Pastor Kevin DeYoung of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina, has questions for believers who think this is okay.
According to Christian Post, the preacher says that there is no compelling argument that gives Christians a pass to watch graphic sex scenes.
Kevin DeYoung says Christians have no compelling argument for watching Game of Thrones .
On Tuesday, August 22, 2017, he came up with 10 rebuttals for believers that defend the show in a post on The Gospel Coalition.
He wrote: “Does anyone actually think the apostle Paul (or any other apostle, or Jesus for that matter) would have been cool with the sensuality prevalent in ‘Game of Thrones’ (and so much of our entertainment)?
We are not talking about marble statues or a Holocaust documentary or a physician examining a patient. We are talking about two naked people doing in front of us what naked people do together.”
Moving on, DeYoung gave a list of 10 common criticisms he received for his article titled: 'I Don’t Understand Christians Watching Game of Thrones' and his answers for each of them.
To people who argue that he hasn't seen the show, he stated that “no one has tried to refute that ‘Game of Thrones’ is full of graphic sex scenes.”
In 2016, there was a petition for viewers to boycott 'Game of Thrones' for 'normalising sexual violence' (lifepetitions)
To those who tell him not to watch it if he doesn’t like it, the pastor replied, “[W]hat would you say if your son tried that line in defence of his pornography?”
To popular criticisms that the Bible is also full of sex and violence, he wrote: “No one is arguing that reading about sin, or even, in every case, watching sin, is necessarily sinful. But there is a world of difference between a terse description of sin (David lay with Bathsheba), a metaphor-laden poem about romantic love (Song of Songs), or a chapter about the ugliness of spiritual adultery (Ezekiel 16) and watching two naked people pretend to have sex.
"There’s a reason the Bible speaks of the lusts of the eyes. Hollywood skin and Hollywood sex are meant to arouse. That’s the aim. That’s part of the attraction. By contrast, the Bible never aims toward unholy arousal — exactly the opposite,” he added.
To what if “Sex scenes and nudity don’t phase me” arguments, he replied: “I question whether the folks who say this know themselves as well as they think they do. And if looking upon what God has forbidden has no effect on us, that’s not a good sign.”
To people who say that their conscience isn’t bothered, DeYoung quoted the Bible: “The conscience can misfire (Heb. 10:22). We may not feel conviction for sin where we should … Sex scenes should bother us.”
John Piper's article titled: ‘12 questions to ask before you watch Game of Thrones' was a response to this question - “Pastor John, what would you say to a Christian who watches the cable TV show Game of Thrones?” (desiringgod)
To those who claim to close their eyes during the bad parts, he said that this is “better than nothing, I suppose.” He added that this is not a But reliable method.
For people that tell him to “stop judging and shaming,” the pastor said that “Judgmentalism is a spirit of censorious nitpicking. Making moral evaluations is what Christians do all the time, like arguing that a television show is not appropriate or that a blog post is judgmental.”
For the argument that the “good elements”, the story and artistry, outweigh the bad scenes, he said: “But everyone agrees (I hope) that some elements are so bad that the good stuff is not worth it. Like picking up Playboy for the articles.”
To those who say they watch the show as a way to engage with co-workers about the Gospel, DeYoung said that he is “willing to bet that the number of unbelievers coming to Christ through ‘Game of Thrones’ chatter is quite low.”
For the last argument, “Don’t we have more important things to worry about?” DeYoung responded with this: “There are always a thousand other important issues we could be addressing. But then again, there are also a thousand other important things we could be doing rather than watching graphic sex scenes on television.”
The pastor ended his post with a challenge. He encouraged Christians to pray about the show and see the feedback they get.
In his words, “take a week and pray every day, asking God if you are listening to the Spirit and reading the Word correctly on this matter.
“Better yet, take a month to pray, and during that month do a detox of anything that could possibly be construed as sexually explicit or provocative.
“You may see with new eyes what you are too comfortable seeing at the moment. You may even discern a nagging conviction of sin that you’ve been pushing aside as nothing but religious baggage.”
He wrote this as a parting shot: "I cannot imagine how anyone growing closer to the God of the Bible will want to see more sex and nudity, or that anyone has found shows like Game of Thrones to be a serious blessing in seeing and savoring Christ. We become what we behold. So let’s be careful little eyes what we see."
Pastor DeYoung is not the first person to raise this question concerning this show.
Several preachers and writers have the same over the years. In 2014, John Piper, founder of desiringGod.org, wrote an article titled: ‘12 questions to ask before you watch Game of Thrones.’
John Piper says Christians who watch 'Game of Thrones and it's nudity are recrucifying Christ' (christiantopost)
In it, he wrote, “Sexual relation is a beautiful thing. God created it and pronounced it good (1 Timothy 4:3). But it is not a spectator sport. It is a holy joy that is sacred in its secure place of tender love.”
Having read all of these, do you think Christians should watch Game of thrones?
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