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Q. What do you think of 24 and especially Jack Bauer?

A. Honestly, I'm afraid to say anything bad about Jack Bauer. Knowing him, he'd order Chloe to use government satellites to track me down. In about 45 minutes, he'd kick in my door. Then, because my neighbor went to high school with a guy who may or may not know about a truck full of nuclear biohazardous exploding technopulse smart bombs, Jack would start cutting off my fingers with a weed whacker for the sake of national security. Of course, he'd be totally justified in doing it. He always is.

OK, maybe that won't happen. But that sums up Jack. He's a tough, quick-thinking, no-nonsense and dedicated patriot who always knows what needs to be done and has the guts and skills to do it. Oh, and he's also the only guy I know who can go a whole day without once going to the men's room.

One thing that makes Jack so appealing is that he represents justice that we all long for—in the way we long for God to make wrongs right. Jack desperately and wholeheartedly attempts to protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable. He's the guy we want watching the store in dangerous and frightening times.

On the other hand, Jack also represents what we all fear from a corrupt and powerful government. He makes himself judge and jury "for the greater good." He breaks laws almost as easily as he tortures uncooperative witnesses. He'll do anything, even kill, if he thinks it will help him somehow do good. Jack's the ultimate example of the notion that good ends can justify immoral means (which they don't according to 3 John 1:11, 1 Peter 3:17, Hebrews 5:14 and 1 Thessalonians 5:22). In fact, if real guys like Jack are around, we can only hope they're right. And hope they don't decide we need the weed whacker treatment. This is one reason why I'm not sure a steady diet of 24 is a good idea

Two other reasons: 1) While Jack's intriguing, he lives a very empty life. His decisions and priorities come from a much different worldview than ours as Christians. 2) Those torture scenes are brutal; they stick with you in a nasty way sometimes. Worse, to endure those scenes you have to detach yourself from the ability to empathize with others' pain (and that goes against Galatians 6:2).

Whether you should watch or not is a matter to decide with your parents and through prayer. If the show leaves you anxious, fearful of real terrorism, or numbed to the real pain of others, let it go. No show is worth wrestling with your conscience.

Mark is the founder of WisdomWorks Ministries. You can learn about his conferences, read movie and music reviews, and more at planetwisdom.com.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Ignite Your Faith magazine.
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