Happy Monday, saints and friends!
Two events happened this past week that reminded me of the need for humility. The first event concerned the opening ceremony of the Olympic games, and the second event was personal. Let's explore.
**Full disclosure: **I didn't watch the Olympics' opening ceremony. I haven't been interested in the Olympics for years. I only caught the tailwind of this controversy after it happened, but I've spent a great deal of time in the last couple of days trying to wrap my head around it. What do drag queens and the Lord's Supper have to do with the Olympics, I wondered. Then it dawned on me, the Culture War has gone global.
What is the fuss about, exactly?
Chill Out, It's Not All About Us
As it were, the opening ceremony depicted drag queens seated at a table that many Christians took as a mockery of the Lord's Supper. According to the artistic director responsible for the event, there was no intent to mock anyone. Rather, it was all about diversity and inclusion. Everyone from U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker took offense. It was the perfect opportunity for white men like me to quote Bible verses out of context and prooftext their outrage.
After reading much of the dueling narratives, I've concluded that the human race needs a savior now more than ever.
When I first saw the image of the drag queen celebration that supposedly was mocking the Lord's Supper, I couldn't see the Lord's Supper at all. Later, after several hours of research, the explanation of Dionysus and the ancient Greek bacchanal made so much more sense than anything outraged Christians were saying. And the fact that so many Christians are celebrating Donald Trump as if he were the second coming of Jesus Christ makes my gut churn even more.
And if the number one search suggestion for "president" is Donald Trump equated to the Son of Man isn't enough, consider this depiction of The Donald himself replacing Jesus at the center of the table:
Anyone offended by drag queens doing anything and not offended by a depiction of the King of Creation Himself taking a backseat to any earthly political figure has some real explaining to do.
I've noticed that Christians in the 21st century are quick to take offense at every supposed slight against them (whether real or imagined) but slow to forgive and slow to exercise patience with anyone who differs in any small way. This is not the mind of Christ.
Perhaps the church that Christ built should spend less time grumbling about persecution and take cultural tension with a grain of salt. Then, of course, there's the plain truth that we are the largest cultural force in the Western world and not being persecuted at all.
I'll see your outrage and raise you a call for humility.
I'm Proud to Be a Heretic
I've been called a lot of dirty names in the last 58 years, but I don't believe I've ever been called a heretic until this past week. While selling books in a community that has been nothing but friendly toward me, I found myself in a seemingly innocuous conversation with a fellow Christian about how a person comes to know Jesus. In this other person's view, Bible reading was a necessity.
I disagreed.
Now, I'm aware that the prevailing attitude among Evangelicals is that Bible reading is an absolute necessity in the 21st century. Nevertheless, I became foolish for the sake of the truth.
I carefully and politely explained to my dear sister that most Christians in history didn't have access to a Bible, and if they did, they weren't literate enough to read it for themselves. They knew about Jesus because someone told them, verbally, about Jesus and they believed. I thought this was a non-controversial statement. No one in their right mind would dispute it.
Alas, my sister in Christ would have none of that. After hearing me out, she turned to her husband and blurted, "This guy's a heretic!" and stormed off with her husband two steps behind, wagging his tongue like a dog.
Oh dear me, I lost a sale.
Seriously, after reflecting on the exchange, it dawned on me that our churches are doing a poor job of educating Christians on a few simple non-essentials. That's why so many Christians bring those non-essentials to front and center making them all-binding tenets of the faith. But I'm not bitter about it. I know that the devil works in mysterious ways.
I chalked it up as a lesson in humility and I promise to do better next time. If I am a heretic, the Lord will have His way with me.
I'm Allen Taylor and I approve this message.
First published at Paragraph. Images are all screenshots.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
I have read the excuses, but that was a slight on Christendom, as much as people want to say that it wasn't. The 'halo' above the person in the middle, etc...Regardless, the fact that some guy had his genitalia popping out of his pants right beside a young girl...
But yeah, it's about inclusion lol
That being said, I don't care what the world thinks of my faith. I'm not trying to please the world. I mean, this shouldn't come to a shock to anyone that reads the bible about what's coming down the pipeline for believers.
And the Donald Trump son of man thing is just insanity. I will never understand the love Christians have for politics. It's the same evil bird, left wing or right wing.
As for not reading the bible...There's a reason why most people had no access to the bible in the dark ages. Thus they are called, the dark ages. The Roman Catholic church made sure people couldn't get access to it and that ever day people needed to go to the 'priests' to get interpretation of Scripture.
Thank God for the reformers!
The point is, even if it was, so what? Jesus endured far worse. And he told us to do the same.
I'm glad you see that. One emperor is as bad as another.
It's not just about the Dark Ages. Christians had no Bible for three centuries before the church settled on the canon. Even the manuscripts that were floating around weren't available to all Christians, and most of them were too illiterate to read what was available. Even outside the Catholic church during the Dark Ages, most were illiterate and unable to read. Plus, the technology to make the Bible available to the masses wasn't available until the 15th century. That wasn't the Church's fault. Even after Gutenberg, it would be hundreds of years before most people could read a Bible, long after the Protestant Reformation. Churches introduced Sunday School in the 18th century to teach poor children to read using the Bible as the curriculum. Point: It wasn't until the 19th century that reading became so common. Ergo, most people throughout history learned about Jesus by word of mouth.
True, I don't expect anyone to 'feel sorry' for Christianity. Philippians 1:29 for reference lol
There was the Hebrew bible, passed down from generation to generation from the early church. It stayed 'underground' for some time, but people still read it. Yeh, oral reciting was a big part of the early spread of the gospel...But the bible even before the NT, was always on parchment and scrolls of somekind.
Personally, I think the less believers rely on 'priests and experts' to tell us what the bible says, and find out for ourselves, the better. Which is why the bible is so important.
Of course, people.should read the Bible for themselves. Paul praised the Bereans for pursuing their own studies rather than take his word for it that the Messiah had come. Still, my point was that most Christians throughout history were too illiterate to do that. Even today, when the majority of us can do that, I've found that many Christians use it as a weapon when it should be deployed as a mirror.
It wasn't a depiction of The Last Supper. It was a depiction of the Feast of Dionysus from Greek mythology as a tribute to the original stewards of the Olympics.
I completely agree with you though... someone could totally live their life adhering to Christianity from what they've learnt from teachers, priests, etc without reading the Bible themselves. She's basically called all children heretics.
Thanks for the comment. I hadn't thought about the children angle, but that's true. I even brought up the fact that some people have spent years in prisons, or as prisoners of war, without access to a Bible and emerged stronger in their faith.
As it turns out, since my writing this, organizers have admitted that they were taking shots at the Lord's Supper. Still, my point remains: we ought to be more offended by the sin within than the darkness on the outside.
I'm not sure that's correct:
Source
https://nypost.com/2024/07/30/sports/paris-olympics-admitted-opening-ceremony-drag-show-was-based-on-last-supper/
Oooof. This is a tricky situation. The NYPost uses an unnamed representative while the NY Times uses the event coordinator himself. I'm inclined to believe the named source over the unnamed source, but I guess this is unfortunately where readers themselves need to decide which publication/article is more factual.
Oh, in the NYPost reporting it looks like the unnamed representative made the statement on Saturday but then updated and changed their statement on Monday. NYPost is focusing on the Saturday statement instead of the Monday statement.
Yeah, it's difficult to know which is more reliable. I'm inclined to discredit unnamed sources, but there have been times when they were reliable. It could be an instance of fake news trying to cast doubt on real reporting. This is why I'm not inclined to readdress the issue with my content, because I can't be sure the NY Post is accurate. I've tried to corroborate it, but can't seem to find reliable sources that do so. Given that virtually every news agency these days operates on a bias, I don't feel the need to put too much energy into it. My original post stands. Christians need to get off it and move on.