South Park and Family guy

[Guy355]

Can I be a good Catholic and watch family guy and south park for entertainment?

 

[garn9173]

First off, welcome to the fourms and to the Church.

Why not? It’s just entertainment. I’ve long since “out grown” South Park and i’ve never really gotten into Family Guy.

BTW, the morality police here will tell you no and/or throw your TV out.

 

[Ad_Infinitum]

Hi!

 

[KrazyKat]

First off, welcome to the fourms and to the Church.

Why not? It’s just entertainment. I’ve long since “out grown” South Park and i’ve never really gotten into Family Guy.

BTW, the morality police here will tell you no and/or throw your TV out.

Well said !

 

[Gricken]

Both shows are crass, vulgar, and rude. The difference is in the details. Family guy has a clear political agenda, and has a habit of only mocking things that Mr. Macfarlane doesn’t agree with. South park on the other hand, makes fun of everyone and everything. And I think their dedication to satirizing everything they can deserves some respect. I don’t care for either show, but I don’t think there is anything that says you can’t watch them.

 

[Kelfa28]

I don’t watch either. I used to watch Family Guy before I converted. South Park…not so much…but I thought their movie was really funny.

Jury’s out on South Park.

They tend to make fun of absolutely everything and everyone. There is no sacred ground on that show.

In all honesty…I can’t see how you can be a good Christian and watch Family Guy. It’s probably one of the most blatantly blasphemous television shows on now. It has an agenda against any and all things Christian.

I don’t see how anyone could watch this show and be expected to find their depictions of Christ, God and other people from the bible funny.

It couldn’t be more clear what their agenda is.

 

[Deus_tecum]

Can I be a good Catholic and watch family guy and south park for entertainment?

Well, if you can’t watch them, then you can’t go out in public either, because both shows caricaturize common human fallen behaviors. On the other hand, Phillipians 4:8 says: “8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” I don’t think either show meets this standard. I am reminded that Paul said something to the effect of everything being permissible but not everything being beneficial.

 

[onelostdod]

Can I be a good Catholic and watch family guy and south park for entertainment?

it is not exactly like “father know best”

it is more like the places i have worked " gee isn’t everyone a liar and a thief?"

with time you will deaden your conscience-- to morals, just like “lot” in sadam and gomora, where he was "vexed " every day

 

[Joe_5859]

I’m not a “throw your TV out” kind of guy. I know that I probably watch more TV than I should. But with these two shows, I just cannot bring myself to look past the mocking of my faith to find nuggets of humor. I’d be more inclined to give South Park more latitude since they seem intentional about poking fun at everything and everyone rather than just the groups they don’t like.

I probably would not go so far as to say a Catholic could not possibly watch either of those two shows. But not everything that is permissible is expedient to our growth in holiness. The key is to know yourself.

 

[Polycarp1]

I think there is a much bigger issue here which has to do with a concerted effort to debauch our youth and people in general by using media to desensitize us to all things religious, lawful authority and morality in general. Things such as clergy, police and Christians are almost always portrayed in a negative light. The message is sent that if you are chaste or believe in God that you are a fool. A great many people take a perverse pleasure in seeing our youth and others engage in sinful and self-destructive behavior, devaluing life in general. We defend these things under the guise of rights and the pursuit of happiness. We are in the “if it feels good do it” generation. If you talk about Satan and Hell you are a zealot or crack pot and the idea that there is indeed a malevolent presence in the world that is bent on the destruction of God’s creation is ridiculed. Under his tutelage evil has become good and things that were good are now presented as evil. The spirit of pedophilia is alive in the world and I don’t mean just in the sense of the sexual abuse of our children, it is also present in their spiritual destruction as well and media is one of its biggest tools. Do not be fooled and be drawn into it’s lies.

 

[edwest2]

Polycarp1 has hit the nail on the head. South Park: A scene in a classroom where a little girl walks up to her teacher and says: “Stay away from my man, b****!”

Family Guy: A scene in a store where the dad, Peter, has a conversation with a man who looks like Jesus working the counter. Peter asks if he’s Jesus, the man denies it, and then he says that he should have no problem with him urinating on a shelf filled with Amy Grant CD’s. (Amy Grant is a non-Catholic Christian singer.) The man behind the counter asks him not to do that and he is, in fact, Jesus.

Another scene: Jesus is invited to the family guy’s home for dinner. While everyone is seated at the table, Peter whispers something into Jesus’s ear and seconds later, his wife’s breasts expand to the point where the top button on her blouse pops off. Oh yeah, that’s definitely something Jesus would not do, except when he’s a character created by anti-Christian perverts.

Getting people to laugh at profanity and perversion because “it’s just a cartoon” is not an argument. The point is: we should not dwell on such things or let them into our minds.

Peace,
Ed

 

[CaptFun]

Per Family Guy … never found it funny for all the lengths they went to. South Park was tremendously funny and insightful from time to time but made me endure too much darkness and dirt to make the gold nugget worth it in the end.

The reference to a morality police did make me think of the following from St. Paul. It is much more good spiritual counsel than a “buzzkill” - and after watching some of the worst things South Park had to offer, I will post this from Ephesians 5 as my penance.

Ephesians 5:1 So be imitators of God, as beloved children,

2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

3 Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones,

4 no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.

5 Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.

7 So do not be associated with them.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,

9 for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.

10 Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

11 Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them,

12 for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret;

13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,

14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

15 Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise,

16 making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil.

17 Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.

The anti-morality police will minimize the spiritual dangers by shouting “CarTOONS?! Are you kidding me? Of COURSE you can watch cartoons!” But cartoons can be bad. :sad_yes:

And if Paul is tough, Jesus is tougher!

Matt 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.

30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

When something we do leads a child into sin … it gets bigger. When scripture repeats something take note.

Matt 18:6 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7 Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

8 If your hand or foot causes you to sin, 7 cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire.

9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna.

10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.

Mark 9:42 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.

45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.

47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,

48 where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

49 "Everyone will be salted with fire.

50 Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."

Of course there are worse things than these shows. But that kind of faint praise is damning I suppose too. I made a conscious effort to not watch South Park anymore. And it was hard because sometimes that program had me laughing so hard tears came – and at episodes that were not deliberately intended to disgust or defame. Those writers kind of sully their own reputations by going for the cheap laughs, bathroom humor and ad hominem attacks on people and groups when their satire is sharp enough to entertain and be insightful on a higher level.

http://cdn.videogum.com/files/2010/04/simpsons_south_park.jpg

This episode of the Simpsons saluted South Park for attempting to satirize Mohammed (Jesus had been done many times on South Park, sometimes not so irreverently, other times … :nope. But it was THEN that their network censored South Park, when Mohammed was to be the subject.

This might make me look double-minded on the subject – but I’m not. Even though South Park had some good in it from time to time, I had to cut it from me. It wasn’t exactly an eye. But it was a little sacrifice … for my own good. IMO.

slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/04/bleeps_be_upon_him.html

 

[Allegra]

I’ve found that as I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve really lost my taste for that kind of humor. I do occasionally like “The Simpsons” though and they can be incredibly crude. I think there’s good reason to avoid those shows and I certainly wouldn’t let my children watch them, but there are parts of them that alot of people find funny.

 

[jhyer]

I’ve found that as I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve really lost my taste for that kind of humor. I do occasionally like “The Simpsons” though and they can be incredibly crude. I think there’s good reason to avoid those shows and I certainly wouldn’t let my children watch them, but there are parts of them that alot of people find funny.

Allegra,

I agree with you that, as I have grown in my Faith, I have lost my taste for their style of humour. Quite honestly, I still catch snippets as I flip through the channels on occasion and wonder what I ever found so funny to begin with…

 

[edwest2]

I’d disagree that their “agenda” is against all things Christian. Seth M is an atheist, so he pretty much makes fun of all religious institutions, not just the Christian one.

.

That’s not a good excuse. It’s like, He insults everyone, so what’s the big deal?

Doesn’t work

Peace,
Ed

 

[edwest2]

To my brothers and sisters in Christ:

“When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.”

Source: biblehub.com/ezekiel/3-18.htm

Peace,
Ed

 

[Lux_Nocte]

We must reduce our exposure to such ideologies as much as possible. These shows are absolutely overflowing with sin. The time is much better spent with God. The more we expose ourselves to this kind of worldly and vulgar “entertainment,” the less time we wish to spend with our Lord. This is spiritual sloth which is a sin itself. It is as if you are watching pornography but saying you will not indulge in sins of lust, therefore you are good Catholic.

It does not work that way.

 

[Deus_tecum]

There were many good points made for not watching shows like Southpark and Family Guy.
I have not watched either show enough to know exactly how they disrespected Christianity, but I have seen enough to notice that the kids in Southpark are extremely cynical and jaded, and the family in Family Guy is extremely dysfunctional. In essence they mock Christianity from that cynical, jaded, dysfunctional perspective. It is an animated version of what lies in the heart of many an atheist.

 

[jediliz]

family guy made fun of Trig Palin. A show that makes fun of a child with downs syndrome, regardless of who their parents are…NOT RIGHT

You’d be better off watching something else. Would you watch this show with JESUS in the room with you?

I used to scream at my dad for watching The Simpsons. Then I watched it for a few years - especially the Halloween special. Then two years ago, or maybe 3, their season premiere had a parade in it with “heterosexual catholic priests” float…featuring ONE priest. I turned it off as that was the last straw. Sunday nights are ‘Once Upon a Time’ now for me.

Its** not** entertainment when a show constantly pokes fun at Christians, Jesus, and the disabled.

 

[iamcatholic100]

Though I used to watch a few episodes of South Park back in the past , as well as family guy, I never got into them as much as the Simpson’s, which I personally would choose the Simpson’s over those two any day. Both shows promote immorality, disrespect toward people of different religious backgrounds, different colors, disabilities, etc. There so much garbage and filth out there in the media, that the wise thing to do stop watching shows that dishonor the Catholic Church.