3 Things the Olympics Teach Us About Being Offended

My wife is a diehard Olympic fan, and thus, all sorts of events have been playing on our TV nearly nonstop for over a week now. In addition, I've seen many passionate Christians making very passionate arguments about the Olympics online.

Here are three things I've noticed.

1. Christians are very subjective in what we get offended about.

If we assume that Christians are offended by something that directly attacks their values, we should be able to determine Christian values by what offends Christians. But this gets a bit murky.

Christians nearly rioted over a perceived recreation of Da Vinci's Last Supper painting in the opening ceremony. This later proved to be a complete misunderstanding of what was happening. I watched a notable pastor who I highly respect basically demand an apology from all of France in a post that oozed with Christian Nationalism (which has since been deleted). What value did we communicate with this offense? Perhaps that Christians really don't like the LGBTQ+ community and the notion that they could be included in the Jesus story.

The next offense that took over social media happened after a female boxer quit a match early, implying her opponent was formerly a male and it was an unfair fight. Like the first example I just gave, this also proved false. But Christians loved pouncing on this as an illustration of how ridiculous our culture has become. It seemed the ultimate application of the proverbial slippery slope argument. What value did we communicate with this offense? Perhaps that Christians have stereotypical roles for women and that we will retaliate if you don't play by our (patriarchal) rules.

And then I watched as hardly any Christians commented about the volleyball player who had been convicted of sexually abusing a child. This example had already been proven true as he had served time over it. Christians often communicate concern over people in the LGBTQ+ community being predators, but here was an actual predator getting to play in the Olympics, and they didn't seem to mind. What value did we communicate with this lack of offense? Perhaps that Christians hide many of our prejudices and judgments of others behind noble-sounding arguments that we don't actually care about.

2. Letting yourself get offended is a waste of time.

What does being offended accomplish? It is as pointless as the preacher who fires his congregation up about how sinful people are who don't attend church. Sure, it may get some applause and audible "amens," but to what purpose? The people in question aren't there to hear it, and it doesn't do anything for the people who are there.

We can make a lot of noise when we're offended and perhaps impress some people with our virtue signaling, but it doesn't actually do anything. You can disagree with someone and choose to address it with them, or you can disagree with someone and choose to be offended by them. Only one of those postures leads to a resolution.

Choosing to be offended, especially by subjective situations we are often wrong about, focuses the attention on us rather than on others. I'd suggest it's actually a very counterproductive posture for a Christian to take. After all, we should be the ones putting others first. But harping on how offended we are places us front and center. We become the victim, and the story becomes about us.

Jesus didn't spend His time being offended by others. Instead, "He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly." (1 Peter 2:23). And as Peter says of this, "He is your example, and you must follow in his steps." (2:21).

3. Easily offended people are a natural repellent. 

The major Christian outrage so far has been over two examples that proved to be false and hardly a response to something that was already proven true. I'm unsure about you, but this does not draw me in. This makes Christianity look more absurd than anything we are complaining about.

It's like conversing with someone who turns everything you say into something about themselves. We've all probably met a person like this, and they can be super draining to be around. Conversely, when you talk with someone who asks questions about you, it seems like time flies by. We can choose to be the second type of person.

I remember attending a Q&A at a conference once after a speaker gave a presentation. Someone in the audience began their question for the speaker with the phrase, "No offense but..." The speaker cut them off mid-sentence and said something I'll never forget. He said, "Don't worry, I won't let you offend me."

I remember thinking how much I wanted that vibe in my own life.

I'd suggest it's time for Christians to try that out for a bit.

Photo by Bo Zhang on Unsplash