Were Christians’ Feelings Hurt by the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony?

By now most have heard how some Parisian artist created a monstrous blasphemy to usher in the 2024 Olympics last month—a version of the Last Supper with an obese lesbian woman in place of the Lord and drag queens feasting instead of the apostles. Many have scoffed at the silly Christians getting offended over nothing because, after all, the artist never meant to depict the Last Supper (that’s your imagination), but rather he was representing Dionysus (Greek), also known as Bacchus (Roman), god of fertility, wine, and revelry or some such.

The artist certainly laid out the table in imitation of the Last Supper arrangement, and he placed the central figure with a halo (star crown) around her head. I cannot claim extensive knowledge of pagan art work, but were Roman or Greek gods regularly depicted with halos? This was almost most definitely meant to bring to mind Christian art and serve as a corruption of Da Vinci’s Last Supper. Even though Da Vinci did not paint a halo around Jesus’ head, Thomas Jolly (the Parisian artist responsible for this mess) intentionally put one around the head of his central figure. Christian painters have always used halos to depict holiness.

Listen to the protests of artist Thomas Jolly and the Parisian Olympics directors. Basically they tell us, No, we never meant to poke fun at Christians. We would never denigrate anyone’s religion. We are on the side of acceptance and tolerance (you intolerant Christian bigots). That’s what we were going for here—see, all the drag queens with the obese woman as the focal point, and then the naked blue man arising out of the fruit bowl to sing a song about everyone being naked.

It was only a pagan celebration. Nothing to see here, silly Christians.

“There was clearly never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a news conference on Sunday. “On the contrary, I think we tried to celebrate community, tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we’re of course really sorry.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/29/sport/last-supper-paris-olympic-opening-ceremony-spt-intl/index.html

The media has said Christians have had our “feelings hurt” over our misread of this artwork. Frankly and plainly, what the Paris Olympic team displayed is pagan trash. It does not hurt our feelings. It disgusts us and is antithetical to the God of all creation who has revealed Himself through His divinely inspired word. Dionysus is a mythological god created from the minds of immoral, sex-crazed, carnally minded lost souls. Trying to praise Dionysus in front of the entire world is a bold pagan move, I must say, revealing to all who you worship. That’s what this is all about—who and what we worship. Christians worship a rational, real, relational God. You worship sex, food, and frolicking. You trade the infinite glory of the one true and living Creator for the finite glory of the creature. Surely you seek fulfillment and satisfaction through forsaking scruples and abandoning yourself to fleshly impulses, but you will find only emptiness and dissatisfaction because God created you to seek His glory and not your own. While you run after your own fame and fortune, you turn your back on what is true, good, and lovely, and you abandon eternal life, which is only found in Jesus Christ.

Christians are not shocked; neither are we whining because our feelings are hurt. God has revealed the nature of human depravity, and we have all been enslaved to our flesh—dead in our sins and trespasses. Rather than shock or hurt feelings, we simply stand opposed to this flagrant paganism because it is utterly false and worse than useless—it destroys the souls of any who follow after it. You may claim to want community and tolerance, but you don’t know what that means. You do not tolerate the words of Jesus Christ who claims to be the very Son of God and who said His words will judge every person on the last day. He is Lord of heaven and earth. There is no room for Dionysus/Bacchus. If ever there were such a person, even he would be subject to the true Lord of all.

Christians have a keen sense of justice, and we understand when we have been mocked, even when you gaslight us, insisting it’s just our silly imaginations. We understand we are in psychological and spiritual wars with the cultures around us. We are smart enough to see through empty apologies (“if you were offended…sorry”) and useless claims of tolerance. We understand that when you say you don’t want religion, you actually have one—you just don’t admit what you worship. Paganism and Christianity cannot coexist in mutual harmony—it doesn’t work and never will.

But Christians also don’t fight with actual swords and guns. Our aim is to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10.5), and we do that through reasoning with people about Jesus Christ. You opened the door here, so let me tell you about the Jesus you mock and reject. His offer of eternal life is open to everyone who believes in Him, regardless of your past sins against Him, how you treated Him, how messed up your life has been, etc. Amazingly, He forgives people who have mocked Him, as He said about those who killed Him, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

You want community and tolerance? Welcome to Christianity! Peter preached, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10.34). You are welcome to Him, just as I am. He does not show partiality. What He demands, however, is full allegiance to Him as Lord of all Creation and Lord of you personally. You must believe that He is the Son of God, that there is only one God, and that He died, was buried, and was raised from the dead (Rom. 10.9–13; 1 Cor. 15.1–11).

Our call, the gospel’s call, the Lord Jesus’ call is that you abandon paganism and come to the one true God who created all things.

This good news comes with a strict warning, though. Judgment is coming, and Christ is the Judge against all those who do not bend the knee now. For those who refuse to give up their paganism, “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Rom. 2.6–8).

So, no, we are not upset for our own sake. Rather, we fear for the eternal souls of these pagan worshipers and all who follow them in their idolatry. We would see them saved, not eternally condemned.