Some culture-embracing leaders within the Emerging Church may find it difficult relating to our Orthodox brethren in Greece -- especially when they publically explain their disdain for certain aspects of the Olympics:
Like many of the country’s religious leaders, Father Eirinaios Nakos, of Athens Orthodox Cathedral, is suspicious of Olympiad ideals: 'We support the Olympiad, but the Church does not believe in the ancient pagan aspects of the Olympic movement, which are idolatrous. For example, the Olympic flame is idolatry.'
The quote is part of an interesting discussion going on at World Magazine Blog.
So what do you think? Do our Greek brothers have the backbone that we may lack? Or does their stance on this issue hurt the name of Christ?
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I mentioned the pagan aspect of the Opening Ceremonies on my blog the other day....much of it has its roots in the innovations introduced by the Nazis at the 1936 Berlin Games...
Posted by: Karl Thienes | August 17, 2004 at 12:24 PM
i've felt slightly uncomfortable with the opening and closing ceremonies of the olympics for many years. not uncomfortable enough to stop watching them, but there is a sense that there is a pagan background to it all. how could it be more clear than this year's opening ceremonies, with the emphasis on the greek gods? i'm not sure that boycotting is the answer. but to think that there is no pagan influence there is rather naive.
Posted by: tammy | August 18, 2004 at 04:42 PM
"Some culture-embracing leaders within the Emerging Church may find it difficult relating to our Orthodox brethren in Greece -- especially when they publically explain their disdain for certain aspects of the Olympics"
It is all well and good to be "culture-embracing", but if such embraces include idolatry, paganism, etc, then it is antithetical to the Christian faith. That does not mean there aren't aspects of that culture than can be appreciated or even celebrated, only that a Christian needs to be careful in how they do that. Generally speaking, if Emerging leaders aren't willing to lay down some kind of boundary when it comes to right-belief and right-practice, then I think they run a greater risk of hurting the name of Christ.
Posted by: Nathan | August 20, 2004 at 08:04 AM