Is “The Office” a sin?

[Catholic28]

Hello. Personally, I have been a fan for the NBC TV show “The Office” for a long time. However, I recently remembered the words of Ephesians 5:4, which states: “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

With this, I’m concerned about the morality of the show now. Is it a sin to watch the show? Is it ok? It has some crude jokes and humor, but in general I feel like it’s a decent show with a somewhat good message.

Are crude jokes a sin? Or is it more to say they are out of place, and not always the best idea, but aren’t necessarily a sin.

Please advise me about the matters of the show and jokes in general. It’s very important to me. I love this show and I’d be crushed if I had to stop watching it, but I’d rather not be winning.

Thank you and God Bless.

(Note: I completely accept the truth and valid Catholic Chuck teaching. If this end up being wrong now that I’ve realized, I’ll change for the better, even if I don’t like it.)

 

[nearlycatholic]

I have to walk outside at times as mine is! Never actually saw the show but I think if you are questioning it you should probably consider something else. What I do is download the Formed app or go to the website. get a login from your parish and you’ll have some great stuff available.

 

[Salibi]

It depends on you, of course. Nothing can make you sin but yourself. So unless the show is making you crack crude jokes, then it’s not a sin.

I know the show and have watched it. It is fun although not overly funny and can be tedious and boring at times.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

There are far, far worse shows on TV than “The Office”. I think people can relate to it, because so many of us work (or have worked, in my case), in offices just like this, basically cubicle farms with glass-partitioned managers’ offices, meeting rooms, a diversity of personalities, cramped break rooms, and so on. Dwight Schrute is like a patron saint to me — hard worker, dedicated to his job, takes his profession seriously, Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry (I have distant PaDutch ancestry myself). And anything Steve Carell does is funny in a very sly, understated way.

Again, there are far worse shows. Any crudeness we might see, isn’t something we haven’t all seen in real life, unless we’ve had really sheltered existences.

And encasing a stapler in Jell-o would be the ultimate office prank.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Yea, I think that makes a lot of sense. Thanks. However, I’m just concerned with that Bible verse. How do you think that applies?

I don’t know. I think it would be very puritanical, Jansenistic, whatever, to insist that all entertainment that we watch, depict only characters with perfect Christian virtues. Using that same reasoning, we could never enjoy Shakespeare, nor watch a movie that depicts bank robberies or Western shootouts.

I get a huge kick out of “Seinfeld” because, to me, it is like a minstrel show that lampoons utterly secular people who are totally uninformed by divine grace — they make merciless fun of what happens when people are “all about me”, and nobody comes to a good end (except when Kramer inexplicably comes into some amount of money that he didn’t work for). One episode, which I won’t describe here, demonstrates how foolish it is to think we can remain chaste without the grace of God.

(And no, my fondness for the show, and watching secularists make fools of themselves, isn’t driven by any anti-Semitism. While all four characters are Jewish in real life, in the show, only Jerry is obviously Jewish ---- George and Elaine are nominal Catholics, and Kramer’s religion, if he has one, is ambiguous.)

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Yea, I see most of what you’re saying. However, I’m sorta just wondering about the morality of crude joking. What do you think?

I’m not troubled by other people making crude jokes in a prime-time TV comedy show that is, on the whole, inoffensive at best and only mildly offensive at worst. It’s not as though you are watching Sarah Silverman or Andrew Dice Clay. If you are troubled by this, I’d ask a priest if I were you.

I may be wrong to say so, and I mean no offense, but it strikes me as borderline scrupulous. That said, different things bother different people. I grew up among some very crude, earthy people (that wasn’t my fault, you don’t get to pick the culture you’re raised in) and it takes something massively offensive to shock me or make me gasp in horror. Other people might be more easily offended.

 

[Zach]

I don’t think the verse necessarily applies to entertainment (though much entertainment should be avoided). It has more to do with your personal conduct. If you separate the two in the case of the office it should be ok. I don’t think it would be a good idea to ape in your life the crudedness you see on the show.

 

[Bill_B_NY]

It’s good to take a break and have a laugh. Entertainment, play and having fun are necessary activities.
However, if the show has coarse humor, and characters think nothing of fornication, adultery, gay-behavior, using Our Lord’s Name or even a mockery of God … then we have to ask ourselves if we really want to spend time with such people. Are they really funny?
Eventually, our taste for such a thing can change.
I think of something like Seinfeld. There are funny moments. But it’s a nihilistic show about selfish, immature, egotists. Their stupidity makes it funny sometimes. But we wouldn’t really want to know or be around such people.
I think the same with the Office. We laugh at their stupidity, and it is funny. But they’re really damaged people who are totally lost. Exactly like a lot of real people right in our own community and neighborhood.
After a while, it’s not really that funny anymore.

 

[BlushingOrange]

I get appalled by bad jokes, I’ve tried watching some of the office but I decided to stay away. Although, my moral code is stricter than most people I know. I do think that these jokes can rub off on us and that might be an issue. I once remember a girl saying she was getting intrusive thoughts based on some suggestive reading material (to say the least.)
I’d rather distance myself from the world rather than trod in murky water. Surround yourself with good examples and you will be more Christ-like.