By Gustav Krös
The 2024 Summer Olympics officially began in Paris, France on Friday, 26 July with 300,000 spectators viewing the event live along the river Seine. Globally, millions of people watched the ceremony on television with an estimated 28.6 million viewers in the USA alone. However, the ceremony was marred by controversy for multiple reasons. The segment that drew the most criticism was a performance by musicians and dancers from various segments of the LGBTQ+ community, that was very reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper, which depicts Jesus together with His disciples before His crucifixion.
Christians from around the world used social media to communicate their dismay with the specific segment, which led the organisers to apologise for any offence caused and the event director to affirm that there was no intention to depict the Last Supper. Whether intentional or not, there were certainly enough similarities between the famous painting and the scene depicted on the bridge during the opening ceremony that no one can blame Christians for being offended. The one thing that is not debatable regarding the opening ceremony, however, is the spirit it reflected. It was a global advertisement to showcase the progress that the spirit of humanism has made in the world. It is therefore no coincidence that the events that were broadcasted to the rest of the world on Friday, were broadcasted from France, which is the birthplace of the modern-day human rights movement. During the French Revolution of 1787-1799, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1) was established as the governing foundation for the country in which God and His Law no longer had a place. All authority was placed in the hands of man under the auspices of a so-called Supreme Being, and the Church was heavily persecuted. The global audience was reminded of these events during the opening ceremony when an effigy of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France who was executed during the French Revolution, was displayed with her head in her hands. In essence, one can summarise the opening ceremony as the Devil showcasing to the world what it has achieved over the past 235 years under the guise of human rights. This humanistic movement is also indicative of The Man of Lawlessness of which we read in 2 Thessalonians 2, with verse 4 stating: “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
The concept of human rights has many positive elements to it, but at its core it opposes God’s sovereignty over man. During the opening ceremony we saw the fruit of this movement displayed to the world. A message that said there is nothing wrong with homosexuality in all its variable LGBTQ+ displays, while the Bible clearly states it is sin (Lev 18:22, 1 Cor 6:9-10, 1 Tim 1:9-11). At the same time, Christians must certainly display God’s love to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, but we cannot approve of such a lifestyle in the name of human rights if the Bible clearly says it is sinful. Therefore, whether the event director purposefully tried to depict the Last Supper or not, we do not know, but there was enough communicated throughout the ceremony for Christians to be reminded of the direction the world is heading in.
As believers, events like these remind us that, though we are in this world, we are not of it (John 17:15-17); we are sojourners passing through, and everyone born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). Ultimately, we can take heart because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).
Please join us in praying for the following:
- For the Body of Christ to recognise the pitfalls of human rights, while we continue to love our neighbour as ourselves (Lev 19:18)
- For the Body of Christ to speak up for what they believe and to do it in a Christ-like manner
- For all Christian athletes and spectators at the Olympics to be worthy ambassadors of God’s Kingdom during this time (2 Cor 5:20)
