An interesting Facebook comment on my post, from Tom Graffagino (I hope I got that name right!):
I have noticed that some folks have come the defense of the Olympian ceremonial “Last Supper” parody, claiming that it was simply an innocent portrayal of Greek (Dionysian) mythology. Nothing more, nothing less. I am persuaded otherwise. I believe that those who cling to this interpretations, while they may be well-meaning , are being terribly and sadly naïve. I am convinced that the theatrical portrayal was obviously well-thought out and cleverly choreographed for maximum spiritual and “re-educational” purposes.
A FB friend of mine recently posted this insightful observation:
“Something that seems to be missing from the responses to and critiques of the Olympic mockery of the Lord's Supper serves to demonstrate that many of us have missed the fact that this was much more hostile to Christ and the gospel than people are perceiving. This is indeed diabolical and much deeper than flaunting drag queens (and children) before the audience.
The inclusion of Dionysus is quite purposeful. In Greek and Roman mythology, this was the god of wine, festivals, fertility, and religious ecstasy. The story was told that Dionysus was killed (and eaten) by the Titans, however, his heart remained and he was resurrected. Secular and liberal "Christian" historians alike have worked hard to find ties between Dionysus and Jesus, to the point that many claim that the story of Jesus is actually a re-telling of the story of Dionysus.
The worst take on this is the idea that Paul's account of the Lord's Supper in his first letter to the church in Corinth is in fact a religious festival meal held by worshippers of Dionysus set with Christian overtones for Paul's readers. The wine which is representative of the blood of Jesus (His life) which was about to be "poured out for many for forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28) has been mockingly tied back to the Greek god of wine and religious ecstasy.
This is not merely a mocking of Jesus, or the Supper, or of Christianity itself. This, by design, is a repression of the truth and also a substitution - it is replacing Jesus with another god. In other words, this was not just an artistic leap into debauchery. It was a deliberate attack on who Jesus is.
Don't get distracted. Don't be surprised. And don't forget that these lost people are the mission...these are the enemies we are told to love, just as "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Love doesn't make excuses for their sin. It demands we tell the truth about their need for repentance and faith in the very Jesus they tried to defame.
Regardless of whether offense was intended, the display was revolting enough to generate disgust from generally reasonable people. Being Catholic, I was pleasantly surprised that "Media Priest" Bishop Robert Barron spoke out immediately. As with Walter Cronkite, once you've lost Bp Barron, fuggetaboutit. He tends to soft pedal, appease and turn the other cheek. He was disgusted and said so immediately. Many people saw a mockery of The Last Supper...the long table, the focus on the central figure, in this case a grossly obese apparently female figure with a sort of halo...if not a Bishop's mitre on her head. She was holding out a double cheeseburger. Gee, it's round...could it possibly be the Eucharist? Add the sprayed on blue Dionysus figure to be eaten...there you go again, you know those Catholics, eating their God. Coincidence? Maybe. I'd be shocked to learn there was gambling going on.
The ghoulish headless figure of Marie Antoinette was incredibly disturbing and frightening. Not to mention horribly misleading with respect to this poor woman who's life has been reduced to a line in a play "Let them eat cake" something she never said.
Add death galloping on the Pale Horse.
But no, nothing was meant to mock religion. Do they think we are fools?
Finally, the ego trip of a gay activist producer has nothing to do with the Olympics. This is meant to be a showcase for great athletes, a source of national pride, dreams fulfilled and sometimes dreams shattered. The producer in his quest to shove his perversions down the throats of many unwilling subjects completely ignored the athletes who were stuck on little boats, frantically waving little flags instead of the traditional march into the arena for the hometown crowd to cheer.
I'm a serious Christian and a philosophy teacher, and I watched the entire opening ceremonies live and sans Twitter commentary. I took it it as Paris making fun of its own stereotypes.
The ménage-a-trois scene? Directly mocking a Parisian stereotype. Did anyone really watch that and say, "gee, what's missing from my life is a bisexual, interracial, threesome."
The irony of decapitated Marie Antionette heads singing a "head-banging" version of a French revolutionary anthem? This isn't celebrating 1789; it's mocking it. Not in a mean way, but in a "it's been long enough that we can joke about the guillotine now" way. And I actually think that's somewhat healthy. America suffers from a fear of its future but Europe suffers from an fear of its past.
The "Last Supper" didn't even register to me in real time, as it rapidly morphed into a fashion show. But it was mocking (outfits featuring swords?) the tendency of even real Paris fashion shows to be disconnected from reality.
Were they "demanding that liberty know no bounds"? Well, yes. But that's endemic in our modern, Millian-Nietzschean world. Why would we expect the Olympics (especially when hosted in a legally-mandated, secular country) to NOT celebrate that? But if the designers wanted any of this to be taken seriously, they failed because they jumped the shark. And by "calling them out" Christians are just spotlighting things that probably only 2% of the people watching even noticed.
They aren't Christians so it is to be expected that they do stuff like that. Instead of reacting to them in anger and becoming like them. It's also giving them the reaction they want. Pray for them. It's God's problem it's not my problem. Moving on
Interesting take, Brian — definitely seems plausible!
I can’t even remember the last time I watched TV, but I was blown away by the artistry and scale of this production. With exactly zero rehearsals onsite, what they pulled off was incredible from start to finish. The worst part, hands down, was the idiotic NBC commentary, which mostly consisted of banal exclamations of surprise and delight that detracted from the actual surprise and delight I was experiencing.
I didn’t expect a secular ceremony to reflect my Christian values, and come on, this is Paris — they’ve been pushing boundaries forever (ménage à trois is one of the few French phrases most people can pronounce correctly.) Maybe I’m being glib, but I found the show inspiring and beautiful.
That Last Supper tableau is definitely offensive, but I truly did not notice it during the broadcast. I remember one soaring drone shot passing over the bridge and thinking, are those drag queens? Then it was on to something else. So I don’t know that it makes sense to get bent out of shape about it.
There's pouncing, and then there's pouncing. Let's be frank, if they had chosen to mock Mohammed instead of Christ, things would have literally blown up. Yes, I'm angry, offended, and disappointed. I actually looked up the French Olympic Committee and sent them an e-mail stating as much. Will it do any good. No. Would 10,000, or 100,000 make any impact? Hard to tell.
Those who don't think this whole disaster was a big deal probably aren't well informed about what's going on in terms of the pagan & occult in world culture (and this is totally natural and understandable -- with church & prayer, family life, work, etc., who has time to hunt this trash down? ...except for a few who have stumbled upon it and started "pulling threads," to discover a vast, immensely powerful network of dark corruption that basically runs ALL our institutions at the top).
BTW, the Marie Antoinette "blood" spewing likely represents the guillotine that will come fairly soon for Christians and others who will not comply with the New World Order, with its syncretistic, antichrist One World Religion.
An interesting Facebook comment on my post, from Tom Graffagino (I hope I got that name right!):
I have noticed that some folks have come the defense of the Olympian ceremonial “Last Supper” parody, claiming that it was simply an innocent portrayal of Greek (Dionysian) mythology. Nothing more, nothing less. I am persuaded otherwise. I believe that those who cling to this interpretations, while they may be well-meaning , are being terribly and sadly naïve. I am convinced that the theatrical portrayal was obviously well-thought out and cleverly choreographed for maximum spiritual and “re-educational” purposes.
A FB friend of mine recently posted this insightful observation:
“Something that seems to be missing from the responses to and critiques of the Olympic mockery of the Lord's Supper serves to demonstrate that many of us have missed the fact that this was much more hostile to Christ and the gospel than people are perceiving. This is indeed diabolical and much deeper than flaunting drag queens (and children) before the audience.
The inclusion of Dionysus is quite purposeful. In Greek and Roman mythology, this was the god of wine, festivals, fertility, and religious ecstasy. The story was told that Dionysus was killed (and eaten) by the Titans, however, his heart remained and he was resurrected. Secular and liberal "Christian" historians alike have worked hard to find ties between Dionysus and Jesus, to the point that many claim that the story of Jesus is actually a re-telling of the story of Dionysus.
The worst take on this is the idea that Paul's account of the Lord's Supper in his first letter to the church in Corinth is in fact a religious festival meal held by worshippers of Dionysus set with Christian overtones for Paul's readers. The wine which is representative of the blood of Jesus (His life) which was about to be "poured out for many for forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28) has been mockingly tied back to the Greek god of wine and religious ecstasy.
This is not merely a mocking of Jesus, or the Supper, or of Christianity itself. This, by design, is a repression of the truth and also a substitution - it is replacing Jesus with another god. In other words, this was not just an artistic leap into debauchery. It was a deliberate attack on who Jesus is.
Don't get distracted. Don't be surprised. And don't forget that these lost people are the mission...these are the enemies we are told to love, just as "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Love doesn't make excuses for their sin. It demands we tell the truth about their need for repentance and faith in the very Jesus they tried to defame.
Regardless of whether offense was intended, the display was revolting enough to generate disgust from generally reasonable people. Being Catholic, I was pleasantly surprised that "Media Priest" Bishop Robert Barron spoke out immediately. As with Walter Cronkite, once you've lost Bp Barron, fuggetaboutit. He tends to soft pedal, appease and turn the other cheek. He was disgusted and said so immediately. Many people saw a mockery of The Last Supper...the long table, the focus on the central figure, in this case a grossly obese apparently female figure with a sort of halo...if not a Bishop's mitre on her head. She was holding out a double cheeseburger. Gee, it's round...could it possibly be the Eucharist? Add the sprayed on blue Dionysus figure to be eaten...there you go again, you know those Catholics, eating their God. Coincidence? Maybe. I'd be shocked to learn there was gambling going on.
The ghoulish headless figure of Marie Antoinette was incredibly disturbing and frightening. Not to mention horribly misleading with respect to this poor woman who's life has been reduced to a line in a play "Let them eat cake" something she never said.
Add death galloping on the Pale Horse.
But no, nothing was meant to mock religion. Do they think we are fools?
Finally, the ego trip of a gay activist producer has nothing to do with the Olympics. This is meant to be a showcase for great athletes, a source of national pride, dreams fulfilled and sometimes dreams shattered. The producer in his quest to shove his perversions down the throats of many unwilling subjects completely ignored the athletes who were stuck on little boats, frantically waving little flags instead of the traditional march into the arena for the hometown crowd to cheer.
I'm a serious Christian and a philosophy teacher, and I watched the entire opening ceremonies live and sans Twitter commentary. I took it it as Paris making fun of its own stereotypes.
The ménage-a-trois scene? Directly mocking a Parisian stereotype. Did anyone really watch that and say, "gee, what's missing from my life is a bisexual, interracial, threesome."
The irony of decapitated Marie Antionette heads singing a "head-banging" version of a French revolutionary anthem? This isn't celebrating 1789; it's mocking it. Not in a mean way, but in a "it's been long enough that we can joke about the guillotine now" way. And I actually think that's somewhat healthy. America suffers from a fear of its future but Europe suffers from an fear of its past.
The "Last Supper" didn't even register to me in real time, as it rapidly morphed into a fashion show. But it was mocking (outfits featuring swords?) the tendency of even real Paris fashion shows to be disconnected from reality.
Were they "demanding that liberty know no bounds"? Well, yes. But that's endemic in our modern, Millian-Nietzschean world. Why would we expect the Olympics (especially when hosted in a legally-mandated, secular country) to NOT celebrate that? But if the designers wanted any of this to be taken seriously, they failed because they jumped the shark. And by "calling them out" Christians are just spotlighting things that probably only 2% of the people watching even noticed.
They aren't Christians so it is to be expected that they do stuff like that. Instead of reacting to them in anger and becoming like them. It's also giving them the reaction they want. Pray for them. It's God's problem it's not my problem. Moving on
It is important for Christians to raise objections without being objectionable.
I wonder if those telling everyone to not be offended by this felt the same way when motorists left tire skip marks on the pride flag crosswalks?
Interesting take, Brian — definitely seems plausible!
I can’t even remember the last time I watched TV, but I was blown away by the artistry and scale of this production. With exactly zero rehearsals onsite, what they pulled off was incredible from start to finish. The worst part, hands down, was the idiotic NBC commentary, which mostly consisted of banal exclamations of surprise and delight that detracted from the actual surprise and delight I was experiencing.
I didn’t expect a secular ceremony to reflect my Christian values, and come on, this is Paris — they’ve been pushing boundaries forever (ménage à trois is one of the few French phrases most people can pronounce correctly.) Maybe I’m being glib, but I found the show inspiring and beautiful.
That Last Supper tableau is definitely offensive, but I truly did not notice it during the broadcast. I remember one soaring drone shot passing over the bridge and thinking, are those drag queens? Then it was on to something else. So I don’t know that it makes sense to get bent out of shape about it.
There's pouncing, and then there's pouncing. Let's be frank, if they had chosen to mock Mohammed instead of Christ, things would have literally blown up. Yes, I'm angry, offended, and disappointed. I actually looked up the French Olympic Committee and sent them an e-mail stating as much. Will it do any good. No. Would 10,000, or 100,000 make any impact? Hard to tell.
Did anyone catch theovert pagan religious ceremony at the very beginning of this Olympics?
"Pagan ‘prayer’ to Zeus, Apollo offered at 2024 Olympics torch lighting ceremony"
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/pagan-prayer-zeus-apollo-2024-olympics/?utm_source=featured-news&utm_campaign=catholic
Those who don't think this whole disaster was a big deal probably aren't well informed about what's going on in terms of the pagan & occult in world culture (and this is totally natural and understandable -- with church & prayer, family life, work, etc., who has time to hunt this trash down? ...except for a few who have stumbled upon it and started "pulling threads," to discover a vast, immensely powerful network of dark corruption that basically runs ALL our institutions at the top).
BTW, the Marie Antoinette "blood" spewing likely represents the guillotine that will come fairly soon for Christians and others who will not comply with the New World Order, with its syncretistic, antichrist One World Religion.