Watching ‘Game of Thrones’ as a Christian



Westeros as the Valley of the Shadow of Death

I once called Game of Thrones “torture porn” and refused to watch it. I had tried, several times, to watch it and I found that it was filled with blood, gore, nudity, and sex — not something a Christian should engage with.
The first time I tried to watch it I was on an airplane. I had it on my iPad and became mindful of a kid in the aisle seat one row back and across watching what I was watching. I had to turn it off. I was certain it was bad for my sanctification.
Last April, when I was in the hospital trying not to die, I got moved out of the ICU and placed on the cardiac floor. By at least 30 years I had to be the youngest person on the floor and the late twenty-something nurse at night decided I needed to stay up and watch Game of Thrones with him. I had been staying up watching Adult Swim . Despite protesting, the nurse turned it on and I was soon drawn into the show. Though there was a good bit of violence, the nudity had largely been left behind in the first season or so and we were beyond that.
With the run up to the premiere of season seven, I have seen several friends circulate a rather convicting piece from John Piper on watching Game of Thrones. And he largely leaves no room except to conclude that one should not watch it — at least had I started watching in Season 1.
Coming from a position of thinking it rather hard for a Christian to watch something like this, I have arrived at the position that I think it depends on why one is watching. Surely if one is watching for the nudity or violence then it would be terrible for one’s sanctification. Even now I watch Game of Thrones on a delay so I can fast forward through anything I think inappropriate.
The reason I watch Game of Thrones now is that I think it is probably the best scripted show on television. Daredevil’s season 1 comes close to really capturing humanity in a similar way, but I see in Game of Thrones a lot of great morality tales woven together into a larger theme. I disagree with Berny Belvedere that the show is largely preoccupied with only one theme.
Here are some themes I’ve noticed the show competently portray. The good guy does not always win. The saint is often martyred while the sinner prevails. Evil marches ever closer and infiltrates while people deny it even exists. But there is a long running, simmering view that the bad will one day get their due. It is not just winter coming, but judgment.
Most shows on television foundationally believe in good people sometimes doing bad things. Game of Thrones had a lot of bad people often doing good things for bad reasons. It has good people doing bad things. And often it has the best people doing the best things only to wind up dead. There is a realism in the fantastic that more accurately captures the depraved nature of man than most shows. I cannot emphasize enough how well written the show is and how well the characters have developed over time.
I agree completely that watching Game of Thrones is not for everyone. I know people who at one time were obsessed with pornography and it has been a slow climb out of the sewer for them. I do not recommend they watch it. I know others who cannot take the sight of blood at all and I do not recommend they watch it. And I know Christians who are convinced watching Game of Thrones will send them straight to hell. I disagree, but I do not encourage them to watch it.
Were Game of Thrones to keep up the nudity and violence of the first season, I have no doubt I would not have been able to get into watching it. But the show changed over time as did my opinion of the show. Now I am excited to watch it and find that many of those most critical of it are people who have either never seen it or tuned out, like I did, in the first season unable to stomach it.
I see no harm in not watching it and see harm, with some, in watching it. But for many, even among Christians, I think they are on safe ground watching it if they are not just seeking the cheap thrills of violence and sex. Of course, your mileage may vary. But no, I do not think at this late stage in the great game it is bad for my sanctification.
I think the show, at its core, is a good reminder that this world is fleeting, evil exists, and real redemption cannot come from man.

Erick Erickson.

Many are mad but few are roaming the streets........

The first time my friends talked about watching Game Of Thrones, the one thing that really popped up mostly was the sex scenes in the series and how comparable it was to spartacus, so I put off watching the series for awhile.
Last month a dear friend of mine, worships at Deeper Life, told me how intriguing the series was. I was a bit taken aback considering the fact that I know the guy to be a hardcore Deeper Life member who does not take his spirituality for granted, so I made my view known to him. I told him what I've heard about the series and how much the series seems to center on sex and depravity. He laughed and asked me if I've watched an episode, I answered in the negative. He told me not to judge the Series by what other people say about it. He admitted that the first episode contained some sex scenes, nudity, etc. But the show has more depth than that. If you're watching just for the sex stuff, sorry for you but that's the only episode that contains that kinda stuff.
So I went to o2tvseries and downloaded the first season.. then second, third... down to the last episode (season 7 episode 1) and I got to admit, The GOT is more than just the sex, nudity and taboo, it brings to light more issues of truth like the fact that politics is really a dirty game, even the most evil persons we know might have a noble agenda, misplaced priorities etc. and I've enjoyed every single episode.
Hope you do too.

#winterIsComing - There's an evil underway

jonbellion:
Many are mad but few are roaming the streets........

did you even read the post?

naetocm:


did you even read the post?

I just saw your second post now dude so sorry
Yeah GOT is great