Open and Closed

I have to say that I’ve seen an awful lot of pushback on Christian‘s being outraged over the Olympics opening ceremony. So many have made arguments as such so as to shame Christians for even speaking out against it. I can understand the need to be kind and gentle with people, certainly one on one, because we do need to make a difference in our lives. We don’t want to turn people off to Christ. At the same time, it is very unfortunate that some have significantly softened their approach to sin. I don’t think that there is an issue, spiritually or Biblically, with expressing outrage over such a blatant display of anti-Christian activity. I would say that it doesn't necessarily matter if they intended to parody the Last Supper. That's the perception, which is what does matter. And there's no doubt the ceremonies were hyper-sexualized, inappropriate for children, and have no place in a major international sports event that is supposed to have a broad appeal. We should rebuke sin and mockery. It’s righteous indignation. People have called out using Jesus overturning the money changers in the temple as “a poor proof text.” I have not seen anyone mention Jesus saying, “Let the children come to me…if anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:1-6) No one is being hateful towards the messengers but towards the message. We know the enemy when we see it and we will continue to wrestle against it. This is the battlefield. There needs to be a balance…we can be outraged over such an event, but we can also ask the Lord, His Spirit, to help us to exercise the wisdom to know how to communicate about it in such a way that we’re not excusing sin, and that we are still able to be positive influencers for the cause of Christ.