PRISM and Me

I keep thinking about this whole PRISM scandal coming out recently, especially because I'm a very opinionated person, and am quite active on the internet in sharing my opinions via Facebook, my blog, etc.

Two things: 1) I'm not surprised to learn about PRISM - actually, I'd be more surprised if there weren't a program like that in place; 2) How much more extensive are these covert operations than we know?

The thing about PRISM (our government mining personal, private online data from Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.) is that it's most concerning in conjunction with the IRS scandal, given that we know conservative groups and individuals were especially targeted and given a hard time when seeking non-profit tax status, and all because they were active in disagreeing with some of the policies of our President, policies which they viewed as detrimental to the health and safety of our nation.

What I mean is, how troubling is it to think that under that same administration, individual American citizens might have their private correspondence, photos, posts, etc. looked through without their knowledge, or that they might even face hassles in real life for the opinions and beliefs they shared in their virtual life? Surely there is no such thing as privacy anymore; I do hope there is still such a thing as liberty.

Should Christians Watch or Read Game of Thrones?

I can't speak to watching the HBO series, only to having read the first book through and having made it a few chapters into book two. The question of "should Christians watch Game of Thrones" has been part of what's prevented me from earnestly purchasing the series, or borrowing it from the library. Even though I find the plot rich and intriguing, the characters diverse and believable and engaging, and have very much been fascinated by the story so far as I've read it, I've read enough to know what to expect if I watch the series.

I don't feel the question is really about Game of Thrones. Rather, the question is about a more fundamental underlying issue: namely, how are Christians to interact with the sin and sinners around them? And another question, what does what we're interested in for media - books, movies, music, etc. - say about how godly we are, how pure we are, whether we love and follow Jesus, etc.?

It's too easy (and risky) to make a hard and fast rule across the board, to risk falling off into legalism and unlicensed judgment on the one side. Equally easy is falling off on the other side into relativism, amorality, emotionalism, minimizing, etc.

As I've studied the Bible and meditated on God's Word for all the years of my young adult life (not so many years, really), I've come to believe it matters more to God what our reasons will be for coming to the decision we do. In other words, God will care more about why we did or didn't watch Game of Thrones than he will whether we did.

Did I pick up Game of Thrones in pursuit of a vicarious sexual thrill? Did I publicly denounce Game of Thrones in pursuit of a reputation for piety? If both are wicked attitudes and mindsets, will God have any more approval for the one than the other?

I've read C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, as well as a handful of his other works, and enjoyed them thoroughly. I read through Tolkien's LOTR and The Hobbit and was and am a fan. What partly distressed me, or what kept me from completely embracing them, however, was the sense of artificiality, or perhaps of excessive moral sanitation. They’re excellent children's books, yes, and excellent books for an adult to read as well. Excellent stories, and obviously fantasy, but how real were the people? Were the outcomes too convenient, and would I develop unrealistic expectations in life from reading them?

It occurs to me that I feel this sense of artificiality because of having read the Bible since I was a young boy, and because I've read a good deal of human history, and neither the Bible nor history has led me to such a clean or cut and dry view of human events, or of the human heart.

I am concerned that some Christians who read the Bible just glaze over the portions which mention unimaginable violence and cruelty, or which tell (briefly, except in the case of Song of Songs) of sex, and which often mention sexual immorality.

The Bible is not crass in it's depiction of sex, even when Song of Songs covers sexuality at length (for an entire book!), but it does recognize that it exists!

My concern is that Game of Thrones goes unfortunately too far in it's depiction of sex acts; then again, perhaps it's difficult to fault a book for going into more detail about the sex acts in the story when every other bit of dialogue or action in the story is also covered with more detail; when minimizing sex in a novel or any other media, at what point as a writer do you risk inconsistency of narrative to become suddenly vague about one topic?

On the other hand, do we develop naive assumptions about what novels should be when we've digested LOTR and Narnia for years, books written primarily with children in mind which conspicuously avoid sexuality entirely (as I would want any children's book to do)?

I believe the Bible deals with sex more candidly than do either of those works, yet less explicitly than Game of Thrones. And, really, the sexual content in Game of Thrones is what concerns me most, due to its explicit nature.

Zooming out, however, I find the framework and portrayal of characters to be more realistic and true-to-life in Game of Thrones, and I hope we as Christians will not hoist childish, naive objections on anything just because we wish all stories could be told with talking and singing vegetables.

There has to be a distinction between "keeping ones self unspotted from the world" and a reckless pursuit of naiveté. Whether we watch or read Game of Thrones or any other thing, I hope we Christians are able to make that distinction in word, deed, thought and feeling.