A reader writes:
I know the Dish doesn't live and breathe NFL football, but in case you missed it … the wheels fell off the Tebowtrain two days ago, when the Broncos lost to the Bills 40-14. Time to stop talking up his "success". His stats vs the mediocre Bills, when Denver's playoff hopes are in the balance, were lousy. Thirteen completions on 30 attempts with only 185 passing yards. Four interceptions and only one touchdown. Even his running was a paltry 34 yards on 10 scrambles.
He's a terrible quarterback (although he'd be a great tight end and, for what it's worth, he seems to be a good, sincere person – and that's coming from an atheist). But other teams now have game tape of him in action and can prepare their defenses accordingly. A new QB in the league can often get away with "miracles" when no one knows what to expect from them – especially if they possess great running skills like Tebow. But the party is over.
Another writes:
When Junod writes, "[Christianity] does not merely promise paradise down the line, but also in the here-and-now. Through the writings of Saul of Tarsus, it promises nothing less than temporal transformation — believe in this, and you will become an entirely different person"… half the statement is evidence of amnesia.
Anyone who has read the marytrologies knows that Christianity does not promise 'temporal' transformation in the here-and-now but SPIRITUAL transformation. As you probably know Christianity absolutely requires baptism, but even the ancients – especially they – saw a loophole: last-moment converts, such as the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste who were 'baptised in their own blood' or 'baptised in fire'. The martyrologies are filled with transformations that do NOT include physical rescue.
Another also took issue with that passage from Junod:
To the extent Christianity can make that claim at all – and given a theology that posits a fallen terrestrial world inhabited by definitionally flawed beings, it doesn't – every religion can make that claim. All religion contains the element of a personal transformation that comes from faith. A sinner's salvation may offer transcendence, but Christ assures us that it's not in this world – it's in the next. We remain sinners and flawed beings. If Junod is arguing otherwise, he's using a text with which I'm unfamiliar.
More to the point, other religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, are explicit in this "largest claim." They offer moksha and nirvana, not an afterlife of union with God, but enlightenment in human life. In fact, these religions don't even conceive of an afterlife as such – you want to get off the treadmill, not stay on it. Christianity has much to celebrate about its unique theology; Junod has misidentified it.
The Dish 