Tom Daley and Rio2016 – is there really no judgment?

After ‘That Tweet’ about how Tom Daley turning gay did him no favours at #Rio2016 a number of people were really sure God did not judge Daley in the diving pool for turning gay. Some said God wouldn’t judge him, either because ‘being gay’ isn’t a sin or because God can’t be bothered to intervene in the affairs of men, some said God couldn’t, some said there’s no God anyway, and some were just abusive.

So I thought I should brave this maelstrom and state my personal position on what I believe the Bible says.

DALEY PROMOTING HIMSELF AND HIS HOMOSEXUALITY

Tom Daley was talked about as a potential gold medal-winner before all the athletes set off. He said himself: ‘I’m going into this Olympic Games for a gold medal.’

I last wrote about Daley in December 2013, when he decided he was ‘gay’ after becoming involved with one Dustin Black. He came back into view as his gayness and his fait accompli individual gold medal were all over the media as Rio2016 approached.

The papers loved the relentless opportunities he gave them to photograph him with his twice-as-old boyfriend. There were pictures of Daley and Black holding hands, going shopping, eating out, being on the cover of sodomy magazines, kissing (yuk), talking about being ‘engaged’ to be gay-married, even about ‘having children’ together (which thing can’t biologically be done, but let that pass).

Young Mr Daley was giving it large, as they say in South London, about his new-found homosexuality and all things gay and about his medal prospects.

DIVING IS ALL IN THE MIND

At Rio 2016, Daley achieved a bronze medal with Dan Goodfellow in the men’s synchronised 10m platform. Even then, as Felicity Morse noted in iNews, newspaper coverage of the medal was all about Daley. Goodfellow was literally left out of the picture in both the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. But when it came to the individual dive, from 1st place in the preliminary round, Daley slumped to last place in the semi-final.

From what I can see about diving, you can do all the training you want, and you have to, but at the crucial moment, it really is all in the mind. As he was lining up for what would turn out to be his last Rio2016 dive, something scrambled Tom Daley’s.

What that was, we shall probably never know. I might say ‘God did it’, while someone else will attribute it to a random thought (but where did that thought come from?) and others will say it was just an off-day. But even they will have to concede that to go from first place to last is a bit dramatic.

THE SPIRITUAL AFFECTS THE NATURAL

Here’s the theological question: Does one’s belief set really affect one’s life outcomes?  Does pride go before a fall?  Can the spiritual dimension of life affect the natural? Sceptics will say, ‘Of course not!’

We know from Matthew 5:45 that the sun shines on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But that is the common grace of God. What about the Lord’s specific dealings with individuals? The Bible records God saying to Eli the priest:

1Samuel 2:30b but now the LORD saith, … them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

Eli’s sons were apostate and his family was wiped out soon after. The prophecy came true.

The book of Psalms opens by saying:

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Like it or not, and if you are homosexual or liberal or from Plymouth you probably won’t, but Tom Daley is in the verse 4 category. And if anyone wants to say I am ‘judging’ him, just put ‘Tom Daley” into an internet search engine.

THE SIN OF SODOMY

It’s the word of God which is judging him, not me. Sodomy is said to be sinful all through the Bible. God brought judgment on Sodom itself. Men doing shameful acts with other men is condemned in the New Testament (Romans 1:24-27). The Lord Jesus said:

Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

All I am doing is warning. The ministry I lead has been warning our nation of the effects of our corporate sin for over twenty years.  We do it because we care about our nation and those in it.

Promoting sodomy and gay-marriage, as Daley does, is especially sinful. That is because it affects the cultural environment of impressionable young people. The ‘Daley-effect’ can make an adolescent boy think he is gay when he is actually passing through a phase of same-sex attraction.  Tom Daley’s failure to win an Olympic gold medal has at least mitigated that effect to an extent.

JUDGMENT IS COMING

Of course there are those who are just as wicked who appear to get away with it all their lives. On the other hand, there are good people who suffer. Squaring those outcomes with the principle of Psalm 1 exercised the protagonists in the book of Job.  The psalmist asked the question pointedly in Psalm 73, and Solomon in Ecclesiastes:

Eccl 7:15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

But we have, as Job and the psalmists did, to keep to the Psalm 1 hope that anyone who turns away from the advice of the ungodly, who doesn’t hang around with those who are breaking God’s laws and who doesn’t mock or scorn God will be blessed and whatsoever he does will prosper in his time on earth.  They were certain that judgment is coming eventually.

GOD REWARDS THOSE WHO SEEK HIM

The same spiritual principle operates in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews says those who diligently seek God will be rewarded:

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The Lord Jesus himself spoke of rewards from following him, and he said they would happen in this life:

Luke 18:29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, 30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

Does that mean salvation itself is earned? No, it has all been done on the cross by Jesus:

1Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

PUT YOUR TRUST IN JESUS

To be saved, you simply put all your trust, all your faith, in Jesus:

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Salvation is available to everyone who calls on the name of Jesus:

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That applies to every one of us. If you do not yet believe that the Lord Jesus died on the cross to forgive you your sins, and that his resurrection will fill you with new life, call on his name right now, believe in him and tell everyone (that’s what the confess bit means) that he is your Saviour.

WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY?

What would Jesus say to Tom Daley? Carry on sinning? No, he would say what he said already:

Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

‘Repent and believe the Gospel’.  Jesus says that still to every sinner today. You may think you are doing well, but God can still pull you down. If you spit in the face of God often enough and long enough, judgment is coming.

Salvation is a gift from God. It carries with it eternal life in heaven, in the presence of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb of God.

WOULD DALEY BE A BETTER DIVER IF HE TURNED TO CHRIST?

But the Bible also teaches there is a reward in this life for obedience to God’s laws. You succeed in life by following Kingdom principles.

Even the New Agers, drawing on Hinduism, have their idea of ‘Karma’. Our human spirit cries out that if there is no reward for virtue and no judgment for sin, what is the point of trying to lead a good life, however you define it? Is it all in the next life? No, the Bible teaches it is in the here and now as well.

So do I believe Tom Daley would be a better diver if he turned to Christ and renounced his homosexuality as a result of conviction of sin?  Of course I do!  By harnessing the power of prayer, he would find the Lord would help to focus his mind before every dive. God can do that, you know!

In addition, although Tom Daley would be persecuted by the gays for betrayal, he would have the peace of God in his heart. He would have the blessed assurance, as the hymn puts it, of salvation. I believe he would be a better diver, but even if I’m wrong in that, the sweet knowledge of salvation outweighs everything else this life affords.

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