My wife and I walked out during the first half of a movie a couple of years ago. We were vacationing with friends and at the last minute decided to take in a movie. We were late and the four of us hurried into the theater without checking the movie’s rating. Big mistake! The title sounded innocent enough but the screen was soon bursting with a series of vicious shootings and one profane word after another. We were so uncomfortable we decided to leave and sacrifice the cost of the tickets.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). What’s wrong with Christians watching movies laced with violence, profanity and immorality?
It contaminates our minds. One summer, while in college, I worked in a foundry where the language was just awful. Profanity was used in ways I had never heard in the high school locker room. I was repulsed by it my first weeks on the job but I eventually got used to it. By the end of the summer I found myself thinking those vulgar words and working to restrain myself from saying them. Christians are exposed to enough worldliness by necessity; why voluntarily pollute our mind and spirit even more?
Inordinate exposure to evil also quenches the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 commands, “…do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” When we deliberately place ourselves in an environment of rank offense, the Holy Spirit’s inspiration is stifled.
It also helps finance the world’s agenda. The money we spend for a movie that attacks Biblical standards or promotes ungodly behavior underwrites similar productions in the future. If Christians refused to attend or rent films that were unsavory, eventually the movie industry would feel the pinch.
It sets a terrible example for those we influence. Some insist, “I need to know what’s going on in the world; I’m mature enough to attend and not be impacted.” That’s doubtful. But what about those who let down their guard because of the influence you have with them? Paul wrote, “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited” (2 Cor. 6:3).
The next time you find yourself in a spiritually hostile environment that has more potential to contaminate you than you have to influence it, remember these instructions from 2 Corinthians 6:14-18: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’ ’I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’”
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