Paris Olympic: blasphemous, reverent, and unaware
Somehow I missed the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, but social media was flooded with Christian postings disturbed by the blasphemous images of the opening ceremony, one of the scenes, supposedly Dionysus and the Feast of Gods strangely resembling the last supper, with a fat lady replacing Jesus and the blue man on a plate in the middle as Dionysus, there was the winged white horse with a rider, riding in front of the Eiffel tower with eerie music. I am not even surprised this happened while the world was watching because this was predicted 2000 years ago as written in the bible.
3Most
importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come,
mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4They will say, “What
happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of
our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first
created.” (2Peter 3: 3-4)
Some high
profile people like Andrew Tate spoke out about boycotting the Olympics altogether,
but some of the athletes took the high road.
Sydney Mclaughlin-Levrone set a new world record and glorified and
honored God by confessing “For a long time, my identity was in track and
field,” she told The Associated Press this summer. “But I realized that first
and foremost, I’m a child of God. It set me free to run the race God has set
out for me to run.” Steph Curry helped US
basketball team win gold thanked God for winning the medal in
Olympics. Gabriel Medina’s iconic photo
of him pointing up to the sky before scoring 9.9, highest Olympic wave in
history, went viral and on his Instagram he posted this photo along with this
verse. “I can do everything through Him
who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.” I am sure there were other athletes at the Olympics whose faith kept
them grounded amid all the excitement and the pressure to perform their
best. I believe, being excellent in any
discipline, a Christian has the chance to be the light in the world.
Then, I
saw another viral image, of a woman who competed in the breakdance competition,
Raygun, who became the laughingstock, and muse for many memes making fun of her performance. One Christian instagrammer used the video of Raygun breakdancing as a metaphor for a Christian sinning over and over again. Even for someone like me, who doesn’t know a
whole lot about break dancing, I could tell she was not a good breakdancer. It was like she was
pretending to be a break dancer, adopting the moves she thinks is breakdancing… Apparently she has a PhD in
cultural studies, graduating in 2017. Her
PhD thesis, titled "Deterritorializing gender in Sydney's breakdancing
scene : a B-girl's experience of B-boying", focused on
"the intersection of gender and Sydney's breaking
culture. Sadly, writing a thesis on
breaking culture does not make you a good break dancer.
When I saw Phil Wizard’ gold medal
winning performance, though I don’t know much about break dancing, I was impressed
by the strength, agility, and the creativity of the moves. His moves were unexpected and controlled. You are impressed by how much a human body
can do without getting injured and how pleasing it is to see it. It’s not even straight up acrobatic, there is
the beat and the rhythm and the power. In an interview, Phil talked about falling in love with break dancing more and
more and pursuing it despite his parents’ opposition. He also said in the interview, he is always
thinking and practicing new choreography in preparation for whatever could happen
in a competition. The video clip also
showed Phil training in the gym, lifting heavy weights so he can do some of the
difficult moves with ease. This can be a
metaphor for a true follower of Christ, you pursue Him for the love of Him, follow
Him in spite of opposition from your family and friends, and you discipline
yourself to train and prepare for whatever may come your way. Then, even people who don’t know much about
it are impressed by how far you will go, how much you can do for Jesus.
Meanwhile, we have people who are deluded
into thinking knowing a lot about Christianity or even teaching a lot about
Christianity is being a good Christian, they perform few moves that they think is
Christian, but the whole world can recognize the moves are weak. These Christians, well-meaning but unaware, just
as Raygun made a mockery out of breakdancing, will make mockery of Christianity
and just as Raygun did not earn a single point at the Olympics, they may not
score many points with the ultimate Judge.
“But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each
builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14If the work
survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15But if the work is
burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but
like someone barely escaping through a wall of 1flames.” 1Corinthians 3:13-15
There was a time when I studied the bible daily, led bible study led prayer meetings, cooked up few dishes for meal trains. Now I realize, my moves were pretty weak just like Raygun's dance moves. My faith muscles were weak, and I didn't train enough. When my love was tested, I couldn't love the unloveable, I couldn't forgive the unforgiveable. Now that I have been freed up from leadership position and looking at all that I did from a distant, I wonder, which of those things were really from the Lord, what would really pass the test of the fire?
During the Covid lockdown, I was really busy following prophets on the internet and reading up on signs of the end, studying the bible about end times, while my husband volunteered for the food bank consistently. A lot of times, I would lord my bible knowledge over him while he humby served and asked me to serve with him. I am now humbled to realize how immature and impractical I had been. I hope I can humbly and quietly seek His will for the rest of my life.
Lord have mercy on all of us! Let us do your will!
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