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Key Bible Verse: Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do (Proverbs 4:23). Bonus Reading: Mark 7:14—23

The American film industry has lost sight of any reasonable standard of decency. Any God-fearing man or woman should be appalled at the pornographic and violent content of many films. But worse things can happen to a young man than seeing a woman's breasts in a film. He's in even more danger from the messages of universal tolerance or materialism that so many films both explicitly and implicitly promote. When Jesus warned us that we can't serve two masters, He was addressing sins more in the range of covetousness, jealousy, envy, and pride than in the range of murder and adultery.

Christians need to concentrate on the good in many films. And the bad might serve as a reminder that the dreams Hollywood tries to convince us are true can never come true in a fallen world that so desperately needs to embrace the love of Christ.

But we shouldn't drop our guard. Refusing to let the world corrupt us involves selecting our pleasures carefully. After all, who'll guard your soul? Certainly not the entertainment industry itself, which often profits by playing on your weaknesses, and certainly not artists, whose main concern is personal expression.

—Peter Fraser in ReViewing the Movies

My Response: Have I viewed a film this year that I should warn others to avoid?

Thought to Apply: Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. —THOMAS JEFFERSON (third U.S. President)

Adapted from ReViewing the Movies (Crossway, 2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, the entertainment I'm exposed to could easily deflect my mind and heart from Your truth. Help me make sound choices.

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