I love comics. I always have.
That's why I was so excited to see Heroes was coming to NBC. Five ordinary people who discover they have extraordinary powers. I was really impressed with the pilot episode. Much like Lost, the main characters regularly pass each other on the street or even interact with each other without knowing each other yet. And, also like Lost, it ended with a shocking twist.
But there were problems. The character Niki was introduced as a stripper. I had to spend a significant portion of the show looking away, waiting for my wife to tell me when I could look up again. The violence is on par with a graphic, gory horror flick. Another character, Mohinder Suresh, explains the powers, much like X-Men, as the next stage of evolution.
At first, I considered this was the pilot, which many times is exaggerated for shock value, and the regular show gets tamer. So I continued tuning in. "Obligatory" scenes and graphic violence continued.
Two things I want to say about this:
First, there is violence and immorality in the Bible. But the Bible does not tempt you to do these things. God is honored and glorified as the immorality is brought to justice in the Bible. The motive for the inclusion of these elements in the Bible is clearly pure. On Heroes, the immorality is presented temptingly. The immorality is presented as a lifestyle choice, even a necessary lifestyle choice based on situational ethics.
Second, I have heard many Christians say, regarding similar content, "I can handle it." I even initially expressed such a sentiment to myself. But then I asked myself, "Why should I want to?"
I am sorry to say that I did not come to these conclusions sooner. But I am sharing them with you, hoping they might be instructional and beneficial to you as you examine your own viewing habits.
By the way, Heroes is not the only show I'm dropping. I've enjoyed Deal or No Deal. I haven't seen every episode, just picking it up occasionally, but I enjoy watching the contestants squirm at the prospects of losing everything as the result of a poor choice. I felt it even provided some beneficial example of making good or bad choices and the dangers of greed. However, when I turned it on the other night, instead of noticing the contestant, I noticed the plunging necklines of the models. Since the last contestant had an interesting story (the show had flown in her family, which she had not seen in over a year, from South Africa to be in the audience to surprise her) and did not complete her game, my wife wanted to know when it aired next. So I looked up the show's website. I found the emphasis was not on the contest, but on the models, which it described as the "hottest models on television."
We've all heard the saying, "sex sells." But it's not entirely accurate. A more accurate statement would be "the female body sells." I'm surprised the feminists do not rally against these marketers.
All that to say that with the show's emphasis, I'm saying "No Deal."