Responding to a Sinful World in a God-honoring Way

WholeHeartEd is back with a brand new season and today we are diving right into the most talked about and controversial events of the summer; helping you understand and respond to the challenges that are facing us. Today, we’re dissecting the Olympic debacle. We’ll talk about what happened, how it was handled and what you can learn from it all to improve your relationships!

As the Olympics are coming to a close, there has been no shortage of heated talk and outright controversy at Paris 2024. From the very beginning, the opening ceremonies, it seemed to many people that shots were fired at the Christian audience in the form of one of our most sacred sacraments, the holy communion, and specifically its depiction in DaVinci’s “Last Supper,” was being profanely satirized by a large group of LGBTQIA+++ performers, with what appeared to be a big blue nudist singing in French about being ... nude. That was also tied in with a macabre headless woman singing and an apparent rider on a white horse in referencing the book of Revelation. Immediately following the performance, social media blew up with defenders and detractors all profusely and angrily laying out their positions.

With unclear information about intentions, depictions and apologies still being passed around, the next big issue came out with dramatic flair as an Italian female boxer dropped to her knees just 45 seconds into her bout, declaring that it was unfair. The unfair aspect she was referring to was the fact that her opponent had been barred by the IBA, the international boxing association, from competition due to an, again, unclear and unspecified issue relating to gender. Right away, the already incensed Christian conservatives online were jumping at the opportunity to point out the evils of the LGTV influence, now evidenced by the battering of women as sport. As the days went on, we saw mixed information coming out about rare medical conditions, agenda driven policies driving Olympic decision making and meme’s depicting the Italian boxer standing in the ring facing a literal depiction of Satan.

So, as believers, how do we respond to this kind of madness and apparent glorification of sin? On the one hand, we are called to be a light in the darkness; exposing the works of the enemy and speaking out against the wickedness around us. On the other hand, we are also called to extend the love, patience and grace that we have received from God. Truth or love? Conviction or grace? Speak out or pray in silence? What should we do?

There are 3 principles in scripture that should guide us: number one – wait for all sides to be heard. Proverbs 18:7 states: “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” In the case of the boxer, people were already primed to respond negatively and loudly after the opening ceremonies and jumped at the opportunity to prove their case with this clear injustice. The problem is that the initial understanding was, apparently, not the correct one and the situation is far more nuanced than we could have expected. As of this taping, we still don’t have all of the information that would be necessary for each of us to make and informed decision, but once we do, we want to position ourselves in a way that we don’t need to go back and apologize for villainizing a victim or at least being unloving towards someone in a position that we should sympathize with rather than attack. Again, we still don’t have enough verifiable public information to know exactly how this boxer should be classified or allowed to fight in the future, and even in the higher levels of the sport, it is still being debated. While we are sifting through, we should not be quick to jump to conclusions.

Secondly, and in conjunction with the first, James 1:19 tells us that we need to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. If you look at your social media posts over the last few weeks, how would you rate yourself in light of this verse? After the opening ceremony, did you shoot first and ask questions later or did you wait through the storms of controversy, hear out what the performers and director had to say and then, with a clear understanding and a calm demeanor, share your thoughts or choose not to say anything at all. Where words are many, sin is not absent. We have to remember that, while we are in a battle, it is a spiritual one. The people onstage are not our enemies, but there are spiritual adversaries who are playing more than one angle. We need to approach all of these issues with all the wisdom the Holy Spirit gives us, which leads us to our final point.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” - Matthew 10:16. The issue is not that we should never speak out or take a public stand against sin, we should, but we should never speak before we have heard all sides, taken it before God and asked for His wisdom AND His heart, and then speak out in how he has led you. If you have no idea what that looks like, we’re going to try to tackle these scenarios in our Tuesday Talk. We’ll see if we can navigate this minefield with the appropriate wisdom and clarity that these issues, and the world, are in desperate need of.