Question: I am a Christian, can I watch movies/series?

From Affirm Truth,

It’s a great question for the current generation to ponder. We want to encourage and say that the above question we face is very common among believers and at some point in our lives we all wrestle with such questions and decisions to make.

A movie/ series is a just a story portrayed on screen. Just like how we are writing this content to you, a movie on screen is just words/ messages conveyed by moving pictures. It is God who has given us this ability to creatively think via our imagination and produce movies converting thoughts into audiovisuals.

Now just like information, thought, content, values and knowledge, a story too can be either good or beneficial or harmful or evil. So it is our responsibility as believers to discern and evaluate a movie before watching it.

Today there are so many ways in the internet to learn about the movie before we can decide to actually watch it. A good practice for a believer is to always ask this question – “can I watch this movie with Jesus sitting next to me?” Almost always the Spirit of God in us will convict and prompt us to take the right decision. And it is wise and godly to stand your ground and reject the temptation to watch a film which is not suitable and would not honour the presence of the Lord.

Secondly, Ephesians 5:15-16 states, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (ESV). A Christian should consider the amount of time spent on movies. We should ask ourselves whether spending a certain amount of time will be the best use of our time and if it will help me grow spiritually or personally. Because we must seek to honour the Lord even during the leisure time.

Thirdly, we should remember a movie can be instructing, influential, entertaining and/or inspirational. We are given complete freedom in Christ to watch the movies we want to but, we need to remember that we are given this freedom so that we embrace only what is good and reject what is bad.

1 Corinthians 10:23 says, “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. (ESV)

Also, we must take care not to let this freedom disturb other believers (Rom 14:13). Romans 14 calls for mature believers to not be a stumbling block to a fellow believer if they have a different conviction on matters like this and negatively affect their Christian witness.

Finally, we would also encourage you to join us to pray for godly producers and directors to rise up and make movies that would uplift and encourage people, reflect biblical values, provide hope, increase faith and bring glory to God. Today in our community some tend to address movies or film producers as evil. Media platform offers a tremendous opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and make disciples of all nations. Jesus said the harvest is plenty but labourers are few. So we should encourage the film industry and constantly pray for them to be used by God.

“In conclusion, Christians are not prohibited to watch movies but are called to be discerning in picking the appropriate movies and deciding how many movies we watch would make best use of our time.”