But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.

Matthew 18:6, NKJV

 

Most people have seen clips of the videos of the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Most were fine, albeit a bit weird, but some of the scenes were nothing short of perverse, and some appear to have gone to the point of blasphemy. Plenty has been said about the similarities between the Last Supper of Christ and one particular scene which appeared to many of us as nothing less than a mocking of Christianity. The arguments in defense of the perversion of a holy event have seemed a little weak to me, but you can draw your own conclusions. I don't buy the argument that there was no intent to mock one of the most sacred events in history, but if you do, I guess we can still be friends.

 

However, the thing that disturbs me most is the absolute indifference of many towards the sexualization of children. Not only was there a nearly naked "blue man" gyrating a few feet from a small child, there was a man dressed in black who was exposing himself only a few inches away from this little girl. If you missed it, you can certainly be excused, for most decent people either turned away or turned off their televisions when the nearly naked blue man appeared.

 

But what cannot be excused under any set of circumstances is this: Many people - people who consider themselves to be good Christians - came to the immediate defense of this perversion. They said things like "We all have sinned" and "We shouldn't judge", both of which statements are entirely true. But what so many of these well-intentioned Christians forget is that God did not forgive you while you were engaged in your sin. They also forget the part in Romans chapters one and two that does indeed tell us not to issue a personal judgment, but which also clearly states that God's judgment against such sinners is based on the truth. We need to stop acting like the Bible's instruction against our making the judgment is equivalent to not being able to tell that something is wrong in God's eyes.

 

And this fact cannot be ignored: At least two men were exposing themselves in a most lascivious way to a little girl (not to mention the millions of children who watched this wicked display) and few Christians came to her defense. Instead, they gave some sort of twisted defense of sin itself and then condemned those who refused to be tolerant of that sin.

 

Let me make two things clear: First, of course, we have all sinned and, of course, we hope that those who were involved in this sin will have the opportunity to repent. Second, we still have an obligation to defend the innocent from the wicked. That means that we can and must know the difference between hoping someone will repent of their sins at some point in the future and insisting that they stop sinning against the innocent right now.

 

If you and I as Christians refuse to defend the children, then who will? Will you continue to go down this slippery slope to the point where you allow men dressed as prostitutes to read to your children in the respectable confines of our libraries and public schools as some are doing? A short while ago, two naked men in a parade in San Francisco preformed a vile sex act in the presence of children while law enforcement stood idly by. Will we tolerate that as well? Is there no line that we will draw in our sick attempt to show that we are "tolerant"?

 

When David was still a shepherd boy, he came upon a scene that made his blood boil. Goliath, the champion of the Philistine army, was spewing insults and curses against Israel and God. While the rest of Israel either fled or cowered in fear, David asked the appropriate question: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who defies armies of the Living God?" Can we ask anything less of those who would cause a child to be exposed to sin?

 

Where did we take the turn off of the straight and narrow path that brought us to the point that we defend the wicked and subject the most innocent of our society to sin? Can we really not tell the difference between hoping that someone will repent and allowing them to sin against the innocent? Has our judgment really become so clouded? 

 

Christians need to be able to answer these questions because our tolerance towards sin is a perversion of God's pure grace. The prophet Habakkuk stated that God's eyes were too pure to look upon evil, that He could not tolerate wrong, (Habakkuk 1:17). Do we think that we will be permitted to fail to defend the innocent under our modern-day religion of tolerance? Where are the Davids in our times who will have the courage to demand that evil behavior towards children not be allowed to continue? 

 

At some point, we are going to have to be able to process two thoughts at the same time: God will indeed forgive sinners who repent, but He will not tolerate them while they are sinning, and especially when they are sinning against children. We need to get an understanding of these truths before it is too late for our society, and before it is too late for our children!

 

The former Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork, was right when he observed that we are "slouching towards Gomorrah". It is time to get out of our sinful "slouching" and straighten up that we might begin to do the right thing. Failing that, we might as well tie a millstone around our neck and cast ourselves into the sea right now, for a people who tolerate sin towards children today will end up tolerating everything that is perverse and sinful tomorrow.

 

It's something we must think about, isn't it?