoying his life.
It is one of the great lies of a fallen world, really, that sin will satiate. It never does. Oh, it may look tempting, but since the fall of man in the Garden, history has confirmed that sin does not satisfy our most deeply held desires, it only corrodes and destroys.
I suspect that Tim will publicly ignore this latest personal slap, and rightly so. In doing so, he would be keeping with the advice of the apostle Paul. The great architect of the first century church endured far more than Tim or any of us has had to put up with living out our faith, but his words are nevertheless instructive the next time we are mocked because of our Christian beliefs:
“I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).
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