We may never know what really caused football player Tim Tebow to cancel his scheduled appearance at the virulently anti-gay First Baptist Church of Dallas. As prior posts on this blog noted, Tebow - who I think often acts like a pretentious Pharisee through his public displays of supposed religiosity - was to have appeared in the company of Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church who has a horrific record on gay bashing and slandering and denigrating LGBT individuals in general. The Dallas Voice looks at Tebow's change of heart. Not surprisingly, First Baptist is trying to deny just how ugly Jeffress has made the "Christian" message. Here are article highlights:
Christian quarterback Tim Tebow announced this morning via Twitter that he was canceling his visit to First Baptist Church of Dallas “due to new information that has been brought to my attention.”
Perhaps that new information was how anti-gay First Baptists’ Pastor Robert Jeffress is, if anyone didn’t already know. Tebow was scheduled to share a “message of hope and Christ’s unconditional love,” but the athlete was criticized for agreeing to speak at such an anti-gay church.
A petition started on Change.org requested he cancel and affirm his inclusive views of the everyone, including the LGBT community.
First Baptist released a statement that said media reports had “grossly misrepresented past comments” by Jeffress. After his cancellation, they released a statement that the church was “saddened that Mr. Tebow felt pressure to back out of his long-planned commitment.”
Here's First Baptist's full CYA statement:
Statement by First Baptist Church Dallas re: Tim Tebow’s Cancellation of His First Speaking Engagement at First Baptist Church in April during Grand Opening Celebration February 21, 2013
The leaders and congregation of First Baptist Church Dallas are disappointed that New York Jets’ Quarterback Tim Tebow has announced he will no longer speak at First Baptist Church Dallas on April 28, 2013, as part of the month-long celebration events surrounding the grand opening of our new $130 million, state-of-the-art campus on Easter Sunday.
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. We are saddened that Mr. Tebow felt pressure to back out of his long-planned commitment from numerous New York and national sports and news media who grossly misrepresented past comments made by our pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, specifically related to issues of homosexuality and AIDS, as well as Judaism.
As a Christian pastor, Dr. Jeffress takes a biblical approach to moral and social issues, closely following his duty to preach ‘the whole counsel of God,’ and not just address issues that are politically correct. First Baptist is a church built on the truth of Scripture, even though at times that approach can be perceived as controversial or counter to the prevailing winds of culture.
The reason for the recent media firestorm is not because the Word of God has changed, but because society has changed.
More important, contrary to editorializing in the media, Dr. Jeffress shares a message of hope, not hate; salvation, not judgment; and a Gospel of God’s love, grace and new beginnings available to all.
Frankly, I don't believe a word of the First Baptist statement which might be best described as a fairy tale if one knows Jeffress' history. Indeed, under Jeffress, First Baptist Church has become best know as a messenger of hate. And when it refers to "Dr. Jeffress' biblical approach to moral and social issue,s" the statement utterly ignores the selective picking an choosing of which Bible passages can be conveniently ignored. The truth be told, Jeffress and First Baptist represent the hideous face of conservative Christianity which is driving the under 50 generations to leave organized religion entirely. If Tebow has any sense, he will never reschedule and never set foot in a hate filled church like First Baptist.
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