St Michael Society

As many of you may already know, Tim Tebow, the Heisman-winning quarterback of the University of Florida, has teamed up with Focus on the Family and his mother to create a pro-life commercial that is scheduled to air during the Super Bowl.  Tebow and CBS are both taking flack from pro-abortion groups over the ad, and it remains to be seen whether CBS will actually air the commercial as planned.  While this is an important topic, this article is not about the pro-life/pro-abortion debate over the ad, and it only tangentially concerns Tebow himself.  Rather this article is about sin.  Let me explain.   

In an article that appeared on ABCnews.com, Daniel Smith, a UF associate professor of political science and faculty adviser for Gators for Choice, noted that whoever wants to pay for an ad during the Super Bowl should be allowed to do so.  However, Smith also pointed out in the same article that this is a switch for Tebow, since many of the eye black biblical verses that he wore during games promoted generic positive thinking rather than polarizing statements.  (During his time at Florida, Tebow has worn John 3:16, Phil 4:13, and Mark 8:36 along with several other verses.)   

I don’t know Dr. Smith, and I don’t know what Tim Tebow believes other than that he is a Christian.  Nevertheless, here is the problem for the Christian (particularly the Catholic) community with Smith’s statement.   Jesus did not and the New Testament does not promote “generic positive thinking.”  While Smith’s characterization of these verses could reflect his own personal misunderstandings about Christianity, I fear that his comments reflect a larger problem among Christians.  The problem is that we have stopped talking about sin, and we do not take the profound way in which sin pervades all of human reality, including our own lives, seriously.  If sin is omitted from the Christian narrative, then it becomes easy to see how Jesus gets transformed into a “great moral teacher,” who teaches us to “love and be nice,” and how the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection get shoved to the background.  After all, without any understanding of sin, all three events — along with the sacrament of penace – become unintelligible.  If Catholics do not possess an accurate and deep understanding of their own sinfulness, then it becomes easy to see why many of them view confession as unnecessary or even obsolete.  We do not go to confession, because we either do not see ourselves as sinners at all or see ourselves as sinners who “are not that bad.”  

 All of this is not to say that we need to return to emphasizing how the fires of hell are licking at our feet if we sin.  Instead, we need to return to preaching how sin destroys human community and prohibits us from really being happy.  We need to emphasize the lives of the saints, who all realized their own sinfulness and their total dependence on the grace and mercy of God to live in holiness and friendship with Him.  In short, we need to stress how Christianity is different from the modern, secular self-help movement.  We need God, his grace, and the sacraments.  We cannot simply help ourselves, because we are sinners.  Once that message is articulated clearly and repeatedly, then it should be easier for the world and Dr. Smith to see that Christianity is promoting something much more profound than generic positive thinking. Remember blessed are those who thirst for righteousness.