Paris 2024 Olympics begin in 100 days

[DancesWithWife]

Another thread Jerry @trottigy asked a very simple question "Are You Neutral"? I was watching the news tonight and they mentioned that the Olympic games in Paris will start in 100 days. This remined me of the statement in the interactive study "Enjoy Life Forever!" in lesson 45 it makes this statement "

• How can we remain neutral when it comes to international sporting events?   This could be a real opportunity to look at ourselves and ask the question Jerry asked "Are You Neutral". I have watched the Olympics for many years and I recall how excited I was when the United States beat the Soviet Union in the Miracle on Ice game of 1980. The cold war was still going on, the Soviet Union was the most evil empire out there and the lads from the United States had no chance. To beat the best hockey team in the world was a major accomplishment. It was just a sporting event, but national pride had swelled.

 

What I found funny while watching the news segment I found myself wondering, where will the brothers and sisters be with their carts for public witnessing. I have come full circle in my love of sports. To me they are but a passing of a breeze in my life. What have you done to prepare your heart to remain neutral? Here in the United States there will be a strong challenge to our neutrality with the presidential election coming in November. As this system comes to a crashing conclusion, our faith is going to be challenged in many directions. One of those challenges will soon be upon us, the challenge of neutrality of international sports.

 

From the Olympics website of olympics.com: "The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." (bold font from the olympic site, not added by me).

[Tortuga]

I thought you were going to start a new topic every day until the Olympics started..

[Witness1970]

When my son and daughter-in-law watch the Olympics they pick the team that they think is the best no matter what country it is.  They have been doing this for at least a decade.  They told me about it years ago.  They would select the teams they thought were the best separately.  Then they would compare notes later.

[Dages]

I expect it to be awful. As a French guy, not many people are happy with the coming Olympics.

Still a great opportunity to preach

Edited April 18 by Dages

[Dolce vita]

32 minutes ago, Dages said:

Je m'attends à ce que ce soit horrible. En tant que Français, peu de gens sont satisfaits des prochains Jeux olympiques.

Encore une belle occasion de prêcher

A little dip in the Seine, David?😁
The risk of terrorist attack is the most frightening and the most feared. I hope that our Parisian brothers will be very careful.

[Dages]

4 minutes ago, Dolce vita said:

A little dip in the Seine, David?😁

No thank you  

[DancesWithWife]

12 hours ago, Tortuga said:

I thought you were going to start a new topic every day until the Olympics started.

Now that you mention it... I just did watch an interesting PBS documentary called Nazi Town, USA  American Experience. In some ways very similar to what we are experiencing. I could not imagine the test of neutrality that would later be clarified during the second world war in 1939. The book God's Kingdom Rules stated on pages 56-57:

"23, 24. What was our understanding of Romans 13:1 during World War II, and to what more accurate view were Christ’s followers guided?

 

²³ Just as World War II was erupting in 1939, The Watchtower featured an in-depth discussion of neutrality. The article showed clearly that Christians would have no part at all in the wars and conflicts of the nations of Satan’s world. What timely guidance! Christ’s followers were thus protected from the horrific bloodguilt that clung to the nations in that war. Beginning in 1929, however, our publications had also reasoned that the superior authorities of Romans 13:1 were not the secular rulers at all, but Jehovah and Jesus. A more accurate understanding was still needed.

²⁴ The holy spirit guided Christ’s followers to just such a view in 1962, when landmark articles on Romans 13:1-7 were published in the November 15 and December 1 issues of The Watchtower. Finally, God’s people grasped the principle of relative subjection that Jesus had revealed in his famous words: “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar but God’s things to God.” (Luke 20:25) True Christians now understand that the superior authorities are the secular powers of this world and that Christians must be subject to them. However, such subjection is relative. When the secular authorities ask us to disobey Jehovah God, then we answer as did the apostles of old: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) In Chapters 13 and 14 of this book, we will learn more about how God’s people have put the principle of Christian neutrality into action."

 

Here is the link to the PBS Video 

 

[Jwanon]

I work in a hotel in Paris. It will living through hell

[Katty]

I thought about asking a friend to go with me, but decided that Paris is crowded enough when there's not a special event going on. 

[Katty]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:51 AM, Dages said:

I expect it to be awful. As a French guy, not many people are happy with the coming Olympics.

Still a great opportunity to preach

I kind of agree. France is apparently the most visited country in the world by tourists. It doesn't need an Olympic event. Finland, Lichtenstein, or Luxembourg could have used the tourism from it more. 

I imagine the preaching cart schedule will be mad during that time.

[Katty]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:44 AM, DancesWithWife said:

Another thread Jerry @trottigy asked a very simple question "Are You Neutral"? I was watching the news tonight and they mentioned that the Olympic games in Paris will start in 100 days. This remined me of the statement in the interactive study "Enjoy Life Forever!" in lesson 45 it makes this statement "

• How can we remain neutral when it comes to international sporting events?   This could be a real opportunity to look at ourselves and ask the question Jerry asked "Are You Neutral". I have watched the Olympics for many years and I recall how excited I was when the United States beat the Soviet Union in the Miracle on Ice game of 1980. The cold war was still going on, the Soviet Union was the most evil empire out there and the lads from the United States had no chance. To beat the best hockey team in the world was a major accomplishment. It was just a sporting event, but national pride had swelled.

 

What I found funny while watching the news segment I found myself wondering, where will the brothers and sisters be with their carts for public witnessing. I have come full circle in my love of sports. To me they are but a passing of a breeze in my life. What have you done to prepare your heart to remain neutral? Here in the United States there will be a strong challenge to our neutrality with the presidential election coming in November. As this system comes to a crashing conclusion, our faith is going to be challenged in many directions. One of those challenges will soon be upon us, the challenge of neutrality of international sports.

 

From the Olympics website of olympics.com: "The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." (bold font from the olympic site, not added by me).

What if I root for a country I don't live in and am not from? 
Can I root for Paraguay, or possibly Panama?
I like the Latin world, for some reason.

Edited April 23 by Katty

[DancesWithWife]

4 minutes ago, Katty said:

What if I root for a country I don't live in and am not from? 
Can I root for Paraguay, or possibly Panama?
I like the Latin world, for some reason.

You can root for anyone you want. I think the point is what is the root for our pulling for one team over another because of nationality? I watch the Olympics a little bit to see sports I normally don't watch or that are not broadcast. To me it's an opportunity to see the very best  for example badminton which I enjoyed playing in high school. In 2012 there was a scandal to "throw games", lose on purpose to get a better position in the tournament. I was a diehard sports guy, but have changed my view when you learn of the lifestyles of the players, the cheating, the doping and other issues. 

[Katty]

Just now, DancesWithWife said:

You can root for anyone you want. I think the point is what is the root for our pulling for one team over another because of nationality? I watch the Olympics a little bit to see sports I normally don't watch or that are not broadcast. To me it's an opportunity to see the very best  for example badminton which I enjoyed playing in high school. In 2012 there was a scandal to "throw games", lose on purpose to get a better position in the tournament. I was a diehard sports guy, but have changed my view when you learn of the lifestyles of the players, the cheating, the doping and other issues. 

I agree. I was just being a bit cheeky. 
I find the summer olympics to not be all that interesting, save synchronized swimming. I prefer winter with ice-skating. 

[Parale]

Gold, Silver and … Iron? Paris Olympic Medals Will Have Piece of the Eiffel Tower

 

Athletes who win medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris won’t just win gold, silver or bronze. Their medals will also include a piece of iron — wrought-iron, to be exact, from the Eiffel Tower itself.

 

Organizers of the Games said Thursday that each of the 5,084 medals created for the Paris events will be decorated on one side with a hexagon-shaped piece of iron recovered from the French capital’s iconic landmark.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/world/europe/paris-olympics-medals-eiffel-tower.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mk0.fitG.NnM7hQmLsXPi&smid=url-share

Edited April 23 by Parale

[Parale]

 

Yesterday the Olympic Rings where unveiled at Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.