The Hangover, Archer and Family Guy

Why do you have a title of programs that promote ungodly lifestyles?  Because I have seen them.  I enjoyed them.

But I have another reason.

Recently I was talking with some Christian friends when one asked what movie he should watch with his wife – he wanted to laugh so he asked for a good comedy.  My friends then recommended the Hangover.  I admit I laughed at it when I watched a few years ago, and in my enthusiasm to be “one of the guys” I also recommended it. Later, as I thought about the movie, I began to recall that it was not very “Christian.”  So I discovered, after some research, that The Hangover  has 91 occasions of the f-word , 41 poop words (Sh*t etc.), 14 crude references about a person’s bum, 13 “hells,” and nine slang terms for the male reproductive organ. And the kicker? There are 31 different versions of taking God’s name in vain.  This does not include the violence, sex and substance abuse!

With the Lord’s name being taken in vain an average of 1 time every 3 minutes, and an expletive being said an average of 1 time every 20 seconds… should Christian’s watch movies like this?  Ok wait.  Let me rephrase the question.  How about this. Does my watching this type of programming glorify God?  Does it do any good for my soul?  Or does it have a negative effect on me?

I will let you answer that for yourself. As I did. (and I let my friend know what I really thought of the movie)

I also used to watch a lot of TV and other movies. I especially enjoyed watching Sitcoms.  My favorite TV shows were shows like Two and Half Men, Family Guy and Archer.  Movies I loved watching were full of violence, sex, and off colour humour.

About 4 months ago I stopped watching TV and Movies while I focused on devotions and discipleship.  Then one day a couple of weeks ago I put on an episode of Archer.  It lasted literally to the first scene and I had to shut it off.  Then I tried Family Guy, because I wanted to relax and have a good laugh.  As I began watching it, it only took me about 30 seconds to shut it off.  I was so sensitive to the blatant sinfulness of these programs that I was unable to even watch them for 1 minute.  What has happened to me?  I used to love this stuff!

Archer is bad, with the blatant alcoholism, unadulterated sex, over the top killing and violence…it does not take a Christian to see that it is not morally upright. So, how about Family Guy? This is what Parentstv.org, says about Family Guy:

Now in its 10^th season, this series delivers some of the most vile, offensive content on broadcast television. Last season, for example, Brian ate the feces out of Stewie’s diaper and licked his rear clean.  Sex is constant, with virtually every episode awash in lewd sexual references or taboo topics such as incest, bestiality and pedophilia. Language is a major issue, with words such as “@$$,” “douche,” and “son of a b*tch” used frequently. Violence is just as frequent, with the season premiere centering on a murder mystery with many people shot or stabbed to death.

Does that sound like something a Christian should be watching?  Does watching this glorify God?  Again I will let you answer for yourself.

The reason I can’t watch this stuff anymore is because I am becoming more sensitive to those things which detract from the glory of God.  Actually, in my fallen nature it really sucks.   I want to watch these shows! I want to watch …I remember laughing so hard at these shows…But…I can’t.  This is the sinful desires of our flesh.  Mine wells up at entertainment.  Who does not like to laugh?  Let’s just make sure that we are not allowing sin to be the fuel that drives us to laugh! So that evening that I wanted to have a laugh I put on America’s Funniest Home Videos and had a good clean laugh.

I know there will be arguments against what I am getting at with this post.  SO…Phillippians 4:8 says:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

Are these shows and movies noble?  Pure? Lovely? Admirable?  Excellent?  Praiseworthy?  No, they are not. Do they inspire me to think on things that are lovely, noble, pure and so on? No. So I have to refrain from watching them…but I won’t tell you that you shouldn’t watch them.  I will let you figure this one between yourself and God like had to.

I still enjoy a good movie or TV show, I still enjoy a good laugh, I still enjoy entertainment.  But not at the expense of the glory of God.

Be careful little eyes what you see. I think this video is pretty spot on for TV and movies.

This work by Ryan Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.