Did Tebow “Kiss Dating Goodbye”?

by Motte Brown

I wonder if Tim Tebow ever read Joshua Harris’ I Kissed Dating Goodbye? It seems the Denver Broncos quarterback shares the same philosophy that if you aren’t ready to marry, you aren’t ready to date. At least, that’s what I got out of this excerpt from the USA Today article, “Tebow: The man behind the mania”:

Tebow does not have a girlfriend because he says he is “too busy with football and life and …it’s hard.” He offers no elaboration, deftly and quickly re-routing an interview.

A few minutes later, Tebow, an acknowledged virgin, is asked if he is besieged with women trying to meet him through a variety of social-networking methods.

“Umm, good question,” he says. “I am blessed to have a close-knit (group) around me. I’m not out there doing a lot of things. I guess it is one of the frustrating things where I am (in life). I love meeting and talking with people, socializing and hanging out. But people can read it the wrong way.”

He says he always is “careful about leading girls on.”

“I always want to be very careful about that,” he says. “That is one thing that’s a little frustrating.”

Okay, so maybe it’s a stretch to go from “careful about leading girls on” to “I kissed dating goodbye.” Still, though, I wonder. He was being home schooled around the time Harris’ book became popular. Hmm.

1. Gene said the following on January 18, 2012 at 6:03 pm

   

   I’m sure he had read this book, or perhaps the one that Josh had written after this one. He has a strong foundation within his family, not to mention his success as a football player in college, and his rise in the NFL. Within football and the NFL, he works harder than perhaps most of the other quarterbacks in the league, because he doesn’t have the natural skills that most NFL quarterbacks have (lowest completion percentage). So with that, not to mention his time spent with family and friends, I’m sure that he doesn’t have the time to devout into building a friendship into a relationship. Contentment and the willingness to wait perhaps comes easier for him given his work, his age, and that he is a good looking guy.
2. Psalm67 said the following on January 18, 2012 at 8:04 pm

   

   I’m pleasantly surprised that the article didn’t say that Tim Tebow was living in extended adolescence at the age of twenty-four. After all, he’s delaying marriage for the sake of establishing his career, spending all his time playing recreational sports instead of seeking a spouse, and shirking his God-ordained responsibility to pursue marriage simply because “it’s hard.”

   In any case, whether or not Tim Tebow has read Joshua Harris or not, he has good common sense: pursue your calling, get married when you’re ready to have a family, and don’t lead women on.

   One of my heroes is A.C. Green. He was an evangelical Christian who played for the Lakers during the Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era. He played in 1,192 consecutive games (over 14 seasons, still a record), and remained a virgin until he married at age 38, after he retired from basketball.
3. USALady63 said the following on January 18, 2012 at 11:29 pm

   

   MW are you running out of things to say? Let your words be few! or you will come to Sin.
4. wordgirl said the following on January 19, 2012 at 3:14 am

   

   Well, I have no idea if he read the book, but I would agree that one shouldn’t be dating if he or she is not ready for marriage. That time is better spent doing what you need to do to prepare for marriage. Besides, breakups are painful, even if you’re the one doing the breaking up; so it seems like recreational dating only leads to pain. Why go into it knowing that you’re not ready to get married and that you’re going to need to end things at a certain point? The last time I did that, I ended up with an abusive boyfriend who I had a very difficult time getting rid of. I told myself that it didn’t matter if he met any particular criteria because I was only just dating him for fun and would break it off after a few dates. *lesson learned* Dating should be intentional — in a biblical way, of course.
5. Candace said the following on January 19, 2012 at 11:25 am

   

   …And speaking of other admirable professional evangelical Christian athletes that waited until well into their 30s to marry: American tennis players, Michael Chang married at 36 and David Wheaton married at 40 (and to one of his long-time friends roughly his same age). Both players had retired from tennis and had been pursuing other noble callings such as seminary, Christian radio, tennis camps for kids, etc.
6. Rosebud said the following on January 19, 2012 at 11:45 am

   

   I didn’t know he did any homeschool… cool