Posted on 07/16/2017 8:24:11 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
The sermon was titled “Fatal Attraction.” It was a cautionary message to those of us who were married members of the congregation to scrupulously observe the wedding vows we took according to God’s holy ordinance:
To have and to hold each other from our wedding day forward. To forsake all others who might come between us. To love each other, comfort each other and keep each other, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, in health, until death do us part.
But wait, said the junior pastor. He had an additional vow to suggest to Christ- following couples – to assiduously avoid watching “Game of Thrones,” the HBO series that begins its seventh season tonight.
I was taken aback by the pastor’s pronouncement. I could understand him condemning adultery. I could understand him discouraging divorce. I could understand him warning of the evils of strips clubs and massage parlors.
But I could not fathom why the pastor saw fit to mention a lone TV show – “Game of Thrones” – as if it singular poses a clear and present threat to Godly marriages.
I don’t think the pastor was impugning the morality of those in the congregation who have a taste for HBO’s critically-acclaimed fantasy drama, which is based on the best-selling book series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” authored by George R.R. Martin.
I imagine he simply thinks the violence and debauchery fairly regularly depicted on “Game of Thrones” is inappropriate entertainment for Christ followers.
That’s where I believe the junior pastor erred – by turning a “disputable matter,” as the Apostle Paul called it, into a matter of Christian doctrine.
Indeed, in 1 Corinthians, Paul writes: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful for me, but not all things edify.”
Now, let us not misconstrue what the apostle is saying. He is not suggesting it is acceptable in the eyes of God for him to disregard the Ten Commandments; that he can murder, commit adultery, practice idolatry (or whatever else he sees fit) with impunity.
No, what he is saying is that practices not addressed in the law, not set forth in the Bible, either directly or indirectly, are not verboten to Christ followers. However, he suggests, we would do well to avoid things that are neither helpful nor edifying.
The pastor obviously believes that “Game of Thrones” has no redeeming value to offer Christ followers. But in Romans the Apostle Paul advises: “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.”
That’s good advice not only to pastors, but the entire body of Christ. Let us remind ourselves that not all of us are mature Christians; that there are many among us whose faith is week.
We do not help them grow nearer to God and stronger in their faith by quarreling with them on disputable matters. So let us not look disapprovingly upon those who, say, patronize bars. Or those who listen to secular (rather than praise and worship) music on their Ipod. Or those looking forward to the new season of “Game of Thrones.”
Yet, the king was determined to have her. So while the woman’s soldier-husband was away protecting the kingdom’s borders, the king himself was sleeping with the soldier’s wife.
The adultery resulted in a pregnancy. And to cover up the scandal, the king had the woman’s husband assigned to a dangerous mission where he was killed in action.
That tawdry story was made into a 1951 movie starring Gregory Peck as the king and Susan Hayward as the adulterous wife.
Who would argue that Christ followers should avoid the tawdry tale of David and Bathsheeba, with its sex and violence?
Dress up pornography with good costumes and a good script, and it’s still pornography.
LOL SMH!
Are not there differences in your example however?
GOT represents immorality oftentimes without a consequent lessons which allows us to be fed by the truth. Instead, it titillates the mind with images in order to sell entertainment.
That is essentially different from the message about David in scripture which was a warning and a reminder about God’s knowledge of sin.
In the former the images are for themselves, and meant to get someone to buy and internalize a lie.
The scriptures don’t present a lie, but a lesson for us to cast off our old ways in order to follow God.
PornHub data shows the sexually-charged and barbaric (but totally awesome) program is so good at fulfilling our sexual needs, the nights it airs leads to a drop in porn consumption.
And for those not getting their fill during airtime, search words “Game of Thrones” increase on the porn site that evening — by a whopping 370 per cent, in fact.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/how-game-of-thrones-made-porn-socially-acceptable/news-story/40b149ce4b39cf4756719fd00413c49f
If displays of immorality tempt you to such a point that you’re at risk of engaging in immoral acts yourself, then avoid that particular temptation. We all have weaknesses and abiding challenges. If it doesn’t tempt you, then in my mind it’s not a problem to indulge in moderation. “Game Of Thrones” is exceedingly well done, from the perfect casting to the props to the sets to the locations to the script. Yes, there are gratuitous displays of sex and violence. You understand your own tolerance level and ability to resist temptation, I’d assume. Avoid it if it’s too much.
Granted, South Park has crossed its share of line too.
But I’ve not watched HBO since Not Necessarily the News was a thing.
I’ve never felt the need or urge to watch something so contrived. If stupid is a sin I’m still not guilty.
GoT has had a lot of torture porn as well as regular porn.
Just considered artistically: GoT would have been better, tauter drama without it.
Compare GoT with “I Claudius”.
The (real) things that Caligula did were just hinted at in that show: you got the horror without the brutalisation.
>>Dress up pornography with good costumes and a good script, and it’s still pornography.<<
I saw a skit (in passing — I don’t even remember who did it) where the posited the “Creative Director” for GOT was a 14-yo kid.
They kept asking him questions about different plot lines, story arcs, etc.
His answer to every question was “More Boobies!”
Based on the 6 episodes I got from Netflix and watched — yeah, that pretty much covers it. That and killing one of the “regular cast” every couple of episodes.
The story lines might have been able to carry it but I find the gratuitous sex and violence much too distracting. I am not a prude but it is, as you say, just pornography with nice costumes and complicated stories. But still just porno.
I’ve tried watching GOT three different times and each time by the 30 minute or so mark, I gave up. Stupid and boring. I don’t get it.
The same people led a crusade against rock and metal music.
I shan’t listen to them.
I have not watched Game of Thrones.
However, I like historical fiction (fiction based on actual historical facts).
I liked the series The Last Kingdom because it depicts an actual historical time in England circa 900 AD.
This is a period when Christianity was just taking over England from the pagan Danes.
The clash of Christianity and paganism is the backdrop to the entire story, and yes there is a lot of violence and some sex. But it is educational at the same time unless we don’t want to know about the past and how things happened or likely happened. It took centuries for Christianity to spread over Western Europe and England was one of the last places it was adopted ... taking several centuries to do so. I like the historical depiction of the push and pull of civilization over time because I love history. I think we can learn a lot from it. We have some of the same conflicts going on in our own day.
As a bonus I also love the depictions of the clothing, the architecture, the great cities of today in their infancy and so forth.
I could do without the violence but don’t think it is gratuitous in so far as it probably was a very violent period and violence was part of everyday life over most of history. Does it hurt us to be reminded of that?
You got it.
The only consistently strong plotline on that show was/is the Arya Stark thread with its themes of loss of identity, and assassins with a 3rd person speech code.
So many of the other plotlines are holding patterns or potboilers.
But it is at least a goldmine for memes. ‘You know nothing John Snow’. ‘Winter is coming’.
Also: the Red Wedding was genuinely shocking and dramatic. If you’re going to kill off leading characters, that’s the way to do it.
I don’t preach against nudity and adult beverages, among other things.
But I can’t indulge in neither.
I am programmed by childhood experiences to react to each in negative ways becoming loud and angry with booze and to indulge in solitary sex with any depiction of real nudity or the illusion of nudity with pixels and so on.
The truth is painful in my experience, but its there and I can’t walk away from it.
No booze, no looking at naked people.
Otherwise, I go in the wrong direction and in the context of my faith, I SIN.
I tried to watch it 2x, but crap/garbage/trash/filth & sewage really remains the same.
There was simulated sex and descriptive violent acts in this story in the bible? I dont think so. Everything that is made now is an excuse for skin and gore - “but its a great story!” -lame
After watching GOT just one time I got this overwhelming urge to build a Golden Calf in Arts&Crafts. This happen to anyone else?
No, but I did run out to Big 5 for a basket Baal.
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