Are Bronies Immoral? (input appreciated!)

[Burl]

No. Sometimes after too many sermons I immediately start to feel a little horse.

 

[protorayish]

No. Sometimes after too many sermons I immediately start to feel a little horse.

I have to thank you for both your input, and your fantastically lame pun! Hats off to you, sir

 

[DiscipleHeLovesToo]

something to consider in all of this is what you reap from the time you sow into something. i used to be a huge john wayne fan when i was a boy; i looked up to him and sought to model myself after his behavior like my firends. last night i watched 'rio lobo', a john wayne classic. what stood out to me was how he was always drinking to catch a buzz (and always right before he had to confront the bad guys); tended to treat women with feigned respect, used prayer as a last resort after his own strength and abilities had begun to look inadequate to bring him out of his situation in the movie, and fought evil with evil. after it was over, i realized that i would have been smarter to put my time into God's word instead...

 

[protorayish]

something to consider in all of this is what you reap from the time you sow into something. i used to be a huge john wayne fan when i was a boy; i looked up to him and sought to model myself after his behavior like my firends. last night i watched 'rio lobo', a john wayne classic. what stood out to me was how he was always drinking to catch a buzz (and always right before he had to confront the bad guys); tended to treat women with feigned respect, used prayer as a last resort after his own strength and abilities had begun to look inadequate to bring him out of his situation in the movie, and fought evil with evil. after it was over, i realized that i would have been smarter to put my time into God's word instead...

Thank you for your input! I think there's alot of wisdom in truth in that and it's easy to overlook.

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Phil 4:8

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

Well as a internet geek the modern day MLP is not the same as the old one. Bronies are stereotyped as usually homosexual in nature. As in they are interested in other men. Not sure if this is because MLP is rainbow colored all the time or what. Does this mean every Bronie is homosexual? I don't know. I've yet to see one that is straight. BTW not saying you aren't straight of course.

My personal feeling is to not even get near that Bronie stuff (not that I like MLP anyways) because it seems to be a group that promotes something sinful. Which is why many seem to hate it.

 

[protorayish]

Well as a internet geek the modern day MLP is not the same as the old one. Bronies are stereotyped as usually homosexual in nature. As in they are interested in other men. Not sure if this is because MLP is rainbow colored all the time or what. Does this mean every Bronie is homosexual? I don't know. I've yet to see one that is straight. BTW not saying you aren't straight of course.

My personal feeling is to not even get near that Bronie stuff (not that I like MLP anyways) because it seems to be a group that promotes something sinful. Which is why many seem to hate it.

Thank you for your perspective! I think that with a deeper look you would find that a very, very small portion of bronies are homosexual (last I heard it was less than 4%), but I can absolutely see why that perception would be a valid reason to avoid associating with that community. I personally know about 15 or so bronies, and I kid you not when I say that the majority of them are very conservative. Only 1 of them is LGBT, and she is ironically enough one of the few women 'bronies' I know.

I can agree that if people associate bronies with homosexuality, accepting the brony label openly may be something to avoid in order to "avoid the appearance of evil"

 

[Razare]

I want to honor God first and foremost, but I fail to see why enjoying an innocent show would be sinful just because of its intended demographic.

You're making a common and deadily mistake with your Christianity. It is a common mistake and I have seen it ruin people's lives on this forum. One man wanted a wife, but had decided that he had "made a commitment not to have a wife" between him and God... all the while his heart wanted a wife. And in his post, he was an old man, lonely, and sad.

It was terrible.

You see, "sacrifice to honor God" is usually bad. There is one sacrifice, Jesus Christ. You can't really sacrifice anything. In some instances, it is good to give up things, but giving up things is not *the thing*. Jesus Christ is everything, not us giving up this or that.

What people miss is they think excluding things from their life will lead them into God's will and God's favor, and God's benefits for their life. It wont. God does not work this way.

God wants you to pursue him earnestly, and from your heart, and seek him... and when you do, God reveals his calling and will for you. And as the life and love for your walk with God grows, you grow into greater relationship with him, and your life improves, and you see great things from God... so that the "other stuff" is just stuff and not important, and most of it you leave behind because you don't have time. You don't have time because you are busy with your God things in life!

So I wouldn't look at Bronies like a huge sin... I would rather ask yourself, does God have something better for me than this community of people? Than that show? How can I seek God and find these better things he has for me? Because he does have better things for you.

And sometimes, God guides you to those things, so he can use you there. People who like Bronies, might occasionally need to know about Jesus. So God could use you in that setting.

 

[protorayish]

You're making a common and deadily mistake with your Christianity. It is a common mistake and I have seen it ruin people's lives on this forum. One man wanted a wife, but had decided that he had "made a commitment not to have a wife" between him and God... all the while his heart wanted a wife. And in his post, he was an old man, lonely, and sad.

It was terrible.

You see, "sacrifice to honor God" is usually bad. There is one sacrifice, Jesus Christ. You can't really sacrifice anything. In some instances, it is good to give up things, but giving up things is not *the thing*. Jesus Christ is everything, not us giving up this or that.

What people miss is they think excluding things from their life will lead them into God's will and God's favor, and God's benefits for their life. It wont. God does not work this way.

God wants you to pursue him earnestly, and from your heart, and seek him... and when you do, God reveals his calling and will for you. And as the life and love for your walk with God grows, you grow into greater relationship with him, and your life improves, and you see great things from God... so that the "other stuff" is just stuff and not important, and most of it you leave behind because you don't have time. You don't have time because you are busy with your God things in life!

So I wouldn't look at Bronies like a huge sin... I would rather ask yourself, does God have something better for me than this community of people? Than that show? How can I seek God and find these better things he has for me? Because he does have better things for you.

And sometimes, God guides you to those things, so he can use you there. People who like Bronies, might occasionally need to know about Jesus. So God could use you in that setting.

Thank you very, very much for sharing that! You have given me alot to think about here...

 

[protorayish]

Ok guys, so I figured I'd update the thread with one final post in case anyone actually cared about the conclusion I've reached, and for anyone else out there who is wondering this same question. To put it simply, I will be staying away from the brony fandom and MLP as a whole, but not necessarily avoiding it. Allow me to explain.

I think the main cause of me struggling with this was that I saw so many other Christians enjoying this freedom of theirs, while I myself was treating it as something sinful to be avoided (but I acknowledged that there was nothing wrong with it for them, just for me if that makes any sense). Because of this abrupt and incorrect reason that I forced myself to treat it as poison, I really struggled.

Thanks to many of you on here, I reached the conclusion that there is no reason for me to make such a big deal of this. I was the one who gave it its power over me. By embracing the freedom I have to do as I wish here, I have come to the conclusion that I simply have no need to embrace this show, and especially no need to embrace an identity based off of it (and by this I mean labeling myself as a brony). When I'm hanging out with my friends that are bronies, there is no reason I must try and avoid discussing it with them as if it is evil, but rather I can use my past experience to continue to understand them and enjoy fellowship with them (which is the original thing that made us friends in the first place). In day to day life however, I simply don't have a desire or interest in following or watching MLP anymore. I need to give a special thanks to @Greg J. By allowing myself to be released from this yoke of slavery of avoiding bronies, I also found myself released from my desire to be a brony. God gave me that fandom at one time, but as @Razare said, I see that God has better things for me now. I also need to give special thanks to @Hannah Eckes and @Razare . All three of your contributions have seriously reminded me of things that will help my faith well beyond this one situation. That said, I must thank every last one of you that contributed. I didn't expect nearly this much help, and all of your input was sincerely appreciated.

Even though I in no way will associate myself with bronies or MLP anymore, I would like to make one last statement about them. No matter what stereotypes you may have of them, please try and treat them with some degree of love and respect. I now see that God put me in that fandom at a time that I needed it. If I had not become a brony, even if for just a few months, I never would've met my good friend Jacob who is the sole reason that I am now involved with the campus ministry that I am a part of. I do not believe that this is a coincidence. God has used something seemingly small and stupid to make a potentially huge difference in my life depending on how these next few years go in this youth ministry. Looking back at how traditional and "normal" I've always been, I find it bizarre, and almost even miraculous that I ever became a part of that community, but in my time as a brony I met some absolutely awesome people that I would have never even thought to speak to otherwise. I have learned tremendously from this experience.

Thank you all and may God bless you.

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

Thanks for the conclusion thread.

 

[Goodbook]

I have never heard of this strange cult, im sure all cults people get into innocently at first.

I would say, if it glorifies God, then its ok. But if its doesnt then lose it. Focus on Jesus first.

Idols are not good to have, and in my experience, you dont need the idolatry. Fandom is a poor subistitute for worshipping in spirit and in truth. GOds grace is sufficient.

I once heard of someone starting a spongebob squarepants religion at university. I think many ppl even in their thirties were watching that cartoon. I was going, is that for real, but people were getting into all sorts of silly things. Look at Japan. Cult of hello kitty. If all those hello kittyites stopped buying their idols the japanese economy could collapse. That why there dont seem to be many christians there. The koreans are more sensible.

 

[protorayish]

I have never heard of this strange cult, im sure all cults people get into innocently at first.

I would say, if it glorifies God, then its ok. But if its doesnt then lose it. Focus on Jesus first.

Idols are not good to have, and in my experience, you dont need the idolatry. Fandom is a poor subistitute for worshipping in spirit and in truth. Gods grace is sufficient.

I once heard of someone starting a spongebob squarepants religion at university. I think many ppl even in their thirties were watching that cartoon. I was going, is that for real, but people were getting into all sorts of silly things. Look at Japan. Cult of hello kitty. If all those hello kittyites stopped buying their idols the japanese economy could collapse. That why there dont seem to be many christians there. The koreans are more sensible.

Thank you for sharing.

As I said, I have in fact gotten out of it for good. A big part of the reason I originally left was because I sensed it could lead to idolatry just as you have described. Even though I have nothing against the fandom in and of itself, it did disturb me that many of its members idolized it. The question that I was asking was under the assumption and condition that caution would be taken to avoid idolatry.

Thank you though for your contribution and I agree (though, with the exception of some of the most extreme bronies, I wouldn't call them a cult). This issue has finally been resolved for me and I am now at peace with the situation.

 

[protorayish]

Thanks for the conclusion thread.

Thank you for caring about how it turned out for me!

 

[Goodbook]

Good to know, keep looking toward Jesus.
Letter to Hebrews tells us to run the race and lose every weight or sin that besets us. (drags us down)

 

[torch621]

Yes. Bronies are probably the most blatantly pro-homosexual and anti-Christian fanbase I've ever come across. I've personally been told that I'm somehow in favor of child sexual abuse and genocide and that I'm a horrible person because of my Catholic faith. Christians should keep as far away from this horrible fanbase as possible.