Christian Actor Alan Ritchson Shames Christ by Getting Naked For ‘Reacher’ Role
Last year we wrote about Actor Alan Ritchson, a professing Christian currently starring in the lead role of the hit Amazon show ‘Reacher,’ after he clapped back at critics questioning his decision to take such a ‘morally ambiguous’ role of a man who kills villains with ease and aplomb. Ritchson straw manned their position and brushed off their concerns, sharing on his Christian-based YouTube channel
InstaChurch that these roles are actually a ministry opportunity for him, and that:
It’s funny to me how a lot of people, supposed Christians especially, criticize me for playing Reacher, as if the only TV that should exist is seeing people silently folding their hands in the pew of a church. I mean, what kinds of stories are we supposed to tell?
If you look at scripture, what do you find? You see a thousand years of an infinitely holy God holding tension with human beings as He tells the story of who He is, reveals who He is through an imperfect people.
…I think it’s laughable when people criticize me for playing characters that are not like saintly, you know? That’s not my job, and I don’t think God cares about only telling those kinds of stories. I think we can start conversations and we can reach people through these mediums in a way that I think God enjoys.”
Misrepresentations aside, Ritchson fails to understand that people are not criticizing him for the character’s ambiguities but for the actions the actor engages in.
No one is saying that ‘the only TV that should exist is seeing people silently folding their hands in the pew of a church,’ but we are saying that if the alternative is watching filthy content for the sake of entertainment, then put that hand folding on every channel.
John Piper once said* “I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.”
According to IMDB, Reacher is 18+/ TV-MA in most countries and features a ton of cursing, foul language, graphic sex scenes, and visible nudity that Ritchson himself participates in. Warning: content advisory.
Ritchson has been a professing Christian for many years, growing up in a Christian household, so he can’t be surprised when believers ask why an actor who has a wife and kid is undressing another woman, seeing her naked, and then simulating sex with her on camera while hiding behind excuses like “It’s just my job.”
Three seasons in, ‘Reacher’ is such a big hit that it became the most-watched returning season ever on Prime Video, being renewed for a fourth season before the third season even aired. Over the first five episodes of this season, it garnered 54.6 million viewers, making it one of Amazon’s top-5 watched shows of all time.
For this reason, as the star of the show, Ritchson has all the leverage. He has an incredible amount of power and sway in the production, and yet in the newest season, he’s again seen naked on screen, showing his bare backside for the world to see, with other partial nudity from his cast mates for good measure.
This is disgraceful, shameful behavior for any Christian to participate in, and at this point, the only thing left to conclude is that he’s doing it because he wants to, or doesn’t care, which is a terrifying mindset for any professing believer to be in.
*We feel a way about Piper, but that quote is excellent.
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A lot of actors like Ritchson, Matthew McConaughey, et al profess Christ, but they think that either their faith stops at the workplace, or that they have to lower themselves to the morality of society in order to reach people for Christ. Both are wrong and a sign of either an immature Christian or someone that’s never been born again.
I find the concept of “using my platform for Christ” amusing. At what point in the show does Reacher share the Gospel of Christ with someone? Is it before or after the sex/murder?