1 Boring Old Man

The Superbowl ad from focus on the family was, on the surface, reasonably benign. It directs us to the web site where you can watch the Tebow Story. I’d actually recommend watching it. It’s an interview with Tebow’s parents. The Story: The father, a missionary in the Philippines at the time, had the vision to have a son who would be a preacher [named Timothy]. He went home and told his wife and four kids. So everyone commenced to praying for Timmy to come. His mother got pregnant. The local doctor felt that it was a non-viable pregnancy, sounds like they thought it was a hydatidiform mole rather than a viable child and suggested an abortion. They refused and his mother went without prenatal care until late in the pregnancy when they moved to Manilla. It was a difficult pregnancy with some kind of abnormal placental attachment. Tim survived and was raised to be a preacher. This story was told with many smiles and comments about miracles. His dad quipped, "I wanted a preacher but got a quarterback."

Legal basis for Philippine abortion ban

The act is criminalized by the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, which was enacted in 1930 and remains in effect today. Articles 256, 258 and 259 of the Code mandate imprisonment for the woman who undergoes the abortion, as well as for any person who assists in the procedure, even if they be the woman’s parents, a physician or midwife. Article 258 further imposes a higher prison term on the woman or her parents if the abortion is undertaken "in order to conceal [the woman’s] dishonor".

There is no law in the Philippines that expressly authorizes abortions in order to save the woman’s life; and the general provisions which do penalize abortion make no qualifications if the woman’s life is endangered. It may be argued that an abortion to save the mother’s life could be classified as a justifying circumstance [duress as opposed to self-defense] that would bar criminal prosecution under the Revised Penal Code. However, this has yet to be adjudicated by the Philippine Supreme Court.

Proposals to liberalize Philippine abortion laws have been opposed by the Catholic Church, and its opposition has considerable influence in the predominantly Catholic country. However, the constitutionality of abortion restrictions has yet to be challenged before the Philippine Supreme Court.

The Plan

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.

More than 90% of the population are Christians. About 80% belong to the Roman Catholic Church while the remaining 10% belong to other Christian denominations…

Some 80 percent of the population is Catholic, Spain’s lasting legacy. About 15 percent is Moslem and these people can be found basically in Mindanao^[1]. The rest of the population is made up mostly of smaller Christian denominations and Buddhist. 

All of the Tebow children were home schooled by their mother, who worked to instill the family’s Christian beliefs along the way. In 1996, legislation was passed in Florida allowing homeschooled students to compete in local high school sporting events. The law specifies that home schooled students may participate on the team of the local school in the school district in which they live. The Tebows lived in Jacksonville, Florida, and Tim played linebacker and tight end at the local Trinity Christian Academy for one season. Tebow’s preferred position was quarterback, but Trinity football team’s offense did not rely on passing the football, so he began to explore his options to play for a new high school. He decided to attend Nease High School, which under head coach Craig Howard was known for having a passing offense. With the rest of his family living on a farm in Duval County, Tim and his mother moved into an apartment in nearby St. Johns County, making him eligible to play for the football team at Nease. His performance soon turned heads and led to a minor controversy of him being a home-schooled student having his choice of school to play for.

Tebow was born on August 14, 1987 in Makati City in the Philippines, to Bob and Pam Tebow, who were serving as Christian missionaries at the time. While pregnant, Pam suffered a life-threatening infection with a pathogenic amoeba. Because of the drugs used to rouse her from a coma and to treat her dysentery, the fetus experienced a severe placental abruption. Doctors expected a stillbirth and recommended an abortion to protect her life.

It’s an agenda driven story – pressing the evangelical, anti-abortion, home schooler, creationist memes of father Bob. I suspect the birth story has been dolled up to carry the message, like his father’s version of the number of unwashed souls in the Philippines or the moderately hokey medical story in this bio. People wonder if Tim Tebow will "make it in the pros," but I wonder if he’ll ever escape his parental defined destiny and be able to think freely rather than live out his life according to their scripting. Bob Tebow’s logo says, "The Harvest is Plentiful… The World is the Field". I would add, " and our kids are fair game".