Did the 2024 Olympics Opener Mock The Last Supper?

How does an artistic portrayal of the Last Supper at the Olympics spark a global controversy? We unravel this intriguing question by examining the highly debated opening ceremonies, featuring performances by none other than Celine Dion. The swift outcry from many Christian YouTubers, who accused the event of mocking Christianity, leads us to a deeper exploration of the complex reactions and the scarcity of online footage. We'll dissect the various responses, including a leaked apology from the director and a performer's confirmation, aiming to shed light on the tension between public perception and official narratives. Critical thinking is our guide as we navigate this hot-button issue.

In our second segment, inspired by teachings from Paul and Peter, we explore how Christians can respond to contentious situations with grace instead of judgment. Reflecting on Christ’s example of entrusting judgment to God, we discuss the balance between righteous anger and sin. We also consider the efficacy and morality of actions like boycotting, cautioning against acting from a place of self-righteousness. Through the lens of the gospel, we remind ourselves that our salvation is due to Christ's goodness, not our own actions, encouraging a humble and merciful approach in our interactions with others. Join us for a thoughtful examination of these complex issues rooted in faith.

Chapters

• 0:00 Mocking Christianity at the Olympics
• 13:41 Christian Response to Contention and Judgment

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the new subscribers. If you haven't yet, consider subscribing, hit that bell notification so that you can see every time I put out a new video. A major portion of you that watch my videos haven't subscribed yet, so why not? It's free. You can also find a PayPal link below if you want to give a one-time or give a monthly to support the channel. Anything, great or small, is appreciated. Now let's get into the video. What's up? Faith and Failures family. So excited that you are here watching today Topic one.

Speaker 1: 0:38

So I don't know if you were watching or you were paying attention. I don't know if you were watching or you were paying attention, but the Olympics has started and been seeing a lot of news. You know up on things. And the, by the way, I got my. My wife got me a best dad shirt best dad ever shirt, so it's on a t-shirt, so you know it's true. So I apologize for those of you fathers out there that thought you were one, but you are in second place. It's on a t-shirt, so it's true. I wanted to bring light. You probably already seen it, but I also want to on this channel. I tell you every single time, whether it's about the Bible, whether it's about culture, whatever it may be, I want you to think critically and take pause If you notice I did not immediately when the new story of the Olympics we're going to touch on in just a minute, the opening I guess you call it opening ceremonies.

Speaker 1: 1:39

I don't know what it was. You know they, the, the big fluff stuff they got the, the Celine Dion performed and and all you know, all these big characters we're gonna get into that. They had this one piece. Now, this is what this is really confusing to me. I went into YouTube and maybe I just searched it wrong. I don't know, but I for SEO, the people who put things on like this, they want their things to be found. So if I type in 2024 Olympics opener, the last supper, that it would easily pop up. Or opener Olympics 2024, put all that in there and search it. I could not find the actual video, like they didn't put it out there after it went on air. Now I can find Celine Dion. I think she has it right now. I don't know anything about it. If you like her music, if you like her, uh about her struggling and coming uh up from some health issues and then stepping out and performing. I don't know if this is the one performance that it was all about leading up to now. Very possibly, they do that stuff with intention. Have you seen my mug? It says Mr that's my pronoun, so I had to get that cut for this episode. All right, with all the joking aside, I saw every this is so weird saying this, but it's the day we live in. I saw every this is so weird saying this, but it's the day we live in.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Every Christian YouTuber immediately came out with what. They came out with videos talking about how they did the Last Supper. And I even and here's me at fault right here I even said that the Last Supper they mocked Christianity from the pulpit this past Sunday. So in real time. Today is Monday. If you're watching this later, this is Monday. Yesterday was Sunday and it came to my mind, so I said it. And then somebody in my church he sent me a link of somebody saying well, this is actually what it was. So I started digging a little bit. So here's what I want us to look at and this is what I want you. My mug says otherwise, buddy. I want you to think critically and use your brain when stuff like this comes out. Why, if stuff like this comes out, it usually comes out hot. It comes out and all you see is what you like. You you're looking at something and if you don't take the time to breathe for a minute and actually process and think through it, you'll end up doing what all these youtubers did is come out with something and say something is one thing when apparently, it's something else.

Speaker 1: 4:23

So, speaking of christian youtubers, we're going to watch a couple of videos, like we normally do. We're going to react to them. We're going to talk about him now. This one guy. What do you mean? He is a. His story is pretty amazing. He actually has a. Is it cochlear? Cochlear implant? What is it when they can't hear very well, he has it. You can't see it back there, but, um, he has a pretty phenomenal story and we're going to watch his little video.

Speaker 1: 4:46

It's just over five minutes long and then we're going to actually go to the apology and then we're going to go to a leak that came out when they said it wasn't supposed to be, and this is from a person you'll see in just a second. This is from a person's actual social media that they that the I think it's the director said it wasn't supposed to be about Christianity. We apologize. We're going to look at that in just a minute the full statement. But then you have the main person that sat in the middle with the little thing on her head and popped out like that kind of looked like a Catholic symbol or some sort of design like that literally came out on her own social media, her personal account, and said that it was the last supper, like titled. It had the last supper picture above with a picture of what they did with the drag queen stuff below. So we're going to look at that and I want you to weigh whether it's Whether it's a sleight of hand for PR for the director to say, oh, we would never do that.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Oh, no, we would never do that. Or is it quiet conditioning for believers to once again back down and say, oh well, see, they didn't really mean it that way. Or are we focused too much on the wrong thing? They did a drag queen show at the 2024 Olympics and I ask you for what? This wasn't an accident. This type of thing has a staff, it has producers, it has writers. It has a whole production team that goes through the process of planning out what they're going to do in the event to come, and it made it all the way to production and people are acting like it's a shocker. It's evil. So let's watch this video together. Oh, I forgot, I muted it earlier.

Speaker 2: 6:49

According to the Olympics mission statement, they're supposed to be against any form of discrimination and also opposed to any political abuse of sports and athletes, but as soon as the opening ceremony started, it proved that was a lie. They started off the Olympics with things like this and this, and the one that has people offended the most was this, which appears to be a rendition of the Last Supper of Christ with the disciples, but instead of Jesus and disciples they were replaced with drag queens, an obvious offense to Christians everywhere, and, as you would expect, christians were incredibly upset by it, and understandably so. The Olympics is supposed to be a time to unite all other countries around the world in the spirit of sports, but instead of uniting, they seem to go out of their way to completely offend 2.6 billion people and make the main focus of the event political as opposed to sports.

Speaker 1: 7:42

And this has become. The problem is that they're using this ideology to force on people and then make you into the bad guy. They're forcing you to say lies are truth and that good is bad and that you're just not being accepting. And now you're. We are the bad guy because we're standing up for what actual truth is. Truth is not a my thing, it's not a you thing, it's not a me thing, it is a God thing. So that's just the bottom line.

Speaker 2: 8:14

But it's not just Christians that are seeing this trending problem either. More and more non-Christians and people of other faiths are starting to agree that there seems to be a growing attack on Christianity and, frankly, christians are sick of having their faith mocked and tired of being undercut and treated without the same respect that the other religions seem to have.

Speaker 2: 8:32

Whether it's Islam or Hinduism, Christianity is the most mocked religion, and so, in response to this problem, most Christians online seem to be saying things like we need to take a stand and not allow the Olympics to mock our faith.

Speaker 3: 8:45

Paris Olympics right now is mocking Christians. If this were done to Muslims, they wouldn't tolerate it, but for some reason we, as Christians, we tolerate that no more. We need to stand up and do something about this.

Speaker 2: 9:00

But what exactly does that mean? Do we start to become violent like Islam? What approach should we take in response? Well, one way to respond is how George Janko did on. Next, he made a tweet saying "'I'm respectfully not watching the Olympics this year. I'd ask for you to peacefully do the same. So his recommended approach is something like respectfully boycott the Olympics so that way your voice can be heard, but not out of rage, anger or attacking.

Speaker 3: 9:23

But others, like Brandon for example, took a far different approach, Responded like this you making fun of and mocking Jesus of Nazareth, then I'm gonna make fun of you looking like a greasy pig, look like somebody gonna put on a roast and roll over 400 pounds, but still.

Speaker 2: 9:39

others, like Ryan Garcia, took it even further. Garcia tweeted a bunch of things like this they, them. I hate you Blank, you Jezebel. I'm protected by the most high Burn in hell trans people. And other tweets.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Okay. So this is one dude that I can't stand, and this is where I part ways with people who claim Christianity and they are straight up just acting like the world. Now, I'm not saying you can't have an opinion, I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is this Chill out, You're not the all-authority God we have. There are so many things that you know. Sorry, hold on, I'm having a camera issue here. It's ticking me off. Put that joker right there. All right, Sorry, my end.

Speaker 1: 10:24

Like Ryan Garcia claims to be Christian, but the F word comes out of his mouth like every other breath. Now, the f word comes out of his mouth like every other breath. Now, you may have a different opinion on cursing. You may have a different philosophy or theology, whatever. I don't really care. At the end of the day, god's the judge, not me.

Speaker 1: 10:41

But when you talk hateful out of your mouth, I don't really believe you know who jesus is. Now, why do I say that? I'm not saying we need to just sit back and let things happen and and just let sin run rampant. That's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is you have to understand that these people I apologize, I just paused on a curse word. These people are so confused and wrapped up in their sin they don't even understand, I think, the depths of what they're doing. I know they don't. If they actually understood what they were doing, they would not be doing this because they would fear the Lord just as we should.

Speaker 1: 11:17

So just my opinion we can't be hateful and expect to win people to Christ. It's not gonna work. Like you cannot spread hate and say you love christ, just like people. People go out with the picket fence and they got signs that say god hates fags. That's a lie from the devil.

Speaker 1: 11:39

It's's the same when whites or any other color of people and nowadays it's flipped, but in some areas, not around here we all love each other but like racism is pretending to be better than somebody else when the fact is, bottom line, we are all created in God's image. Now it's hard for us to say this because they're being so blatant with their sin and so like in your face. But these people imagine the testimony they could have if they turn their lives over to God. It would be. Their reach would be unstoppable and I think that's why the devil tries to pervert them so deeply and get those roots so deep in their heart because he knows if he can do that and he can get them. So, with such conviction on sin is okay, then he has them and he doesn't have to worry about that witness, it's along those lines.

Speaker 2: 12:39

But if we're Christians, our ultimate authority doesn't come from what people like me or them say, or even what masculine culture tells us how we should respond. The important question we should be asking is how does the Bible tell us to respond to this sort of mockery and insults from non-Christians? One of the most direct places that I can think of in Scripture that answers this question directly is found in 1 Peter 2, where Peter tells us how we should live as Christians if we found ourselves persecuted in a non-Christian society. He says that you should follow in his steps. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him, who judges justly". So although I can resonate with the frustration that those like him have when it comes to things like this, when he justifies responding to insults with insults, we know that that isn't the way that we're commanded to respond.

Speaker 2: 13:41

As Paul says in Romans 12, and as Peter says in the next chapter, we shouldn't repay insult for insult or evil with evil. We need to emulate Christ, who didn't repay insult for insult and instead trusted God to judge justly. So does this mean that we shouldn't be angry? Of course, not. Be angry, but don't sin in your anger. Nor does this mean that we should just ignore it and not let our voices be heard. In fact, one way that we can respond is to boycott, like George Jenko said. So this doesn't mean that we should just sit and do nothing. Instead, we need to let our voices be heard, while also being careful not to drift into sin and act out of our flesh when doing so. Despite our anger and frustration, god doesn't wish that any should perish, and so we shouldn't either. And, even more importantly, we can't do so from a place of self-righteousness, as Ryan Garcia's tweet came off as doing.

Speaker 2: 14:31

The reason why is because, the gospel tells us that we're no more deserving of salvation than every single trans person on that stage. We're no more qualified of heaven than they are, or even the worst person that you can think of right now.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Hold on, In case you missed that. In case you missed that, let me run it back.

Speaker 2: 14:47

No more qualified of heaven than they are, or even the worst person that you can think of right now.

Speaker 2: 14:52

If we've ever broken one of God's laws, then it's as if we've broken the entire law and committed every evil act that they have. So we're not saved because we're good people. The only reason that we're saved is not because of how good or moral that we are, but instead it's only because of how good Christ is. So if I know that I'm so incapable of living a good enough life that Christ had to die for me instead in my place, if I know that the only reason that I'm saved is because Christ had to offer me his life as a free and undeserved gift, then how could I possibly look down on others and claim that they deserve hell and suggest that I don't? I can't because my filthy sin deserves hell just as much as theirs does. So we need to remember that we can only be saved because Christ is good and we aren't, so we have no right to feel any less deserving of hell than anyone else, including everybody on stage that day Now. Now that's hard.

Speaker 1: 15:44

That's hard to swallow. Okay, because we want to feel justified and this is one of the biggest things I preach out at my church is that, like, christians are very good, just like the Pharisees were, to point out other people's mistakes, other people's problems, to make them feel better than their own.