Christian athlete and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow has earned praises following reports that he prayed for a man who suffered a major heart attack on board a Delta flight late last month. But not everyone is happy with what he did.
According to eyewitness accounts published on Instagram and Facebook, Tebow left his seat in the first class section of the plane when he found out that an elderly fellow passenger went into cardiac arrest and fell unconscious while the plane was in mid-air on a flight from Atlanta to Phoenix.
Some of the passengers took pictures and shared them on social media with their comments. In one of the images, the former NY Jets quarterback is seen leaning over and hugging the stricken man's wife as he prayed with her and her friend.
A woman named Pamela Rainey posted a picture of Tebow looking back from first class to see what was happening.
"I sat right behind #timtebow on my @delta to #Phoenix! We had a medical emergency on the flight," Rainey wrote on her Instagram account. "Tim helped the family deplane with their baggage. So #compassionate!"
Facebook user and fellow passenger Richard V Gotti also documented the mid-air drama from his seat. In a post that has been shared nearly 20,000 times since it was published, Gotti praised Tebow for making "a stand for God in a difficult situation."
"Thank God that we still have people of faith who in times of difficulty look to the Lord!" Gotti writes.
Other social media posts said Tebow helped the victim's family get off the plane, picked up their luggage, and went with them to the hospital.
People magazine reported that the athlete waited with the family in the hospital and was with them when they received the news that the man had died.
Despite Tebow's display of Christian compassion, some commenters bashed him for his action.
"Tim Tebow was getting in the way while trying to be a missionary on a plane? What a putz!" says one commenter on an Orlando Sentinel article.
"Prayed? Give me a break. Get out of the way and let modern medicine take care of the sick," another critic writes.
"Tim Tebow did nothing, because prayer does nothing. The young medical professional who attempted CPR and actually tried to save the man's life actually DID something. What Tebow did was engage in a narcissistic ritual," one commenter says on a People magazine blog.
Other commenters disagree with the negative comments, saying they only show a culture that is increasingly becoming more antagonistic to Christianity.
"Tim Tebow did what any caring person would/should do," one commentator answered back. "He provided what the family needed most at the time-someone to show compassion and caring."
