Why are Christians STILL Watching Game of Thrones?
In case you missed it, HBO just broadcasted the eighth and final season of their show “Game of Thrones” which is based off George R.R. Martin’s books. This show (and the books) have now become a sort of cultural phenomenon. The show was the most expensive TV show produced in 2018 and promises to have even more money poured into in 2019. And why not put that kind of money into it if you’re HBO? Clearly, you’re giving people what they want. An astounding 3.39 million people watched the first episode of season 8. That’s up 20% from the 2.83 million who watched the season 7 premiere, and an increase of 12% over the 3.03 million who tuned in for the season 7 finale.
But it says something about the state of our Christian culture that this show continues to rise in popularity.
Many, many, many good articles have been produced condemning the violence, nudity, and unwholesome content in the show. These Christian voices have come up with compelling arguments as to why Christians should never watch this show.
- Consider Kevin DeYoung’s article published on August 8, 2017 called, I Don’t Understand Christians Watching Game of Thrones. In the article he said, “I don’t expect those who are strangers to the light to be bothered by the darkness. But for conservative Christians who care about marriage and immorality and decency in so many other areas, it is baffling that Game of Thrones gets a free pass.” 1
- Tom Reinker, senior writer for Desiring God, wrote an article way back in 2014 where he compelled us to ask 12 questions before watching Game of Thrones. In his article he said, “The closer I get to death and meeting Jesus personally face-to-face and giving an account for my life and for the careless words that I have spoken (Matthew 12:36), the more sure I am of my resolve never intentionally to look at a television show or a movie or a website or a magazine where I know I will see photos or films of nudity. Never.” 2
- Blogger Tim Challies put up an article on his site in 2016 that he called Sex on the Silver Screen. In his article has said rather specifically, “If they act sinfully by doing it, you act sinfully by watching it.” 3
Each of these articles are concise and biblically informed. I encourage you to go out and read them. Yet, some of the responses to them continue to be perplexing. Even though this show is unquestionably filled with nudity, violence, strong language, and all manner of debauchery, Christians still give it a free pass! Have we lost the ability to draw a line and refuse to cross over it? Have our morals, even as Christians, become so depraved that our conscience no longer allows us to blush?
If you, or your friend, claim to be a Christian and still watch Game of Thrones let me encourage you to ask a few questions before turning that show on again.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, WHAT IS PORN?
If someone cropped out one of the graphic sex scenes from Game of Thrones and put that single scene online for it to be viewed without the context of the shows plot would you allow your teenager to view it? Of course not! If you caught your teenager watching it would you consider counseling for his pornography addiction? You absolutely would! 4
So why is it that we can dress up these graphic scenes on Game of Thrones and they are now socially acceptable? Is it possible we just want to watch porn without the social stigma attached to it? For my part, I would call say that any show depicted naked people having sex is pornography.
God created the act of marriage to be a beautiful thing and pronounced that it was “good” (1 Timothy 4:3). But sex is not a spectator sport. Choosing to watch this, even on a show, is akin to openly balling up your fist, sticking it in God’s face and declaring, “You were wrong when you said what this was for! We’ve made it better!”
IS THIS THE KIND OF SHOW THAT JESUS DIED FOR?
Put simply: Christ died to purify His people. That means that Christ suffered the horrible torture of crucifixion and died for your sin of watching nudity. Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify himself a people for his own possession” (Titus 2:14). Pardon me for being blunt here but how dare you trample on the sacrifice of Christ by choosing to endorse the very impurities he died for! If you’re going to watch this show you might as well just run that spear into Jesus side while you do.
DOES THIS SHOW LOOK LIKE THE OLD MAN YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD TO?
Seeing naked women – or seeing naked men – causes us to sin with our minds and desires. If Jesus told us to guard our hearts by gouging out our eyes (Matthew 5:28-29), how much more do you need to watch on this show until you start having some radical surgery?
Jesus wasn’t teaching self-mutilation in Matthew but rather self-denial. Let me reiterate what should be well-known to anyone who has a pair of functioning eyeballs – DELETE DOES NOT MEAN DELETE! Once you see it it’s pretty much there forever unless God, through the working of the Holy Spirit, helps you. So why would you allow yourself to watch something you know full well you wouldn’t be watching if Jesus were in the room with you?
DOES THIS KIND OF VIOLENCE PROMOTE PURITY OF THOUGHT?
If God destroyed the world with a flood because “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11) then ask yourself, “does this kind of content promote godliness?”
Life in Christ is not only the avoidance of evil, but the passionate pursuit of good. Remember what Paul said we were supposed to think about? He makes his list pretty clear in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
IS THERE ANY DOUBT IN YOUR MIND THAT THIS MIGHT BE WRONG?
Obviously I’m quite convocated that Christians should never watch Game of Thrones but you might not be so convinced. For sake of argument here let’s just pretend that you’re still on the fence on this issue. As we create this scenario of doubt let’s read what Paul says in Romans 14:23: “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
Paul really helps simplify a lot of life’s most controversial issues: If you doubt, don’t! If Christians really followed this principle it would no doubt (pun intended) alter a lot of viewing habits.
ARE YOU JUST LISTENING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE, OR ARE YOU LISTENING TO GOD’S WORD?
Jiminy Cricket might have taught us to “let our conscience be our guide,” but our conscience is a lousy guide if it is not itself guided by the Word of God. If your conscience isn’t pricked don’t be too quick to assume that it’s okay. What you think is a clear conscience might actually be an uninformed conscience, a seared conscience, or even a dead conscience. Your conscience can only work with what it has been given, and if you haven’t actively sought God’s Word to form your personal convictions for entertainment, don’t trust yourself. And don’t assume that a “silent” conscience is the same as an “affirming” conscience. Often, our conscience is silent because we’re too lazy to actually search God’s Word to form our convictions (probably because we’re afraid that a more informed conscience might result in a more sensitive one).
Caleb Phelps is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church. This article first appeared at Pursuing the Pursuer. We republish it here with permission.
Editor’s Note: This piece is very recent. Usually we like to wait a bit and republish articles from bloggers we follow at a later date, as a “you may have missed this” kind of feature. In this case, we think the topic is timely and important, so we requested permission to publish now.
We would also like to recommend that you add Pursuing the Pursuer to your regular reads. The fellows publishing there are doing good work, we highly commend them.
I think it is a lost cause to preach against Game of Thrones if we are not dealing with the heart issue, which is our desensitization to sexual sin in general and pornography specifically. According to published studies, “Christians” consume porn at the same rate that unchurched people do. If you are consuming porn, Game if Thrones is no big deal. I am not saying all GOT fans are consumers of porn, just saying it would be no big deal to people who read or watch things that delve deeper into the mire.
Opal, thank you for the comment. Yes, the heart issues are essential.
Addressing GOT specifically, though, may well awaken the heart to the peril it is in. We had another article last week by Kris Schaal on how we’ve become desensitized to cursing (taking the Lord’s name in vain) in movies, etc. We are afflicted by our culture in more ways than we can imagine. It may be that to protect our hearts we need simply to fast from our entertainment culture in general.
Anyway, thanks for commenting.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3