Jeremy Lin & Christianity: 5 Prophetical Questions About Knicks Star Point Guard

Jeremy Lin is the most hyped Christian athlete since Tim Tebow—and there's reason to believe that Linsanity may be evidence of divine intervention on the Knicks' behalf.

The Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship in nearly 40 years and are desperate for a savior to lead them to the promised land.

Patrick Ewing wasn’t the savior Knicks fans thought he would be. Amare Stoudemire failed to lead the Knicks out of the first round of the playoffs, and the fact it wasn't his fault means nothing to a “what have you done for me lately” crowd. Carmelo Anthony couldn’t duplicate the success he had playing for the Syracuse Orangemen when he lead them to an NCAA title as a mere freshman.

Enter Jeremy the prophet.

Like the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, who was called to the prophetic ministry a few short years after King Josiah turned the nation of Israel to repentance from worshipping idols, Jeremy the prophet was called to be a New York Knick a few short years after Donny Walsh led the Knicks to atone for the Isiah Thomas years of fiscal irresponsibility.

Just as the Biblical prophet Jeremiah suffered persecution almost as soon as he began his ministry, Jeremy Lin has already experienced persecution at the hands of a jealous and racist public.

However, like the Biblical prophets of old, Jeremy Lin is bringing the future into the present.

Allen Iverson may have been “the answer,” and Paul Pierce may be “the truth,” but Jeremy the prophet is most definitely the future: the future of the Knicks, the future of the Eastern Conference, the future of the NBA.

In this article we are going to ask five questions and allow logic and Jeremy Lin’s own words provide the answers:

Is “Linsanity” a Miracle?

There is truly no logical, reasonable explanation for Jeremy Lin’s athletic history to date or how he ended up starring for the Knicks. It has been reported recently that the Knicks themselves were planning on cutting Jeremy Lin as well, until Iman Shumpert got injured and the guard depth that Lin provided was needed.

Had Baron Davis been healthy Lin would most likely have been cut as well. There was nothing Lin specifically did to remain on the Knicks roster; no great practice performance, let alone game performance, nothing.

The fact that Lin is still on the Knicks roster, let alone starring for them as their starting point guard, is actually due to outside circumstances surrounding the health of two players not named Jeremy Lin. Is it crazy to believe the Almighty had a hand in all of that?

Fans of all team affiliations and religious backgrounds will argue the merits of divine intervention in sports, and there may never be concrete proof for or against such intervention, just faith on both sides.

However, what is fact and not mere faith is that the first-ever Asian-American to play in the NBA, who also just happened to be an undrafted, twice-cut, born-again Christian out of Harvard University, is a legitimate player.

Lin just broke the record for most points throughout his first five games as a starter since the merger of the ABA and NBA. He has led the previously 9-15 Knicks to a perfect 6-0 record in his first six NBA games. Honestly, that is as close to a miracle as anyone may ever see in the sports world.

Perhaps the Knicks have already experienced divine intervention!

Here is what Jeremy Lin told Timothy Dalrymple of patheos.com, which may answer the question:

"

There are times when I'm out there on the basketball court and it feels like I'm not even controlling my own body.  It's almost as though someone else is using me as a puppet.  There are things I do, that, when I look at them afterwards, I wonder how I did that.  In moments like that, I realize that there is something more to what's happening around me, something supernatural about it.

"

Is Jeremy Lin Being Over-Hyped?

Asking if Jeremy Lin is being overhyped is akin to asking if the Orlando Magic would be a better basketball team without Dwight Howard. The answer is “absolutely not!”

Fans from coast to coast have claimed that Jeremy Lin is being overhyped because he plays in the media mecca of New York, because he seemingly came out of nowhere, or simply because he’s Asian. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jeremy Lin became the starting point guard of the New York Knicks nine games ago. The Knicks were coming off a crushing loss to the Boston Celtics that dropped them to 8-15, and there was talk that coach Mike D’Antoni could be fired any day.

Then Jeremy Lin started the next game against the New Jersey Nets and All-Star point guard Deron Williams … and a legend was born.

In the nine games Lin has started, he has averaged 25.0 points, 9.2 assists, 2.2 steals and shot 50.9 percent from the field while leading the Knicks to an 8-1 record. He has the entire city of New York thinking championship parade rather than lottery draft.

Crazy as it sounds, Lin is more legit MVP candidate than flash in the pan. In fact, the only thing that may keep Lin from finishing in the top five of this season’s MVP voting is the fact that he didn’t make his first start until the 23^rd game of the season.

Last season, it was young point guard Derrick Rose who came out of nowhere in his own way to win the MVP award after averaging 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 44.5 percent from the field and leading the Bulls to the best record in the Eastern Conference.

However, when one compares the two statistically, it is Rose who pales in comparison to Lin—not the other way around. While Lin is averaging the same amount of points in his starts as Rose did while winning the MVP award last season, Lin is averaging 1.5 more assists per game, twice as many steals per game, shooting a higher field goal percentage and winning a higher percentage of games!

While skeptics keep crying overrated and saying Lin isn’t truly worthy of all the attention he’s receiving, here is what Lin said in the aforementioned interview:

"

I love proving people wrong.  I love competing.  When I first started hearing those remarks, I would always want to say something back, or to play well to get them back.  As I grew older, I realized that I shouldn't allow that stuff to effect me, and at the same time I shouldn't retaliate.  I shouldn't say anything back.  So at this point, now, this year, it hasn't really bothered me.  It's just something I'm used to now, and it's a good opportunity to reflect the grace of God when you don't say anything back, or when you're really respectful in return.  That says something powerful.

"

Will “Linsanity” go to Jeremy Lin’s Head?

There are countless examples of little known or young athletes, who, after receiving media praise and star treatment, started acting like super high-maintenance divas and superstars.

The question of whether such will happen to Jeremy Lin is indeed a fair one, for no player in recent memory has experienced such a dramatic and fast ascension to stardom as Lin.

The media attention, fan adoration and extreme temptation that has instantly been placed at the feet of Jeremy Lin could either strengthen or destroy him, as many athletes have come to realize.

However, there are many examples of humble superstars and players who did not allow the fame heaped upon them to go to their head. Athletes such as Tim Tebow and Kurt Warner in the NFL, David Robinson and Kevin Durant in the NBA, Josh Hamilton in MLB and even recent Heisman Award-winning collegiate athlete Robert Griffin III come to mind.

Interestingly enough, all six of these athletes claim to be born-again Christians, just like Lin.

Lin himself had something interesting to say on the subject in the same interview referenced before, when he stated:  

"

… to play for God means to leave the records and the statistics up to Him and give your best effort and allow God to figure out whether you win or lose, whether you play or shoot the ball well that game.  So I just try to make sure that I work hard and in a godly way.  I prepare myself as well as I can, and at every point during the game I try to submit myself to God and let Him use me.

"

Is Jeremy Lin Really “the Man” on the Knicks Team?

Jeremy Lin is not scared of what the future holds.

He is not scared to get into a shootout with Kobe "The Black Mamba" Bryant, the greatest basketball player since Michael Jordan. He is not scared to take a game-ending three-point shot against the Raptors.

Such courage is a rare gift that seems reserved for only the greatest of players. Michael Jordan had it, Kobe Bryant has it and Jeremy Lin has it. However, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire also have it, which could make for trouble.

There certainly have been dynamic duos comprised of two alpha males, who have won not just one title but multiple titles together, with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal being the most recent example. However, to this day, there has never been a trio of alpha males who have lead their team to the NBA championship.

Some will point to the Lakers when they had Magic, Kareem and Worthy, but by the time Showtime was in effect Magic was the unquestioned ring leader. Kareem was an aging great fulfilling his role, and Worthy was a star role player.

The closest thing to a three-headed alpha dog team in the NBA today is certainly the Miami Heat, with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But even in Miami, Wade offered to take the smallest salary of the three, and Bosh agreed to take an absolute backseat to the dynamic duo of James and Wade.

LeBron is the Heat’s alpha dog, and everyone knows it. What makes the Heat so effective is that Bosh is comfortable in his role as the best third man in the league, and Wade doesn’t mind being LeBron’s sidekick as long as the team is winning. Things may not go so smoothly in the Big Apple.

Amare Stoudemire was “the man” who singlehandedly put the Knicks back on the map of relevancy when he signed as a free agent in the summer of 2010. Yet he is now the third most talked-about player on the Knicks, which could indeed bother him more than anyone knows.

Carmelo Anthony was the freshman sensation who led the Syracuse Orangemen to the NCAA championship as a freshman, the player who turned the Denver Nuggets franchise into title contenders after years of being mere playoff pretenders, and the man who forced the Nuggets to trade him to New York where he could be the superstar in the Empire State all over again.

However, it is not Stoudemire or Anthony, but Jeremy Lin who is the toast of the town and the lin-credible lin-spiration behind Knicks fans' dreams of a title.

Will Jeremy the prophet fold under the pressure of being “the man” on this Knicks title-contending team? Will he feel the burden of being “the man” on one of the most popular sports franchises on earth, a franchise that has not won a title in nearly 40 years?

To answer this question, let’s once again look at what Super Lin-tendo himself said in the aforementioned interview with patheos.com:

"

I don't feel the burden, just because I think at this point I'm not playing for others.  That might sound rude, I guess, but it's the truth.  I'm not working hard and practicing day in and day out so that I can please other people.  My audience is God.

"

Will Jeremy Lin Lead the Knicks Back to Glory?

Jeremy Lin could be destined to lead the Knicks to their first NBA title since 1973, be it this season or somewhere down the line. He could be destined to become a perennial All-Star, All-NBA point guard, and future Hall of Famer. He could even be destined to be the most glorified Asian athlete in history.

However, Jeremy Lin’s true glory sees to come from somewhere else.

On Lin’s Twitter account it states “to know Him is to want to know Him more." Lin does not need to glory in being able to put an orange ball through a metal hoop. He does not need to glory in helping a team win six straight athletic games. His glory is in knowing the Savior of the universe.

On New Year’s Day, Lin tweeted that his New Year’s resolution was, “My new years resolution: love God more deeply and intimately by dec 31 than I did on jan 1.”

God speed, Jeremy the prophet, God speed.