What Does The Bible Say About Watching Bad Things?
It is about holiness
One of the basic principles of Scripture is holiness, and this applies to every sphere, including what we watch or absorb.
Colossians 3:2 reads:
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
This Bible verse captures an essential truth that we should not care about worldly matters since they only separate us from God.
When we view evil content, it beats our minds and hearts down to worldly and destructive levels.
We forget the weight of what we consume from media. However, with every image and video, it shapes our thoughts.
And thoughts shape actions, which is why the Bible says to set our minds on things above.
A pure, holy mind will not be drawn to thoughts that would lure us away or take our focus off where it belongs.
Holiness is not about a life of rigidity and doing things to become fanatic or religious.
It is our soul we are trying to keep intact. Continuing to watch bad things, even if it seems harmless, desensitizes our hearts to sin.
It can dull our hearts of things that would break them otherwise.
It is about the light of the body
Matthew 6:22-23 says:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness…”
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We basically see everything through our eyes, and it goes to our minds.
It all consumes itself into our awareness, etc., of what we see on a TV, computer screen or phone.
In turn, we each fail to protect our inner life from corruption if we watch media that is inappropriate, violent, or sinful.
What we see can infiltrate our minds more deeply than what we hear, and that is why the principle of guarding the eye gate is the most effective.
Some images stay in our memories for years and sometimes decades.
Those images, when rooted in sinful fear and lust or violence, can affect us subtly by destroying us. 
The Bible says to guard your eyes as something sacred and protect the eyes from anything that could harm your spiritual health.
When we expose ourselves to evil, we chance allowing such darkness in our hearts that they take over to the extent of producing sinful imaginings and deeds.
It is about the power of thought
2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we are to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
What we watch influences our thoughts very directly.
Harmful or ungodly content makes us think as such.
Who we will be molded to be depends on what our minds think.
If we watch or listen to something that glamorizes sin, violence, or bad behavior, it imprints our thoughts.
The apostle Paul tells us to take our every thought captive and subject it to Christ. However, if our heads are full of worldly thoughts and content, this process gets much more difficult.
Capturing every thought is not something that you can simply do by sitting back and waiting for your thoughts to behave.
It takes mindfulness and focus. But there is no way our thoughts are going to flow in the same direction with God’s will if the things we feed our eyes and ears to are not good.
Well, it’s like opening the door to a thief and then expecting him not to rob your stuff.
And no, this is not just about the sinful stuff.
It is about being more careful of the things we put in our thoughts.
Things don’t have to come out outrageous – even the most subtle distortion of truth or disrespect for godliness can carry immeasurable influence.
It is about a disciplined spirit
One of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is self-control.
With the rise of media, none of us have any test in self-control that approaches what many people went through less than a century ago.
Nowadays, entertainment is always just a click away, and soon, you have the entire world at your fingertips.
Part of our Christian walk in this world is choosing to be disciplined with what we let in and out of us, including through the media.
Self-control is not just abstaining from the highly visible ones.
This all comes down to the daily decisions that show whether we really want to live in accordance with God’s will or not.
Getting lost in terrible things seems like an indulgence or even a luxury, but it is quite easy for that to become a habit.
It breeds spiritual laziness and compromise.
One of the most common contexts, when we hear about self-control, is in relation to dealing with temptations. However, the sneaky one that is normally forgotten in the self-control sector is media consumption.
We might view watching TV or skimming through videos as something that would not prove our discipline, but they do.
Every time we decide what to sit down and watch, we decide to further our walk in the Spirit or succumb to the flesh.
What We Should Avoid
The Bible says so often to “flee from wickedness.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:22, Paul says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
This statement is not only true of our physical actions; it includes what we engage in with our minds and eyes.
We are not to watch evil — even if it is done under the pretense of offering “entertainment.”
Running from evil is not only denying the act of sin.
Adequate repentance is leaving off from everything that takes us to sin. As we view content that praises immorality whether or not directly involved, we give room to evil in our life.
This is about being wise.
Whenever we watch something evil or sinful, it puts our souls in great peril.
The issue is not about if we are strong enough to prevent it.
It is about us deciding to move away from things that will hurt our souls.
Wisdom from Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs is full of great advice on how to make God-honoring decisions.
A verse in Proverbs 4:23 says. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
In biblical terms, this stands for emotions, choices and desires.
The things we let into our hearts shape the rest of everything.
Viewing evil can slowly wear away, unnoticeably but perceptibly, at our ability to keep our hearts.
It was a realization that when we fill our minds with just the wrong things, and those images fly right back onto us, that seeps like messages through to the core of our way of being.
The Consequences
It is scary how continuing to watch the wrong content will deaden our consciousness.
Normalizing what we once might have been shocked or disturbed by is especially alarming.
In the long run, the insulation of our conscience makes it simpler to rationalize sin to different elements in our lives.
The more we are exposed to it, the less shocking it becomes in our minds and hearts, so in time, we begin to accept things that should never become acceptable in a culture and a world whose mission is to do God’s will.
That is why it is so important for us to pay attention to what we are looking at and how it impacts our own spiritual life.
Choosing Godly content
Ephesians 5:8 — “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”
What a beautiful truth this verse speaks about who we are when we come to Christ.
We are to walk in the light and so choosing content that reflects the light is our duty.
Today, godly, uplifting content is available almost wherever you turn.
Be it Christian movies, teachings, podcasts or simply a God-honoring clean entertainment that we can consume.
To walk in the light, we need to decide what shows and movies we will watch and which streaming service we should use.
Living in the light is a choice we make daily and so a part of that entails choosing to consume media that leads us spiritually closer to God rather than further away from Him.
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Bulgarea Anca is a devout Christian and the founder of Bible Wings, a comprehensive resource for Christians seeking to deepen their faith and understanding of the Bible. Raised within the Christian faith, Bulgarea Anca’s spirituality was nourished by her grandparents, who were cantors in their local church. Her Christian upbringing was further solidified by her education at a Christian school. Today, she uses her in-depth knowledge of the scripture to provide insightful and meaningful content through Bible Wings.