Am I thinking rightly about this? (Related to Game of Thrones)

I have recently been reading a lot about sex and nudity in film and television, mainly from Cap Stewart's blog, Happier Far*. He has posted a lot about it since 2013, and if you want a sampling, check out his top posts of 2014 to see what I'm talking about.

Cap decided that he could no longer support films or TV shows where actors and/or actresses appear nude, participate in sex scenes, or are otherwise sexually exploited. This is mainly because sex and sexuality are sacred, and he's heard several stories of how actresses (mostly women) are coerced into doing things that violate their sexual privacy on camera. Even though some of them say they do it willingly or even joyfully, the fact remains that many don't. Supporting these products enables the industry to keep exploiting people. (Cap took it so far as to not see Star Trek: Into Darkness in the theater because there's a brief bit where a woman is shown in her underwear. He waited until it was available from the local library.)

I find these arguments persuasive to the point that I have started regularly checking IMDB's parents guides for any movie I think about watching, even if it's streaming for free. If it looks like people are being exploited, even in the name of an allegedly good message (think Cuties for maybe the most extreme example), I drop it from my mental watchlist.

Now, my question is … how evangelistic should I be in this?

Game of Thrones was a big deal when Cap was writing about this stuff, and coincidentally, I recently heard that my brother's wife has gotten into watching the show now that my brother has subscribed to HBO Max. I think he's watching it, too, now. They are both self-proclaimed believers. I don't know what church, if any, they attend/watch, but I do know that they participate in a weekly Bible study (or did when they were here a few months ago).

I'm wondering if I should express my concerns to them over their patronizing of GoT. I feel that, even if they fast-forward through or look away during the sex scenes and nudity, the people who made the show don't care. They're still getting their money or ratings or clicks or whatever. I'm sure that, if I tell them my feelings, they'll probably dismiss me as legalistic, at least at first. Should I even bother?

What would you do?

*This is totally unrelated, but does anyone know how to render a website name in text? Like, you're supposed to underline book titles, italicize movie titles, and put quotation marks around short story and article titles. What about website names?

Regarding the website URLS, seems to be a matter of taste. In print, you don't need to do anything special. IT gets more complicated if you're quoting the URL on a website.

https://www.onlinegrammar.com.au/web-address-rules/


https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-format-urls-in-text

Regarding your main question, if it were me, and I was going to say anything, I'd probably approach it by explaining to them my decision and how I came to it. Possibly end with "Have you ever thought through this stuff?" I'd probably stop short of actually telling them what they should do.

But I guess my biggest suggestion would be pray about it. 1) for guidance on what to say and how to say it, and 2) that god would prepare them to hear it.

Wow, this is a great, complex, difficult, important topic!!

I hugely appreciate Cap's work, have converted several of his articles from SpecFaith into CGC content, and even at his request proofread a Bible study curriculum he published, offering my notes for his earlier draft. Love what he is doing and love supporting him however I can.

I will say that I land in a slightly different place from Cap in terms of responding to these issues through my life choices. Although he has said that his call to abstinence is not about boycotting, it has been hard for me to understand the difference in some respects. My stance is that I agree with all that he is saying regarding what we should consider about how these products are made, but I think its important for each individual to figure out their own God-honoring response.

I think it gets messy, doctrinally and relationally, when we try to promote a universal course of action in response to this issue, and tell others, implicitly or directly, that such a course is what God would want all of us to do. There are too many inconsistencies to be found that make our cases weak.

For example, by checking out "Into Darkness" from the library, Cap would be giving them data that such content is desired, leading to the Library purchasing similar content in the future. Yes, his "support" of such films is extremely minimal. But if we're going to say that "supporting" content with sin in the mix is wrong, then we should avoid any form of support, no matter how small, since we as Christians are meant to pursue perfection.

Additionally, while I'm open to having an example pointed out to me, I can't find any instances in scripture where New Covenant believers (that's us) are commanded to only buy products that did not involve sinful behavior as a part of their creation. There were certainly times where it could have been mentioned, but wasn't. And the truth is that if we diligently investigated, we would discover sin involved in the process of nearly everything we eat. If anything, we seem to have freedom to consume that which is created for sinful purposes, provided we consume it in a way that honors God. (See 1st Corinthians 8 and Romans 14)

So trying to establish a universal rule of life on these kinds of issues (even just for ourselves, let alone everyone else), is not a good idea, I think. I think it's better to sort through our response to content on a case by case basis. It requires more ongoing discernment, but I think that's where God wants us to be.

To be clear, I'm not saying by this that we have license and freedom to watch anything we want. Personally, from what little personal experience I have with the pilot, and what I have continually heard since then, it's hard for me to imagine a male Christian watching Game Of Thrones from beginning to end without entering into sin at multiple points. But I believe the best route to go with things like this is to focus on love and respect for others in our hearts. First, love and respect for the actors involved (which will guide our choices of how to interact with that content or whether to do so at all) and then love and respect for those we have concerns for as they consume what we consider questionable content.

I think Adam's approach sounds very wise. I would only add that it's worthwhile to acknowledge complexity and difficulty in sorting through these life choices. By talking about our own thoughts, confessing our struggles and feelings on the issue, and also acknowledging the difficulty in figuring out what God wants from us, that creates an interaction environment where the person you're talking to is less likely to feel preached at our judged, and will make them more likely to share their own thoughts and to consider yours. I think the more defensive people feel, the more likely we are to dig our heels in and keep our position. But when that is not the case, we are more likely to later, quietly, on our own, modify our position on things, even if it may have seemed like we were not being especially receptive during the conversation with someone else.

I've seen this in my own heart and also in the results of conversation with a non-believing friend of mine. So that's why I would lean in that direction.

In short, love and consideration for the feelings of others, and transparent confession & humility as we share our thoughts, seem like a recipe for a fruitful exchange on tough issues like this.