A few weeks ago Saturday Night Live performed a skit satirizing Tim Tebow's style of Christianity. In the skit, Jason Sudeikis portrayed Jesus addressing Tebow and the Broncos in the locker room after their come from behind victory over the Chicago Bears. The skit drew the ire of televangelist Pat Robertson who declared it "anti-Christian bigotry."
I don't think the skit was anti-Christian and I even think it may have contained some subtle insights on how to more effectively evangelize our non-Christian, secularized friends and family. The message of the skit seems to be that you don't have to constantly bring up your faith to be a good Christian. I think this approach, like "Bible thumping" is counterproductive and turns people off. I speak from the experience of one who tried to evangelize my family this way and it failed miserably; they didn't want to be around preachy Don. Instead, I believe, we should focus our attention on living our lives in accord with the teachings of Christ, by being living witnesses of His love and mercy. Thus, they will know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35).
Maybe I am reading too much into the skit, but I also think it contains a more direct message that God gives us plenty of gifts to handle life's challenges on our own; that we don't need to be sitting around waiting for a last minute miracle. In the skit (around the 1:00 mark and again at 1:30), Sudeikis' Jesus says to the team, "I need you to meet me half way." Isn't this what God actually does in our real lives? It reminds me of the story of God and the man in the flood.
I don't purport to know a lot about Tim Tebow. He seems genuine and is certainly a likable guy. I have seen a few of his post-game interviews and press conferences. What I think gets under some people's skin is that he constantly brings up God when it's unsolicited and perhaps unwarranted (if that's possible). For example, after one of the games, a reporter asked him about the defensive unit, and his answer was basically, "I didn't see it; I was praying." To non-believers this can seem to be "in their face" or some might even think it disingenuous.
Watch the skit and you decide for yourself.
Well, I will make a couple of de rigueur comments: First, SNL hasn't been funny since 1975 to 1979 when noted Catholic Dan Aykroyd was a writer and the youngest member of the cast. Second, if Tim Tebow were Muslim, and praising Allah, I somehow doubt this skit would have happened.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see "anti-Christian" bigotry - but I do see a fairly lame attempt to gain attention by Pat Robertson.
The final comment about Mormonism being "true, every word of it" basically disassociates the skit from Christianity. What I mean by that is simple - the understanding of Jesus from a Christian perspective and the understanding of Jesus from a Mormon perspective are mutually exclusive. What do I mean by that? This: "Jesus is the literal spirit-brother of Lucifer, a creation (Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15)." The Mormons have a decidedly different view of Jesus than do Christians, who believe that Jesus has always existed and is con-substantial with the Father.
Hence, the Jesus depicted is not the Christian Jesus, so we can all just relax now. Unless we're Mormons. In which case I would still think the skit was moderately humorous, but mostly forgettable.
FB