The Walking Dead

I can't help myself watching this show. The vampire shows out there annoy me but the zombies appeal to me. I am definitely a fan of slow zombies. The shambling creatures, gathering in numbers, slowly pushing you to where you can't go no more, that scares me. The fast, overrunning zombies, a la "28 days", it messes with the myth.

I think the appeal of the show is similar to what makes "Jaws" so scary. It isn't the shark, its the water, the open, unassuming, wide expanse with death lurking just below the surface. Now, you can be in the city, you can be in the country, you can be anywhere, and you don't know when the next creature is going to show up. And the next step from Jaws is that this isn't a monster, this is us turned into a monster.

And then I ask myself the question, "Is this something you would show your youth group pastor?" The answer is no. But there are youth group members watching it. What am I prepared to say about that?

Question 1: Is it wrong to watch shows like that?

No. I think watching shows that romanticize drug use, encourage sexual promiscuity without responsibility, that demonstrate violence without recrimination is wrong. I think watching stuff that attempt to blunt the edge of our God-given conscience, that try to file down 'right and wrong' to some personal agenda of what "makes me feel good" is bad for the soul.

The Walking Dead is attempting to put real people into an impossible situation to see what would happen. It is a powerful attempt to look into our own souls. And it does a pretty good job.

Question 2: Would you preach on this stuff?

A qualified yes. Preaching is engaging the gospel and the culture to help people know the beauty of Jesus and the power of the Christian faith. If "the Walking Dead" is an active part of the culture I am preaching to, it is fair game. If it isn't, if it is an esoteric piece of the media landscape, then I'm not fairly engaging the popular culture of my congregation by referring to it, so I would only use it sparingly.

Question 3: Is there a gospel response to the premise of "The Walking Dead"?

I believe there is. I've talked about this before in movies where some 'evil' takes over the will and actions of the characters. I believe God's mercy is what we need to consider here. When we are responsible for our actions, our only recourse is to seek forgiveness in Jesus Christ, because we cannot choose not to sin. God, in God's mercy, will forgive us. When we are not responsible for our actions, I believe God's mercy gets cranked up. In the language of the show, God would forgive the actions of the zombies because they are no longer human beings.

But now the big questions: Is a zombie responsible for its actions? Are they in control of their choices? The question behind those needs to be: "Is God really in control?"