Let’s be clear. Game of Thrones is vile. I read pretty widely, even among writers I disagree with. But there are some things I won’t read. I couldn’t get more than a few chapters into Game of Thrones; I threw the entire series away.
I haven’t tried to watch the series. Why should I? I get enough pollution driving down the highway. But I can’t imagine that the graphic reenactment of the books is any more edifying or less destructive.
So why is there a controversy?
It started when John Piper proposed “Twelve Questions to Ask Before You Watch ‘Game of Thrones.'” He pulled no punches, but lots of good, evangelical people weren’t happy. Here’s a sample:
The world does not need more cool, hip, culturally savvy, irrelevant copies of itself. That is a hoax that has duped thousands of young Christians. They think they have to be hip, cool, savvy, culturally aware, watching everything in order not to be freakish. And that is undoing them morally and undoing their witness.
Exactly.
And that’s one of the reasons I love Piper.
Then Kevin DeYoung at the Gospel Coalition spoke out with, “I Don’t Understand Christians Watching Game of Thrones.” DeYoung is not a theological lightweight, nor is he a prude. But he understands how destructive pornography can be–and Game of Thrones is pornography, whatever else it is.
Talk about a reaction! The comment string after his post is a hoot! If you want to know what’s wrong with contemporary Christianity, you might begin your research with the responses to DeYoung.
Now Nick Batzig has weighed in with “Game of Dethroning Sexual Sin.” He rightly acknowledges the pornographic nature of Game of Thrones.By the time this post appears, the commenters will be all over him.
Apparently many evangelicals just don’t get it. The question isn’t whether sex is a good gift of God; the question is whether pornography is a good use of that gift. The question isn’t whether the Bible narrates lewd and violent acts; the question is whether lewdness and violence should be vividly reenacted for pleasure.
People find reasons to justify what they already love. In this case, what they love is indescribably base.
