This morning, in a series of tweets, outspoken Christian and football player Tim Tebow announced that he was withdrawing the scheduled sermons he was set to deliver on April 28th at the First Baptist Church of Dallas.
Condensed for easier reading:
While I was looking forward to sharing a message of hope and Christ's unconditional love with the faithful members of the historic First Baptist Church of Dallas in April, due to new information that has been brought to my attention, I have decided to cancel my upcoming appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those needing a brighter day. Thank you for all of your love and support. God Bless!
Tebow drew heavy criticism for his decision to participate at Robert Jeffress' homophobic, anti-Islam, anti-Jew, anti-Catholic mega-church. Gregg Doyel of CBSsports.com
did not mince words in his assessment of Tebow's appearance.
Tim Tebow is about to make the biggest mistake of his life. Tebow has agreed to speak at a hateful Baptist preacher's church, an evangelical cretin named Robert Jeffress who does the work of the Lord sort of like Westboro Baptist in Topeka, Kan., does the work of the Lord. Jeffress isn't as bad as Westboro. He doesn't send his flock to funerals of U.S. soldiers and have his sheep yell awful things. ... But he comes close. Too close.
He believes, he has said, 'It's a fact that (AIDS is) a gay disease so there's a reasonable reason to exclude gays from the military.' Jeffress is a bad guy. He says Jews and homosexuals are going to hell. He says the Catholic church is a satanic cult. He says Islam 'is a religion that promotes pedophilia — sex with children.
One has to wonder what the man was thinking to involve himself with such a hateful organization to begin with. That being said, he deserves credit for coming to his senses and realizing that many people would have taken his involvement as confirmation that he supported Jeffress' bigoted views. I applaud any Christian who acknowledges that the fundamental tenet of their faith should revolve around love, not hate and doesn't use it like a fist against the rest of humanity.
Update: This is cheesing off all the right people. Über-hater Bryan Fischer has a big ol' mad.
Instead of standing with the Christian leader of their day, the disciples of Christ fled like panicked sheep when he came under direct attack. I had thought and hoped Tebow was made of sterner stuff. Tebow needs to clarify and expand on his remarks immediately, and undo this disastrous decision. Dr. Jeffress is a man of unconditional love and will gladly receive him back. If Tim Tebow doesn’t reverse field here, much more than his NFL career is in jeopardy.