Watching HBO and R-rated movies but only if the content is violent.

A few months ago, my friend asked me a question, “How come we Christians get upset about the nudity in the show ‘Game of Thrones,’ but not at the violence? How come I haven’t heard anyone protest the idea that a little kid got thrown out of a window? On purpose.”

Great question and I should have referred him to page 18 in the Stuff Christians Like book. It pretty much explained it.

For Christians, we think it’s completely okay to watch R-Rated movies and HBO programs, but only if they got that rating because of violence. If they’re rated R because someone is getting their head cut off or there’s a wedding battle so gory that blood splashes on the camera lens, don’t worry. God’s cool with that. However, if the movie is rated R because of sexuality … well, I hope you enjoy your fold-out couch bed in hell. It’s gonna be a hot one, my friend. A hot one, indeed.

I’m not sure where this rule came from, but it’s true. Not only do Christians watch violent R-rated movies, we’ll quote them from the pulpit, build sermon series around them and even show clips of them during service. I call it the “Braveheart rule” and my theory is that it’s because of the Old Testament.

Have you read the Old Testament lately? It’s hardcore. Samson smashes people in the head with a donkey jawbone. A priest runs a spear through two people having sex. David carries Goliath’s head around like a bowling ball. It’s violent. I think that some Christians read that and assume, “Cool, God’s down with some wanton violence. R-rated movies, here we come!”

But if there’s any nudity, if a single nipple makes a cameo at any point, forget it. Throw that piece of nonsense in the trash. That is horrible.

That’s what makes Game of Thrones so frustrating for Christians. It’s got gobs of violence. Author George RR Martin kills characters like I kill beats. But, because it’s on HBO there’s also tons of nudity. HBO is the kind of channel that even does background nudity, where even during the main dialogue between two characters there are people in the background of the scene nude, seemingly for no reason whatsoever.

It’s a real pickle.

At the end of the day though, don’t forget this.

You can wait until they show the 37 minute long edited version on TBS.

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