I stumbled on an article from a Christian website that I find worth discussing. The article is titled, “I Don’t Understand Christians Watching Game Of Thrones,” and appears on The Gospel Coalition website. It isn’t very long because the author doesn’t think it is that complicated an issue. Personally, I think it is hilarious and that is why I am blogging about someone else’s blog. Hell, I’m even linking to it.
The writer, Kevin DeYoung, has one main objection to the show. Based on the fact that he admits quite boldly that, “I haven’t seen it. Not an episode. Not a scene. I hardly know anything about the show.” He is convinced that it is full of explicit sex scenes. If he hasn’t seen the show, not an episode or even a scene, and he hardly knows anything about the show, then how does he know it is filled with sex scenes? Well, he Googled… wait for it… “Game of Thrones Sex,” and oh look there were a lot of articles that popped up with headlines talking about Game of Thrones sex. Shocker!
Clearly DeYoung hasn’t heard of Internet Rule #34. That’s the rule that states, “If it exists, there is porn of it – no exceptions.” Forgetting for a moment the issue of bragging about one’s ignorance and yet still criticizing something one admittedly knows nothing about, let me try a little experiment. I’m going to Google “Jesus Christ Sex,” and see if there are any headlines that pop up. Here are just a few of the headlines that came up in my search:
Did Jesus have sex with Mary Magdalene?
Jesus Christ Sex Tape – YouTube
Jesus’ Sex Life on the ‘Down Low’
Jesus Christ made sexual Slaves subservient to him
Wow, based on complete ignorance of Jesus and these Google headlines alone, that Jesus guy must have been having all kinds of crazy sex. Aren’t the Gospels about his life? They must be filled with dirty, evil, disgusting sex! How could any Christian read that thing? LOL.
Okay, now let’s get to the meat of the issue: Sex and Game of Thrones. I love Game of Thrones and watch it every week with my wife. She loves it too. When we watch the show, I don’t really think either of us are thinking about if or what sex scene will we see and whether or not it will make us horny. No, that isn’t really on our minds or even in other parts of our bodies. Because anyone who actually watches the show could tell you that there really aren’t a lot of sex scenes in the show and when there is some sex scene, it is usually pretty short and rarely very arousing. I would highly recommend that if anyone is watching Game of Thrones for the sex scenes, they should probably stop watching Game of Thrones and watch some porn instead.
What makes Game of Thrones a great show isn’t the occasional sex scene or the brief flashes of nudity, it is the characters, the intrigue between those characters, the plotting and scheming, and the unpredictability of a show that lets us know they are not afraid to kill off beloved main characters at a whim. Yeah, I think that last one is key. Hey Kevin, try Googling the Red Wedding sometime.
Let’s get to it though. I actually think this show has a lot for Christians to identify with. Think about it. When Geoffrey was king, he demanded everyone worship him while he threatened to torture anyone who didn’t. Sound familiar? And anyone who couldn’t see the obvious parallels between the Sparrows and Christianity must be completely blind. But let’s face reality, Pope Francis wishes he could be as humble as the High Septon. In reality, the woman shouting, “Shame, Shame, Shame,” as she walked behind a naked Cersei Lannister down the streets of Kings Landing could just as easily have been Kevin DeYoung or any other sex obsessed Christian fundamentalist.
There is magic in Westeros and oh look, there is magic in the Bible too. The Bible has Giants and demons and whatnot and Daenerys has Dragons. There are White Walkers in Game of Thrones, but the dead rise in the Bible too (Matt 27:51-53):
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Getting back to the sex though, it is true that Cersei and Jamie are twins and have sex fairly regularly, but is that any worse than Lot having sex with his daughters? No, in fact, I think Lot having sex with his daughters is way worse. So maybe Christians should think about that next time they are in Bible study. See, I am making Bible study more interesting already. The Bible has way more sex than Game of Thrones and it is way dirtier too.
I guess to finished this up, let me just answer the question posed in the headline, Why Do Christians Watch Game of Thrones? Because it is a lot like the Bible, but better and more realistic… and that’s saying something considering there are Dragons, White Walkers, and Vagina Monsters in Game of Thrones.
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