Tim Tebow's dad wants to convert Catholics in the Philippines?

[Lilsheep88]

"Of the 86 million Filipinos, we estimate that over 65 million have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "

Thats a fallacy. The Gospel is well known, well preached and well distributed in that country that much I can tell you. Where does he get this information from? The CIA? I don’t buy it.

It is unbelievable how far these evangelicals go to discredit the Church… sigh*

 

[Nicea325]

Short of reading the entire site what does Tims father think about Catholics?. I didn’t see any thing negative on the first page of the site and that is as far as I read.

I for one am not tired of Tim Tebow. We need more young men like him who worship God and are not ashamed to do so in public.

LOL! To bad God has not helped him to become a better qb passer in the NFL. Trust me, in a few months no one will remember Tim Tebow.

 

[jonbhorton]

Tom Tebow is a participant in his dad’s “ministry”. If he doesn’t share the same beliefs as his dad, why is he bolstering his dad’s ministry through participation?​

Last week, the parochial vicar, Fr. Vince, wrote an article in the bulletin kind of making fun of Tebow. It didn’t go over well at all, particularly given the amount of Broncos fans in the parish. Fr. Vince is a Bears fan. I don’t like foosball, so I could care less about sports rivalries…

either way, this is the email I just sent off to Fr. Vince:

Fr. Vince,

I have heard your article in last week’s bulletin regarding Tim Tebow didn’t go over too well. Let’s look at the root from which the man springs:

This is his dad’s “ministry”:

btea.org/theplan.asp

"The Philippines, a country comprised of over 7,100 islands, has historically been an area of abuse and conquest.** Of the 86 million Filipinos, we estimate that over 65 million have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ**. Currently, there are 41,949 barangays (villages), and 26,675 (64%) of them have no evangelical church of any kind. In recent years, there has been a tremendous movement of the Holy Spirit in the Philippines, resulting in an unusual spiritual responsiveness, and many Filipinos would believe in Jesus if they were just given the opportunity."

As I understand it, your mother is from the Philippines, correct? I’m sure she, and all your relatives still living there, would be surprised that over 75% of their fellow countrymen have never heard the Gospel. Particularly when ~80% of the country is Roman Catholic. They must belong to the non-Gospel Rite approved by Pope Never Existed And Didn’t Happen.

Given Tebow’s association with, and participation in, his dad’s “ministry”, including helping circumcise kids in villages (asianjournal.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/football-star-tim-tebow-helps-circumcise-pinoy-kids/), I can only conclude he shares his dad’s beliefs. The only conclusion I can draw in total is either that Bob Tebow needs to re-take Mathematics at an elementary level, or he is in fact seeking the divide the Body of Christ. I hope for his sake it is ignorance and not willful hatred of the Catholic Church which inspires these unfortunate beliefs and ministerial practices.

A Bishop punches Arius in mouth and ends up a Saint. Fr. Vince slaps at an Evangelical gnat which buzzes in the face of Holy Mother Church from Sunday sidelines… well, I dunno if you’re gonna be declared a Saint in this age, Fr., but your article, combined with your being one of only 10 priests which took Notre Dame University to task over inviting Obama to speak (ncregister.com/blog/nd_scandal_the_bishops_speak/), I think you’re at least on the way.

Keep fighting the good fight.

In Christ,

Jon Horton
Catechumen

 

[Savior2012]

Sorry I have to rate your post as sour grapes. No disrepect.

No one puts Christ our Savior first more then Tebow. No one has more courage on key issues like abortion, abstinence

It not only important to claim to be a Christian you need to be guilty as charged in actions and deeds.

The Catholic version of Tebow is Jesus Christ: in that it is not about the the person, it is about Christ. There are millions of Catholics at any given moment doing what Tebow has made himself famous for, we just make it about Christ and not the person.

What Tebow has done is taken prayer/Christ that belongs to Christ and made it his own and is now the latest protestant celebrity to hit the scene. That is the sad thing about protestantism is that ultimately it always ends up being about the person and not about Christ.

Example, why is there only one Joel Olsteen and one Lakewood mega-church? Because people go to see Joel first, and Christ second. If it were not about Joel, there would be no need for a stadium converted into a church. He could have several ‘churches’ scattered about teaching about Christ. But, if he did that, the celebrity status would fade.

On the flip-side, the Catholic Church is 1000% Christ first, it is not about the individual. I can attend Mass at any Church and it is the same message. I do not have to seek out an individual to receive it.

The same with our personal life. Do we make a spectacle of our Christ-like actions, or take a back-seat and give all Glory to Him.

(my first post on CAF, i meant for it to be short… my apologies if i rambled a bit much)

 

[CopticChristian]

"Of the 86 million Filipinos, we estimate that over 65 million have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "

Thats a fallacy. The Gospel is well known, well preached and well distributed in that country that much I can tell you. Where does he get this information from? The CIA? I don’t buy it.

It is unbelievable how far these evangelicals go to discredit the Church… sigh*

Well is it Matthew, Mark, Luke or John…or is it confess with your lips and believe with your heart and you will be saved…or is it did you steal, you are a thief…did you lie…you are a liar…or is it do you know if you will go to heaven tonight…you can know…or is it varied and sundry Protestant presentations of getting them into a Bible study…one never knows unless you contact the Tebow dad and ask for clarification of what this gospel is…I doubt that you would get an answer.

Can you tell concerning our Filipino brothers and sisters

"Of the 86 million Filipinos, we estimate that over 65 million have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "

in detail as you understand it, what is the gospel…so I can understand…

I took my own advice and sent the above email…I will let you all know what I get back.

 

[ltwin]

When he said he was building a hospital in the Philippines I initially thought “why”? It’s a poor country to be sure, but its not like we aren’t already doing that. You know, why not just join in the efforts that are already on-going? Anything else would create opposition and division.

How do you know he isn’t building a hospital because there is actually a need for it?

I thought, protestants never go to the Islam or pagan countries, they always go to Catholic countries, and twist the gospel. It’s easier that way, piggybacking off our work.

Protestants have sent missionaries all over the world, not just Catholic countries. Obviously, in a Muslim country its difficult for missionaries to set up shop, that is why indigenous churches are planted and supported the best they can be.

Granted, there is a lot of growth of evangelical Protestantism in traditionally Catholic countries recently. However, that is not a problem that Protestants have to deal with and resolve. In places like the Phillipines and Latin America, Catholicism has had more than enough opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems.

 

[jonbhorton]

Granted, there is a lot of growth of evangelical Protestantism in traditionally Catholic countries recently. However, that is not a problem that Protestants have to deal with and resolve. In places like the Phillipines and Latin America, Catholicism has had more than enough opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems.

What Gospel could they give them which they have not already heard?

The only way to convert them away from the Catholic faith would be to change the Gospel in a manner which makes the Protestant Evangelical “Gospel” more attractive. That’s not preaching the Gospel, it’s called preaching a different gospel… now where have I heard that before?

If they were preaching the same Gospel, the locals would say, “yeah, we already know”.

That Protestants are going to traditionally Catholic countries means only one thing: they do not believe Catholics preach the true Gospel.

That Bob Tebow is misrepresenting the numbers, i.e. 75% of Filipinos have never heard the Gospel, despite 10% being Protestant, 80% Catholic, 5% bumping their head on the floor towards Mecca, and 5% of some other belief system… means, either he sucks at math or he is intentionally going after Catholics to convert them.

The only reason for this is one of two things, or both:

He thinks the Catholic Church doesn’t preach the Gospel and he must reach those poor lost souls lest the burn in the fiery hell of Catholicism.

or

He is seeking to preach his own Gospel.​

If he believed the Catholic Church preaches the correct Gospel, there is no need for his presence. But in fact, he is outright lying about the numbers which only leads me to one of the 3 possibilities: both are the case.

This isn’t surprising given that he doesn’t have the fullness of truth found only in the Catholic Church.

 

[CopticChristian]

How do you know he isn’t building a hospital because there is actually a need for it?

Protestants have sent missionaries all over the world, not just Catholic countries. Obviously, in a Muslim country its difficult for missionaries to set up shop, that is why indigenous churches are planted and supported the best they can be.

Granted, there is a lot of growth of evangelical Protestantism in traditionally Catholic countries recently. However, that is not a problem that Protestants have to deal with and resolve. In places like the Phillipines and Latin America, Catholicism has had more than enough opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems.

I know that the Phillipines has hospitals because I have worked in them…I also know that the Navy has a hospital ship and as I recollect they may or may not travel that area…I made many trips with Operation Smile to the Phillipines…they have doctors, nurses, operating rooms, anesthesia docs…they have Christian Churches…they have lots of stuff including Mormon missionaries and to be honest I don’t recall seeing any Protestants…

 

[couponfit]

We certainly know what his dad thinks of Catholics in the Philippines:

More…
btea.org/theplan.asp

Hey, anyday I can turn on tv and hear about a football player praying versus a football player being arrested for drugs, gambling, or a sexual crime is a really good day. I’d love to have the world filled with the idea of putting christ into our daily lives, successes and even days of pain. To be honest we forgot just how important christ is to others sometimes. Tebow kneels because Tebow believes.

 

[Sherry_G]

I love Tebow Time, he has done more for Christians then most and his courage on issues like abortion are outstanding!

Where is the Catholic version of Tebow? That is the million dollar question.

Try Phillip Rivers for one.

 

[Sherry_G]

How do you know he isn’t building a hospital because there is actually a need for it?

Protestants have sent missionaries all over the world, not just Catholic countries. Obviously, in a Muslim country its difficult for missionaries to set up shop, that is why indigenous churches are planted and supported the best they can be.

Granted, there is a lot of growth of evangelical Protestantism in traditionally Catholic countries recently. However, that is not a problem that Protestants have to deal with and resolve. In places like the Phillipines and Latin America, Catholicism has had more than enough opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems.

The Catholic faith is being taught well. The problem in our secular culture and much of what passes for religion today is being politically correct to the point that the message is lost. What the Catholic Church teaches is the message direct from Jesus. It’s hard to be Catholic. It takes work, it takes self denial, and in todays world it takes guts to stand up for what is right. Many people want to find an easier softer way, so some folks take the easier softer way. The only problem with that is it’s the wrong way. Protestantism, by and large, is a squishy sort of faith that wavers which ever way the wind blows. Just look at what is happeneing (name removed by moderator)rotestant Churches all over…Gay bishops with live in and active sexual partners of the same gender. Women pastors. Faith based on a popular vote of what’s in style. When you say we should look within and “do it better”, I say, not a chance. We look to God, we read the bible and we believe what Jesus taught us. for 2,000 years and counting.

 

[Filii_Dei]

My point being that a true Catholic cannot be “converted” to Protestantism no matter what Bob Tebow tells them.

I haven’t read anything or heard the man speak so I don’t know what he is saying about Catholics. Protestants usually bad mouth us anyway. Again a true Catholic cannot be converted. IMHO

I’m not too sure what you consider as conversion, but if a Catholic can be deceived into believing the Protestant ‘gospel’ (and whatever else Bob Tebow espouses), then he is to intents and purposes ‘converted’.

If you define a ‘true Catholic’ as somebody who knows every particular aspect of his faith that he can defend them against critics, or the strength of faith to shake off even the harshest of lies, then it’s an admirable sentiment, but in reality all it takes is the propagation of lies, and even a devout believer can fall prey to the deception. Just take a look at what happened to Europe five centuries ago. Many were ‘true Catholics’ - believers more earnest or theologians more thoughtful than many of us today - but they were deceived. Can we say that they were never ‘converted’?

To everyone - let’s keep Tim Tebow out of this. Involving him is just going to incite a lot of irrational sentiment depending on how much we love or hate the guy.

 

[Faithdancer]

Anybody that wants to try to convert Filipino Catholics to Protestantism has a very tall order! I don’t pretend to know that much about Filipino culture, but I feel safe in saying that Filipino Catholics are some of the most fanatically devout Catholics around. Just can’t see conversion getting very far with that group of Catholics.

 

[Faithdancer]

Try Phillip Rivers for one.

I did not know that- cool! Rivers is certainly the better quarterback right now, although Tebow is still raw, of course, and we don’t know how good he may be in a few years.

 

[onemangang]

Granted, there is a lot of growth of evangelical Protestantism in traditionally Catholic countries recently. However, that is not a problem that Protestants have to deal with and resolve. In places like the Phillipines and Latin America, Catholicism has had more than enough opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems.

I tend to agree with Itwin in respect to this statement "If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems"

There needs to be better catechesis, and there has been a resurgence of that with the New Media outlets, like this very forum I think that it still needs to grow. I live in Los Angeles and there are huge numbers of ex-catholic hispanics. The Parish priest said that 1 out of every 5 Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. are leaving the Catholic Church to join some sort of evangelical/fundamentalist group.

Most of them have now become very anti-catholic and blame the Catholic Church for their prior lack of belief. (So much for Mea Culpa)

Many of them go on missions after leaving the Church with a virulent anti-catholic message!

I really feel that the New Media is great for Catechesis, but in poorer countries Internet and TV may not be an option. We still have a need to put feet on the ground!

Who knows maybe Tim Tebow will convert If Tim is sincere in deepening his faith, knowledge, and Love of Christ, he will eventually come into the Catholic Church:thumbsup:

Peace and Love in Christ

 

[onemangang]

Anybody that wants to try to convert Filipino Catholics to Protestantism has a very tall order! I don’t pretend to know that much about Filipino culture, but I feel safe in saying that Filipino Catholics are some of the most fanatically devout Catholics around. Just can’t see conversion getting very far with that group of Catholics.

You would be surprised!
I am a re-vert, but I did attend a evangelical/fundamentalist “church” in Greater Los Angeles. It was comprised of around 60 people, all but 3 were either Filipino or Hispanic. Un-catechized transcends race, culture and class!

 

[ltwin]

What Gospel could they give them which they have not already heard?

How do you know they have actually heard the gospel? They might have been baptized Catholic, but you can’t assume they’ve been taught much about their faith. That is one of the reasons you guys are losing people in these parts of the world. The Protestants are not successfully evangelizing faithful Catholics. They are evangelizing those that for whatever reason have little connection to the Catholic Church.

The only way to convert them away from the Catholic faith would be to change the Gospel in a manner which makes the Protestant Evangelical “Gospel” more attractive. That’s not preaching the Gospel, it’s called preaching a different gospel… now where have I heard that before?

Or maybe they offer them a Christian faith that is meaningful and transformative, something that, again for whatever reason, they have not found in the Catholic Church.

If they were preaching the same Gospel, the locals would say, “yeah, we already know”.

Or maybe the problem is that some of the locals don’t really know, and it takes people from outside the Catholic culture to come in and not take these people for granted.

That Protestants are going to traditionally Catholic countries means only one thing: they do not believe Catholics preach the true Gospel.

Could be. I’m sure there are Protestants who do believe that. But simply because a Protestant goes to a Catholic country and preaches the Gospel does not mean that he assumes that Catholicism does not preach the Gospel. It just means that Protestants and Catholics have a different idea as to what membership in a particular church means. Many Protestants recognize the Catholic Church as Christian, but they don’t recognize that simply being Catholic means you’ve been converted. It’s about conversion of life for Protestants, and if there are Catholics who for whatever reason do not have any connection to their Catholic faith then they need to be reached with the Gospel.

That Bob Tebow is misrepresenting the numbers, i.e. 75% of Filipinos have never heard the Gospel, despite 10% being Protestant, 80% Catholic, 5% bumping their head on the floor towards Mecca, and 5% of some other belief system… means, either he sucks at math or he is intentionally going after Catholics to convert them.

Yes, it could be both and it could be that he is deliberately exaggerating the numbers so people who hear him will think the Philippines is a huge mission field and will support his work.

The only reason for this is one of two things, or both:

He thinks the Catholic Church doesn’t preach the Gospel and he must reach those poor lost souls lest the burn in the fiery hell of Catholicism.

or

He is seeking to preach his own Gospel.

That is a possibility

If he believed the Catholic Church preaches the correct Gospel, there is no need for his presence. But in fact, he is outright lying about the numbers which only leads me to one of the 3 possibilities: both are the case.

I agree, the numbers are bogus. But for your first sentence to be true, you have to assume that 1) The Catholic Church is such an amazing organization that they can guarantee 100% effectiveness in reaching Filipinos with the Gospel. 2) You would also have to assume that all of the Filipino Catholics are faithful Catholics, that they believe what the Church believes, and they did what the Church said to do. If that were the case, then the Philippines should be heaven on earth.

 

[ltwin]

I know that the Phillipines has hospitals because I have worked in them…I also know that the Navy has a hospital ship and as I recollect they may or may not travel that area…I made many trips with Operation Smile to the Phillipines…they have doctors, nurses, operating rooms, anesthesia docs…they have Christian Churches…they have lots of stuff including Mormon missionaries and to be honest I don’t recall seeing any Protestants…

So what are you saying? That the Filipinos should be satisfied with their medical system as is? Or is it only Catholics and the Navy who should be able to build hospitals?

I know of two Protestant Filipinos. They were members of our church (of course, they had immigrated to the US). Very nice people. The grandmother was Catholic and went to the local Catholic Church, but this couple was Pentecostal. I also know there is at least one Protestant church in that country, the one that my church helped build there. Don’t ask me where.

 

[JustaServant]

As a Person of Filipino heritage… Catholicism has always been part of our rich cultural
History and national identity, in the same way Portuguese / Italians, Mexicans / Hispanics / Poles / the Irish hold it as a part of theirs. Although yes, there have been alot of Protestant movements in the past decade, lke Jesus is Lord or the Church of Christ, I doubt this will ever gain any significant ground to the point that Protestanism will be embraced wide scale by a majority of the population. The majority of Filipinos are still very rooted in their Catholic faith. For instance, every major Catholic Holy Day is almost always observed with great reverence… The church has always played an important role in politics as well, and is often considered as the third party after the House and the President and often vetoes decisions that oppose Catholic values and act as a check and balance to keep the ultra-corrupt in check (ie: RH Bill, Marcos regime, etc). Church and state are strongly tied in that country and perhaps the only relationship that still exists in the world.

Thank you. This is precisly why I asked for Filipino Catholics to chime in. This is their country. To hear some arrogant Baptist preacher announce 65 million in your country have “never heard the Gospel”, must sound racist as well as anti-Catholic.

I ask for more Filipino Catholics to chime in about their “heathen” country.

 

[JustaServant]

In places like the Phillipines and Latin America, Catholicism has had more than enough opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. If the Catholic Church is having a problem retaining the baptized, then maybe they should look within themselves as to what they could be doing better instead of blaming others for their own problems.

Of the 86 million Filipinos, we estimate that over 65 million have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What “Gospel” are the Catholics not preaching?