Discernment
In these tumultuous times, Christians are bombarded with ever-changing entertainment, information, advertising, objects and more. While some of these things are obviously evil and are generally avoided by Christians, there are many, many things out there that are not immediately evil, and may even appear good. This is where discernment comes in. Discernment is using the Bible to find good from evil.
Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” So, if using or doing or watching something causes you to sin or think about sinning, it’s sinful, and should be shunned. Going one step farther than that, if it causes your fellow Christians to sin or think about sinning, you should at the very least not do it around them, and should also seriously think about not doing it at all. There is nothing man-made in the world that is worth causing fellow Christians to sin.
Another good way to discern, is to look at what happens to people who do or use this thing. Matthew 7:15-20 talks about knowing good from evil by the “fruits” or results of the thing. If it causes people to sin, it’s best to avoid it. Now, I know that some people get addicted to things easily, but still, if it causes people to become addicted to it, one should seriously pray about it before trying it, and make sure that they watch themselves around it. God needs to be the focus of our lives, and anything that takes Him from the focus, should be removed from our lives.
An interesting verse is Philippians 1:9-10, which states that we must approve what is EXCELLENT. The verse could have said good, but instead chose excellent. I believe there is a deeper point with the word choice. There are lots and lots of “good” things in life that may not be bad, but if they keep us from the excellent things in the world, they may as well be bad. Examine your life; is there anything that is taking time away from God and the EXCELLENT things in your life? If so, remove them, and focus on Him and the excellent.
More and more Christians are taking the concept of individual soul liberty too far, and teaching that people need to try things for themselves to see if it’s evil or not. Based on the above verses, and the rest of the Bible, that view is not supported by Scripture, and is in fact wrong. If we try something out, or read something, or watch something just to see if it’s “wrong to us”, and it does turn out to be sinful, we’ve sinned. There is no such thing as a “small” sin, sin is sin is sin. So we’ve now done wrong, for no good reason. We don’t need to touch the fire to know that it’s hot. It’s better to discern from a distance, and maybe miss out on some “good” things in life in order to protect us from sinning and missing out on the EXCELLENT things in life.
Now, for this media saturated culture, it can be very difficult to discern on entertainment. For this purpose, several organizations have viewed the material, and listed what sorts of objectionable content are in them, so that you may decide for yourself about it. PluggedIn (a part of Focus on the Family) does movies, TV shows, and music reviews, along with articles on pop culture trends. If you’re looking for computer or video game reviews, I’d recommend CCGR.
Discernment can be hard, which is why we need to pray and seek God’s wisdom on it. Additionally, talk to your fellow Christians and get their insight.
