How Should Christians Be Discipled to Engage Pop Culture?

The conversations are pretty predictable. They happen at least a few times a year. I’ll be talking to a fellow believer, and we’ll ask each other what TV shows we’ve been into lately.

And then the awkward part—the other party will recommend some show that I’m familiar with, and am aware is full of explicit content—sex and nudity, graphic violence, etc. Sometimes the recommendation will be accompanied with a caveat, like, “I’m not sure how you feel about watching shows with nudity, but …”

I always feel the same sense of awkwardness. Most of the time, I try to shuffle my way out of the conversation without asking what I really want to ask—how can you watch that? Maybe it’s better that I keep my mouth shut. I don’t want to appear judgmental. After all, does the Bible explicitly say, “Thou shalt not watch TV shows with more than X number of violent scenes, curse words, or sexually explicit images”?

It raises the perennial question about Christian engagement with pop culture, specifically artifacts like movies, TV shows, and music. How should Christians engage these things? While the Bible doesn’t directly answer these questions, it is sufficient to guide us into holiness, and it gives us the wisdom we need when considering whether to push play. Read More