Throne Games

I know. I know. I'm late to the Game. As someone who was on the bottom floor of Lost, 24 and Breaking Bad, Orphan Black, The Americans, The Good Wife and Fargo, I cannot explain why just this week, I've begun the long and perilous journey that is Game of Thrones. (One of my Facebook friends posted something about, "Here's what I don't get about GoT..." and I had no idea what she was talking about.)
First show.
What I gather on a basic level - this show will bring me into a land of unparalleled violence and sex of a kind strictly prohibited in the Bible. Walkers are bad. And it looks like poor Boromir lost his smallest son; no matter, I'm sure his little Brave girl will provide him with a son-like heir. The nasty writer from Elf looks like he's going to be drowning in hookers, but good is rarely all good on HBO and evil is rarely all evil. The white haired lady - I guess she turns out to be the Dragon Queen? thanks for the spoiler, M! - well, we've already seen her nekkid from head to toe, so I guess we've established her character. Her fey brother is extremely skeevy and her new hubby only knows the word "no" so far. Meanwhile, in the other kingdom, the Queen and her brother are reaaaaaally close. And murderous. So we're going to love to hate them. King Full Monty will hopefully have some redeeming qualities. Boromir's wife looks to be made of steel, but how will she withstand the Walkers? And we have a classic vengeance scenario between Fey King and his Yes Man, who just happened to kill Boromir's sister. I wouldn't want to go against Boromir.
Will I need a score card?
So why would a Christian minister watch Game of Thrones?
I have and remain a cultural sojourner. I share with Luther not exactly the disdain he had for the Cloister, but am curious as to why my fellow disciples refuse to step outside the safe walls of Christian radio, Christian schools, Christian thought, Christian scripture, Christian authors, and especially Christian friends. How are you going to change people of the world if you know only the Bible and everything Christian? That's your first step to interaction (not integration) with the world.
Now I do understand the statement in James that if we are to be religious, we should keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. So if you are going to avoid a toxic dump, you can either not go near the dump, or else wear a protective suit. I prefer to wear my Ephesian armor as well as my Christian filter.
And this is not me saying there is something good in everything I see. There is a lot of crap out there. I could not, cannot watch another episode of Parenthood. I gave up on Glee after the second season. Just could not. Californication. No. Sorry, Mulder, don't go there.
So first show of Game of Thrones - could have some potential there. We'll see. But we'll see, we won't keep out. Got my filter on.