By Kayla DeKraker
Should Christians watch secular or even anti-Christian content? Actress Priscilla Shirer and her son Jerry “JC” Shirer have thoughts.
“In general, for all movies that, you know, are not Christian…that even may have a little something in there that’s like, ‘Oh, that is it seems like it’s going against what the Bible says’…it feels like more of a personal thing whether it’s a decision to go to see those movies or not. Like is it a black and white answer?” JC asked his mom in an episode of the “Full Fledged” podcast.
Priscilla responded, “I have strong feelings about that, but to put those on everybody, I don’t know that that’s the right thing to do. I feel like if we never saw anything that in any way contradicted anything in the scriptures, we would never go see anything.”
Because we live in a world full of sinful content, she explained that some things are very obviously black and white, but other things should be more based off of conviction.
“There’s a nuance there where the reality is we live in the world where we have to connect with realities that we might not agree with all of the issues with them,” she said. “The problem is when you jump over to entertainment, these are choices that you’re making that aren’t about the regular rhythms of life. It’s choices we’re making about what we’re consuming.”
She added, “So in that case, I have…a line in the sand about certain things for me. I do think there are certain things that are that are black and white, but I want to speak more to the conviction of it.”
The Holy Spirit’s conviction will show us when we’re straying into content we shouldn’t consume.
“The Holy Spirit lives in us,” Priscilla said, “and if you’re sitting in a movie theater, if you’re sitting in an actual theater like Broadway theater or some sort of performance hall — any place we are where we’ve put ourself in a position to be entertained and we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in us — I feel like like Genesis 12 where God says to Abraham, ‘Get ye out of the country. Get out.’…We have to have the courage to go, ‘Oh wait a minute this is pinging me in a way I didn’t know up front.'”
The question then is what we will do when we feel the Holy Spirit’s nudge.
The pair posted a clip from their conversation on Instagram, and their followers shared their thoughts.
One user said, “I made the decision a long time ago to not be curious about witchcraft and horror movies. Psalm 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes…” Another person added, “Love that you can have this conversation.”
With so much worldly content out there, it’s sometimes hard to know what is acceptable to watch and what isn’t.
Philippians 4:8 says, “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.”
But what do we do when movies cause us to think about other things? That should be a red flag to pray and check in with the Holy Spirit on the issue.
Movieguide® exists to help you do just that. Our reviews help viewers know exactly what type of content is in a show or movie so you can decide if it’s acceptable before watching it.
Regardless of what we watch, it is vital to listen to the voice of God in our lives. If something feels off, it probably is.
Read Next: Priscilla Shirer On Importance of Prayer: ‘Most Powerful Weapon’
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