Why Are Catholics Asking If Watching Game of Thrones Is Sinful?

My first encounter with GOT happened in 2013 (the show first aired in 2011); I saw the first season on DVD at the Library and I was really interested. I was looking for a new show to watch and I liked the sound of GOT from what I heard (which wasn't much).

That night I popped in the disk and watched about an hours worth. A nude scene came up and I skipped ahead, hoping it wouldn't happen again. Another nude scene and I skipped ahead again, giving it one more time before I just about threw the remote at the screen and turned off the darn thing.

It didn't take long before I switched to something else and returned the season to the Library; pretty annoyed by the fact, but more so because of all the "good things" I kept hearing about it beforehand.

This year someone I know very well began the series and was so scandalized by it that he threw the entire series in the garbage... this person watched pretty much anything. The fact that this person actually took the time to talk to us about his shock, let alone the fact that he threw the series away, was pretty much unheard of.

Why am I complaining about Game of Thrones? Hasn't it been, like, seven years since it came out? What's the big deal?

The "big deal" is that right now I have had it up to my eyeballs with Catholics and their "personal take" on GOT. And the fact that I cannot find one good, solid, Catholic article decrying this and smashing the film for its debauchery makes me so mad.

Oh come on, GOT is just like any other show out there.

Sure. Maybe. But that isn't the point; the point is that so many CATHOLICS are just as obsessed with watching it as anyone else. The fact that this show is known in the secular world for its nudity, graphic sex scenes, incest and pretty much every other mortal sin you can think of, to put it mildly.

An article published in July 13, 2017 reported over 71 number of nude and/or sex scenes in the show thus far. There are 9 instances of incest known in the Game of Thrones Wiki. Express states "no stone unturned" in the medieval fantasy drama when it comes to sex: "It’s safe to say that the HBO series has featured some of the raciest moments on television to date, from incest to lesbian and gay couplings to orgies" This was in 2016, GOT is still airing and will continue next year, 2019. The article continues, "Given the high levels of sex and nudity, the programme makers had to initially hire porn stars because they couldn’t find actors willing to perform the daring scenes."

Astonishingly, according to HBO (in 2017), "'Dragonstone' beat last year's season 6 finale (which had 8.89 million viewers) for the title of most watched Game of Thrones episode in the series's history. That number also doesn't factor in streaming views, which added another 6 million views to Thrones' total last night."

Do I really need to embellish this further? I believe the numbers speak for themselves.Yet, we have Catholics asking if they can possibly watch the show, and here's the kicker, NO ONE IS TELLING THEM IT'S A BAD IDEA. In fact, I have yet to come across one good Catholic article that warns fellow Catholics about the serious dangers of this film.

Would telling someone "NO" get them to avoid watching it? Probably not, who knows. Would telling someone that something is mortally sinful (aka, damnable), as an act of charity for the sake of their souls get them to avoid watching it? Maybe, maybe not. But this is hardly the point. The point is that, one of the most basic CATHOLIC duty is to instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, TELL SOMEONE WHEN SOMETHING IS WRONG with charity. If the person doesn't listen, that is on their conscience; we certainly hope they take the good advice, but our role is to instruct. It isn't our role to harass, it isn't our role to pander and pussyfoot around the issue.

Catholics have completely lost their sense of sin. When it came to GOT, everyone is deciding what "their take" is on the matter.

(These are actual comments from Catholics)

"I’ll leave for others to determine for themselves. "

"Oh, some are just more mature and can handle it."

" If one is matured enough to get over those scenes, it is probably just another entertainment. The bigger downside is the addiction to it where it can take away the time used for God and prayers."

"In my opinion, if you’re a well-formed adult who is able to differentiate between entertainment and reality."

" I can say that if there is pornography in GoT, which I think there isn’t, but whatever it offers, the scenes do not affect me or anything bad about it. As far as that is concerned I am a mature viewer. "

"It’s the addiction where you have to see all the episodes which is the concern, not so much the porn stuff or the violent element if you are a matured viewer. "

And of course my personal favorite is this moronic article "6 Better Questions that 'Can a Christian watch Game of Thrones?'" which decides to take the Social Justice Warrior path and proceeds to ask if Christians should drink from bottled water, shop at Walmart, own stock in oil companies... rather than ask if whether or not watching Game of Thrones could send you to hell for all eternity.... Yep... we get it U.S. Catholic Magazine... when it comes to genuine Catholicism versus Liberal Democrat rhetoric, virtue signaling is more your cup of tea.

Is this way of thinking even Catholic? Let's see, what is the takeaway here?

"If you are a matured enough adult who only views lesbian sex, gay sex, incest, rough sex, and orgies as entertainment, then its totally fine to watch."

My mind is reeling with this stupidity and utter depravity of Catholics today. Ooo, sorry, was that too "divisive" for you? Was that not soft enough of an approach? Get real! Are we even in the same Church? Do we even read the same Saints? Popes? Catechisms? Bible?

These emasculated takeaways from what the Church teaches about true purity, modesty, and overall SIN is just demonic to be honest. We need help.

It takes only a few moments to find what Church has to say about impurity and the damning seriousness it has.

Q. 1281. What is the sixth Commandment?

A. The sixth Commandment is: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Q. 1282. What are we commanded by the sixth Commandment?

A. We are commanded by the sixth Commandment to be pure in thought and modest in all our looks, words, and actions.

Q. 1284. What is forbidden by the sixth Commandment?

A. The sixth Commandment forbids all unchaste freedom with another's wife or husband; also all immodesty with ourselves or others in looks, dress, words, and actions.

Q. 1285. Why are sins of impurity the most dangerous?

A. Sins of impurity are the most dangerous:    1. Because they have the most numerous temptations;    2. Because, if deliberate, they are always mortal, and    3. Because, more than other sins, they lead to the loss of faith.

Let's put a perspective on what "AVOIDING SIN" means in simple terms.

Catholic Dictionary

 Term: AVOIDING SIN

Definition

The moral responsibility of not exposing oneself unnecessarily to occasions of sin. Three principles are standard in Catholic moral teaching: 1. no one is obliged to avoid the remote occasions of sin. This is true because the danger of sin is slight and otherwise it would be impossible to live in the world; 2. everyone is obliged to avoid voluntary proximate occasions of sin, where "voluntary" means that it can easily be removed or avoided; 3. anyone in a necessary proximate occasion of sin is obliged to make the occasion remote. An occasion is necessary when the person's state of life or profession or circumstances make it morally impossible to avoid exposure to certain enticements. What is a proximate danger to sinning can be rendered remote by such means as prayer, the sacraments, and custody of the senses, especially of the eyes.

The Baltimore Catechism explains this in simpler terms:

Q. 770. What do you mean by a firm purpose of sinning no more?

A. By a firm purpose of sinning no more I mean a fixed resolve not only to avoid all mortal sin, but also its near occasions.

Q. 771. What do you mean by the near occasions of sin?

A. By the near occasions of sin I mean all the persons, places and things that may easily lead us into sin.

Q. 772. Why are we bound to avoid occasions of sin?

A. We are bound to avoid occasions of sin because Our Lord has said: "He who loves the danger will perish in it"; and as we are bound to avoid the loss of our souls, so we are bound to avoid the danger of their loss. The occasion is the cause of sin, and you cannot take away the evil without removing its cause.

Q. 773. Is a person who is determined to avoid the sin, but who is unwilling to give up its near occasion when it is possible to do so, rightly disposed for confession?

A. A person who is determined to avoid the sin, but who is unwilling to give up its near occasion when it is possible to do so, is not rightly disposed for confession, and he will not be absolved if he makes known to the priest the true state of his conscience.

Q. 774. How many kinds of occasions of sin are there?

A. There are four kinds of occasions of sin:

1. Near occasions, through which we always fall;

2. Remote occasions, through which we sometimes fall;

3. Voluntary occasions or those we can avoid; and

4. Involuntary occasions or those we cannot avoid. A person who lives in a near and voluntary occasion of sin need not expect forgiveness while he continues in that state.

Q. 775. What persons, places and things are usually occasions of sin?

A. 1. The persons who are occasions of sin are all those in whose company we sin, whether they be bad of themselves or bad only while in our company, in which case we also become occasions of sin for them;

2. The places are usually liquor saloons, low theaters, indecent dances, entertainments, amusements, exhibitions, and all immoral resorts of any kind, whether we sin in them or not; 3. The things are all bad books, indecent pictures, songs, jokes and the like, even when they are tolerated by public opinion and found in public places.

But... Game of Thrones is fine... yep...

More?

• The SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH: PERSONA HUMANA : DECLARATION ON CERTAIN QUESTIONS CONCERNING SEXUAL ETHICS says,

• “In moral matters man cannot make value judgments according to his personal whim.'"

So then, I am speaking to you who live in the habit of mortal sin, in hatred, in the mire of the vice of impurity, and who are getting closer to hell each day. Stop, and turn around; it is Jesus who calls you and who, with His wounds, as with so many eloquent voices, cries to you, "My son, if you are damned, you have only yourself to blame: 'Thy damnation comes from thee.' Lift up your eyes and see all the graces with which I have enriched you to insure your eternal salvation.' - St. Leonard of Port Maurice

•  Pope Pius XI clearly exhorted the Clergy to take seriously the film industry and its potential to ruin souls, and to NOT BE WEARY when fighting such evil, in his Encyclical, Vigilante Cura promulgated on June 29, 1936.

•  Saint Paul calls us to, "be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment." (Philippians 2:2). The Catholic Church is not a democracy where we are all allowed to pick and choose what we think and feel is sinful or not. It is a Hierarchy with Christ as the King.

The unchaste, then, say that sins contrary to purity are but a small evil. Like”the sow wallowing in the mire” (” Sus lota in volutabro luti – 2 Pet. ii. 22), they are immersed in their own filth, so that they do not see the malice of their actions; and therefore they neither feel nor abhor the stench of their impurities, which excite disgust and horror in all others. Can you, who say that the vice of impurity is but a small evil can you, I ask, deny that it is a mortal sin?

To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble not so much at the thought of hell, as of sin, which alone can send us thither. He who dreads sin avoids dangerous occasions, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace. He who acts thus will be saved; but for him who lives not in this manner it is morally impossible to be saved.  - St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

• Our Lady of Fatima decried the sins of impurity, which sends so many souls to hell.

With the kind of watered down perspective most Catholics have on impurity and sin, it makes one wonder how, LOGICALLY, it fits with the same narrative as the Saints and Fathers & Doctors of the Church.

Is it, or it is not something serious? And, if it is (which is what the Church and the Saints say), then why the emasculated views on Impurity in films!? Logically, the two "views" do not come together, and we need to choose the correct side if we want to call ourselves Catholic.

“In those times the atmosphere will be saturated with the spirit of impurity which, like a filthy sea, will engulf the streets and public places with incredible license.… Innocence will scarcely be found in children, or modesty in women." -- Our Lady of Good Success