Watching On-Screen Nudity Is Not Worth It

00:00:05.000 | It's Friday and we are back with Tripp Lee.

00:00:07.500 | And yesterday in episode 596, we talked about self-denial and the goodness of God.

00:00:12.500 | We need to make this practical.

00:00:14.500 | And Tripp, as you know, on-screen explicit sexuality is simply ingrained into pop culture today.

00:00:21.000 | And I'm thinking especially of popular television series like Game of Thrones.

00:00:25.500 | But this is also true of movies.

00:00:27.000 | Not even to mention the accessibility of explicit pornography online.

00:00:30.500 | So, what would you say to Christians who are willing to watch on-screen nudity in an attempt to be culturally relevant?

00:00:40.000 | Well, it's so hard right now because just kind of this explicit sexuality and nudity is everywhere.

00:00:48.000 | You know, just small example, I was just in a store in my neighborhood yesterday and standing in line.

00:00:54.500 | And there are just porn magazines just out behind me, not even covered up.

00:00:58.000 | You know, you don't even have to try right now to see ridiculously sexually explicit things.

00:01:04.500 | It really is everywhere.

00:01:05.500 | There are shows I started to watch and me and my wife started to watch and we loved.

00:01:09.500 | And there was one that just the writing was brilliant and, you know, all the little strange things we like about TV shows were in it.

00:01:16.500 | But we had to stop because of just the kind of explicit sex.

00:01:19.500 | And it seemed to be glorifying adultery.

00:01:21.500 | And there were just reasons that we felt like we had to stop because the stuff that we take in is really not harmless.

00:01:27.500 | It really can harm our souls.

00:01:29.500 | You know, it can provoke lust in our hearts and desires in our hearts.

00:01:32.500 | And that can lead to even kind of more explicit things.

00:01:35.500 | And so for me, when I think about pop culture and kind of explicit sexuality, it's just not a risk worth taking.

00:01:42.500 | You know, I just I just don't want to leave space for that in my life.

00:01:44.500 | I don't want to make sure I have space to take those kind of risks.

00:01:48.500 | And as far as how it works in with our relevance, relevance is a really good thing.

00:01:53.500 | And understanding pop culture is a really good thing.

00:01:56.500 | But, you know, neither of those things are more important than your soul itself.

00:02:01.500 | And so we're fooling ourselves if we think seeing an episode of a TV show or seeing a movie is more important to reaching people than our own personal purity or devotion to God.

00:02:13.500 | You know, your holiness is more important to your ministry than your pop culture knowledge, because, you know, a holy life is going to say more, a lot more about Christ than anecdotes from a popular TV show or quoting this thing from this episode.

00:02:26.500 | Second Timothy 221, Paul says to Timothy, "If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work."

00:02:38.500 | That holiness and set apartness to be useful for God is a very real thing.

00:02:43.500 | And so it's good to be relevant. I like to keep up with pop culture.

00:02:46.500 | And I can even think of ways, even as I wrote the book Rise, where I pointed to pop culture.

00:02:51.500 | I think it strengthened my argument. And so I'm not in any way saying that doesn't matter.

00:02:55.500 | But our souls are far more important and it's just not a risk worth us taking.

00:02:59.500 | So I would encourage us not to do that and to find other ways to try to be relevant.

00:03:05.500 | Well said, Tripp. Thank you. And if you're still not convinced, John Piper took up this topic.

00:03:10.500 | And to find what he said, Google the title, "12 Questions to Ask Before You Watch Game of Thrones."

00:03:17.500 | Well, I have several more questions for Tripp. So we're going to extend our time with him into next week.

00:03:22.500 | And on Monday, we will talk about a love affair with an iPhone, a classic track from an earlier album by Tripp and a song he called "I Love."

00:03:30.500 | And you'll want to know what Tripp has learned about avoiding iPhone idolatry in the past few years.

00:03:35.500 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. And have a wonderful weekend.

00:03:40.500 | (end)

00:03:42.500 | (music)

00:03:44.500 | (end)

00:03:46.500 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Watching On-Screen Nudity Is Not Worth It

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