A happy product of Tim Tebow’s persistent success has been the production of another proof for the existence of God. St. Paul in Romans 1:20, Aquinas’ five ways, Anselm’s ‘that than which,’ and Kant’s moral argument: Tim Tebow’s proof finds itself amidst sanctificetur disputatio. Allowing as an initial premise that all states of affairs in which obvious divine intervention occurs are states of affairs in which God exists, the Tebowlogical argument, in austere formulation, might run something like this:
1. If the Broncos score in the next 11 seconds, then the Broncos will win against the Steelers.
2. If the Broncos score and win, then it will be because of divine intervention.
3. But Tim Tebow plays for the Broncos.
C: Divine intervention necessarily obtains; the Broncos will score and win.
Because the conclusion coheres with reality (Demaryius Thomas caught an 80 yard pass from Tim Tebow, scoring a game-winning touchdown), we can therefore assume that ours is a state of affairs in which God exists.
Unfortunately, arguments from design like the Tebowlogical argument cannot withstand arguments from evil. So, if the Broncos do end up losing to New England on Saturday, advocates of the Tebowlogical argument are in trouble. Dr. William Irwin, a philosophy professor at King’s College in Pennsylvania, objects on different grounds:
“But the idea that God intervenes in NFL games is absurd. If God exists, he is not responding to Tebow’s prayers by helping him win games. God is, by definition, perfect-all knowing, all powerful, and all good. This means that God always will do all and only the right and best things. If he failed to do so, he would not be God. But either helping the Broncos win is the best thing to do, or it isn’t. If it is the best thing to do, then God will do it. That is what God does: the best thing.”
Even if Dr. Irwin is right that petitionary prayer is not efficacious and the concept violates divine immutability, he must then admit that, as far as anyone can tell, God is doing what is best by allowing Tim Tebow to win. Next will be to discern the biblical references in his total passing yards for each game: Against the Steelers, he had 316.
Thanks to Siris
January 11th, 2012 | 2:11 pm
It could be that God allows the Broncos to win for reasons that have nothing to do with Tim Tebow. Or, more likely it could be that the outcome of the games are determined by a combination of the skill of the football players and random factors which, if they work in one’s favor, are called good luck.
I was recently set wondering how contrary to the laws of chance an event has to be to qualify as proof of something. In New York, one can chose to play any of three main lotteries: Powerball, Mega Millions, and Lotto. If I hold tickets for all three and announce that I am asking God to make me win them all as proof of his existence, if I do win all three, how convincing is that as a proof of God’s existence? What if I hold a ticket to every lottery in the United States (43 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) and win them all? Certainly the odds are so stupendous that it would mean something. What, though, if I said it was to prove that Methodism was the only Christian denomination with God’s approval. Would winning 46 lotteries simultaneously cause all Christians to become Methodists? I don’t think so.
January 11th, 2012 | 2:24 pm
“If God exists, he is not responding to Tebow’s prayers by helping him win games.”
I have seen several comments such as this so far this year. However, I think they are misguided comments. I am almost positive that Tebow is not asking God to help him win games. If anyone has inside information to the contrary, I’d like to see it.
January 11th, 2012 | 3:03 pm
Craig Payne:
This might be pertinent.
January 11th, 2012 | 3:38 pm
David Nickol,
Notice he laughed about it. Not exactly a smoking gun that Tebow believes that God wants the Broncos to win.
He wants to win and he also prays a lot. Sometimes these 2 overlap. Most believers overlap their wants with their prayers and understand that God isn’t obligated in any way to give us what we want.
January 11th, 2012 | 4:21 pm
Does Tebow really believe God fixes ballgames?
Somehow I doubt that he really could believe that. Surely he has lost plenty of times, and knows perfectly well that God is not his to command.
January 11th, 2012 | 4:26 pm
Steve Billingsley.
It’s perfectly all right with me if people pray to win. I well remember at high school basketball games (I went to a Catholic high school) that every player making a free throw made the Sign of the Cross first. As I recall, it was sometimes said you should pray to do your best, rather than playing to win. I really don’t believe God decides the outcomes of NFL games, but there would probably be a lot less prayer in the world if people didn’t pray to win or pray for their teams to win. It is Craig Payne who seems to think something would be amiss if Tebow prayed to win.
Remember that the Catholic Bishops promoted a novena “for an outcome of the November [2008] election which is pleasing to Almighty God, and which best serves the eternal and temporal interests of all of His children.” Everyone (including God) knew that meant McCain should win, but unless the prayer went unanswered, Obama was God’s pick. :P
How many people who play the lottery don’t pray to win the big jackpot?
January 11th, 2012 | 4:51 pm
Dear David: Actually, all I said was that I didn’t think Tebow was praying that his team would win. But maybe he was, according to the information you supplied.
Yes, I do think that would be something of a problem. Probably with most people (including Tebow, I would bet) the phrase “if it is Thy will” is understood in most such prayers.
I would bet most of Tebow’s prayers are more along the line of “Protect us from harm” and “Help us to do our best.” But who knows?
January 11th, 2012 | 4:54 pm
“Remember that the Catholic Bishops promoted a novena “for an outcome of the November [2008] election which is pleasing to Almighty God, and which best serves the eternal and temporal interests of all of His children.” Everyone (including God) knew that meant McCain should win.”
No. It absolutely does not mean that. Sorry, but on this point you are in the position of Tebow’s critics, who assume he is praying for a barely-concealed outcome already assumed to be God’s will. That is where I think the mistake lies.
Of course, as I said, if in fact Tebow is praying in such a way, then I’m wrong. But the bishops were not praying in that way.
January 11th, 2012 | 5:16 pm
In an interview I watched Tebow said that he does not pray for the Broncos to win but for God to be glorified whatever the outcome. That sounds like something all Christians could pray in perfect good faith.
January 11th, 2012 | 5:52 pm
Barry Arrington,
Is it really all that important that Tim Tebow be perfect in every way? Will his image be tarnished if it’s proven he prayed for an opposing team to miss a field goal? Give the guy a break.
January 11th, 2012 | 8:24 pm
“Will his image be tarnished if it’s proven he prayed for an opposing team to miss a field goal? Give the guy a break.”
Tebow needn’t be perfect, no. But why does Barry need to affirm that he wouldn’t be upset by discovering something for which there is no evidence, and consistent claims to the contrary from an apparently honest person?
The problem with the claims that Tebow prays for the Broncos to win isn’t so much that it would be foolish (though depending on the manner in which he did it, it would be) it’s that they’re *not true and not even warranted accusations.* I don’t have to think a guy’s beyond criticism to be annoyed by the fact that people keep accusing him of something he has made clear that he doesn’t do.
January 11th, 2012 | 8:35 pm
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1025.htm#article6
January 11th, 2012 | 9:43 pm
The touchdown pass and catch and run were stunning, beautiful, wonderful. The essence of beauty and exhilaration. Transcendent. Like the stunning beauty of an Alpine landscape. That’s my argument.
January 11th, 2012 | 11:35 pm
So the Tebowological argument is really a sort of teleological argument, since it is goal-oriented?
(I just crack myself up sometimes.)
January 12th, 2012 | 7:29 am
I, along with Tim, have been content with the knowledge that God not only exists but is a Gator fan because the sun is Orange and the sky is Blue.
January 12th, 2012 | 11:12 am
“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thes 5:16-18)
We make fun of athletes who “pray for touchdowns” because it seems so frivolous; we should be praying for the cure for cancer, or to end children’s suffering, or for peace on earth, etc. As if those who pray are the simpletons that snarky critics make them out to be, as though prayer were the equivalent of begging and/or sycophancy. This contrived controversy exposes the ignorance of the critic, not the simplicity of the praying man.
I believe Tebow is praying for a win (among other things) because it is so obviously frivolous and yet so relatively important in his vocation. He is not praying against the Steelers’ success, he is praying that his efforts bear fruit, thanking the Lord for a small fraction of His glory. For those of us who “pray constantly,” none of this is foreign.
Prayer is never frivolous. It is conscious contact with our creator here and now creating us. We unite ourselves to its power in all things, big and small, because even the “biggest” challenges in our lives are infinitesimal when compared to the divine will.
Read Plato’s Euthyphro for the foundational discussion of the logic of praying: in our imperfection, if we were logical we would only ever pray for one thing, which is, to do God’s will. But prayers are not simple petitions. They are an active expression of the longing to be united with the power that sustains us and all creation. If you do not seek that ultimate union in moments of great professional glory, your priorities are out of whack.
Such fools who look for proof of God in success! He is more than the granter of petitions! While the untutored irreligious are bickering over whether a holy man’s public witness constitutes a reason for his success, that holy man is using even that inane debate (as presented tongue-in-cheek by Misulia above) to glorify the power of God.
Whether you think Tebow’s football is guided by angels or not, you cannot deny the fierceness of his conviction, a conviction that is admirable per se, a component of the confidence that allows for his fearlessness and therefore success. He has demonstrated the perfect compatibility of faith and accomplishment and humility, bringing a model of inspiration into secular dominions, encouraging thousands of young men who would otherwise be timid in their faith.
P.S. I am the biggest Steelers fan there is.
January 12th, 2012 | 2:13 pm
According to a survey I just stumbled across, of people who are aware of Tim Tebow, 43% believe that at least some part of his success can be attributed to divine intervention.
January 12th, 2012 | 3:21 pm
Dear King (and also David Nickol): I have been trying to formulate my dissatisfaction to myself, and I think I have come up with something.
The problem with praying to win a football game is not because it is frivolous; I agree with King that to many people, especially those directly involved, it is not frivolous at all, and besides, many people pray for much that is quite a bit more frivolous.
The problem is that in a football game, praying to win is a zero-sum situation. I have no problem with praying for God’s blessings over endeavors; I do it all the time. “Lord, help this garden to do well,” for example. However, for God to bless my garden does not involve a corresponding lack of blessing for someone else.
If I pray, on the other hand, “Lord, help my team to win,” I am also praying, “Make the other team lose.” This is what seems troublesome to me.
Is this just nit-picking? Or is it a problem?
January 12th, 2012 | 3:25 pm
I just saw that King already commented, “He is not praying against the Steelers’ success, he is praying that his efforts bear fruit.”
I will even go that far: “Lord, help my efforts and hard work bear fruit.” But if I pray for a win, I don’t see how I am not praying that the other team lose.
January 12th, 2012 | 5:49 pm
43% believe that at least some part of his success can be attributed to divine intervention.
Of course some part of his success can be attributed to divine intervention.
If you believe in God, then how can you not believe in that?
But what is it you’re supposing this means?
January 12th, 2012 | 5:54 pm
Craig,
Isn’t that a problem, though, with all prayers of petition? The old example I recall from grade school is that one might pray for a sunny day for a picnic at the same time farmers are praying for rain.
The great problem I see with prayers of petition is that often a person is trying to persuade God, and of course God can’t be persuaded, and also, he is outside of time. Thomas Aquinas had some things to say about this, and I confess I hardly understand them at all, so I suppose I should not try to explain them. But there is an old thread over at Commonweal in which these issues are discussed, and Fr. Komonchak’s comments are quite fascinating.
January 12th, 2012 | 6:59 pm
If you believe in God, then how can you not believe in that?
Blake,
I take divine intervention to mean that God is directly manipulating events in the game so as to help Tebow and the others on the Broncos perform better, and perhaps causing the members of the opposing team to perform less well, in order to make the Broncos win. If any other entity but God did that, it would be cheating. I suppose, if God wants to, he can fix a football came and not be accused of cheating, but certainly the expectation in football is that the players on the field are relying on their own skills and abilities and are not benefitting from outside interference. If God is performing discreet miracles to make the Broncos win, what is happening is not really a football game. It is the illusion of a football game.
January 12th, 2012 | 8:19 pm
I take divine intervention to mean that God is directly manipulating events in the game so as to help Tebow and the others on the Broncos perform better . . .
Also, God could use gusts of wind to the Broncos’ advantage, influence the calls of the referees, determine the outcome of the coin toss, etc. Or he could let the game take its course and then at the end change everyone’s memories and all recordings of the game so that the game that was actually played is totally forgotten, and a game entirely of his own invention could be substituted. :P
January 13th, 2012 | 10:35 am
I’m pretty sure Tebow is praying for strength and the ability to be a good witness, not winning a game.
January 13th, 2012 | 11:20 pm
I take divine intervention to mean that God is directly manipulating events in the game so as to help Tebow and the others on the Broncos perform better,
The question is whether the people taking the poll share that definition.
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