The night that the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics was broadcast, I went on TikTok and vented my frustration at the apparent disrespect shown to the Last Supper. My very short video was a simple observation that the only bigotry apparently still allowed (even encouraged) in today’s world is bigotry against Christians — and that (according to the opinions of a growing number of people) Christians are increasingly not welcome in polite mainstream society.
Most of my online articles and videos get very few views. I have no online following to speak of. I count myself fortunate if I get a few hundred eyeballs on something I write or post online. Besides, most of my online activity is really just a combination of personal, everyday social sharing (just like anyone else on social media) and a supplement to my ministry as a pastor. I’m not a high-powered influencer. At all.
Well, I got a taste of what it means to be a more significant player in the world of online influencers — at least in the evangelical space. And it wasn’t fun.
My short TikTok video about the highly offensive Olympics opening ceremony — and the apparent bigotry towards Christians — went viral.
My typical TikTok videos (short words of encouragement, a Bible verse, or a sharing of family news) get no more than 200 views. A small few have broken 500. Rarely – and I mean rarely – do I break a thousand.
Well, this TikTok video (since restricted to just friends) got over 130,000 views!
That’s great, you might be thinking. Well…
The comments weren’t great.
The video got thousands of comments. The overwhelming majority of them were negative. Not just negative, but brutally so.
Some comments called me ignorant (I did open myself up to that charge). Others said that, like many Christians, I have a “persecution complex” and love to “play the victim.” A sizeable number said that they were glad I got the message! To them, Christians should be driven from polite society. They were glad that Christians were disrespected. Several said I was a “creep.” I found everything about me — my appearance, how I talked, everything – mocked and derided.
One lady said that the eyes are the window to the soul and that she could tell I wasn’t a good person or a real Christian. Her comment got dozens of likes.
Another said I was the kind of Christian who exploits and harms children. 🙁 Side note: I didn’t delete or report any comment — no matter how mean — except that one. That one, I reported. That kind of baseless, vile slander is what ruins social media.
That was the worst, but thousands of comments were mean-spirited. I’m just barely scratching the surface. Some of the comments were vicious. I tried going back in my mind to before I was a pastor — to a time when I wasn’t really walking with the Lord — and, even then, I wouldn’t have said these things to someone. No matter how angry I might have gotten.
One person wasn’t content with attacking me on TikTok. He found me on Facebook — and called me “racist,” “homophobic,” and “a liar.”
Oh, and the views to THIS blog shot up!
My views have been trending down on this blog — something that many bloggers are reporting in light of the advances in AI 🙁 — but my TikTok viral video sparked interest in this blog. People were looking me up!
I did about three or four follow-up videos on TikTok to clarify and better explain myself. They got a few thousand views — but nothing like the original. And the negative comments barely subsided.
After several days, I changed the settings on that first viral video — and the subsequent ones — to where they aren’t publicly discoverable. Only my TikTok friends can see them. Then, I did the same with all the videos that touched on controversial issues.
Things have finally quieted down and I’m back to getting very few views on TikTok — and that’s just fine with me. 🙂
So, what lessons did I learn? Here they are…
- Be careful what you wish for. For years, I’ve wanted to expand my voice and have more of a reach. As our church treasurers can attest, I’ve invested some of my education fund (which the church provides me generously) into how to increase my online presence. While I haven’t abandoned that goal completely, I got a sober reminder that we need to be careful what we wish for. We need to trust God’s timing in everything, and not force it!
- If you wade into controversial waters, be prepared. First, be prepared for the pushback. But, also, take your time and do it right. I didn’t do it right. I don’t apologize for my main point — which is that Christians are facing increased hostility, even bigotry. Yes, many people deny that, but the facts are clear. Nevertheless…a short 10-second video statement is insufficient to get into all that. I needed to provide more details, more information, more context. Not doing so left me open to a lot of the pushback.
- Social media isn’t for the faint of heart. If this had happened to me in my teens or 20s, I would be devastated. I can understand how people with self-esteem issues are traumatized by social media. It still discouraged me, but I was able to shake off most of the comments. That’s because I’m an emotionally stronger and more confident man now than I was 30 — even 20, even 10 — years ago. My heart breaks for those unprepared for the hatred, vitriol, and toxicity that is so prevalent online.
- The hatred of Christianity is real. In the limited free time I have, I’ve tried to put a little bit of content out onto social media — mainly on Facebook, Medium, YouTube, and now TikTok. (I do very little on Instagram). I’ve witnessed the hostility towards Christians increase on social media over the last decade. It’s pretty intense these days.
- In the West, we mostly face pushback — albeit increasingly mean-spirited, hateful pushback. In other parts of the world, the persecution is real. There are 365 million Christians today facing real persecution in the world. We need to pray for them.
As for the Olympics controversy itself…
I encourage you to watch this excellent breakdown of the apparent parody of the Last Supper by Dr. Todd Grande. He is a very thoughtful voice on matters such as these. I don’t know his faith, but he is an example of how Christians should tackle sensitive and controversial matters.
Will I continue speaking out online? Yes. But I’m definitely sobered. And recognize the need to be more careful. I hope that my experience won’t lead you to fear or retreat. But I do hope it drives home the importance of preparation and wisdom.
God bless you.
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