we talked about before<\/a>.<\/p>\nLet’s start with your last point: You would not make a joke that implied you would (or did) commit adultery. The reason you gave is that you detest adultery so much. But there is an additional, unstated reason: you don’t want yourself connected even remotely to the idea of adultery. I don’t blame you, no Christian should want to have his reputation tainted by sin — not just adultery, but by any sin. So by your own position, you show what Paul was saying in Ephesians 5:3, “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints<\/em>.” People make judgments about what we think about based on what comes out of our mouths. And it isn’t an unjust judgment. Even in telling a joke, a person must be acquainted with the ideas expressed and had thought about them. “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man<\/em>” (Mark 7:20-23).<\/p>\nYes, the world is full of all sorts of evil. But there is a difference between living amongst evil and seeking out evil. The fact that it exists doesn’t justify participation, whether directly or indirectly.<\/p>\n
The Bible teaches that we are influenced by those we associate with. Pretending it is not so isn’t productive, even the secular world has realized that there is a connection between things like the amount of violence on TV and violent behavior or the amount of sex on TV and acting out sexually. “Don’t be deceived! ‘Evil companionships corrupt good morals’<\/em>” (I Corinthians 15:33). That is why Solomon observed, “Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself<\/em>” (Proverbs 22:24-25). People rub off on each other. The only slight difference is that we can influence others remotely these days through media.<\/p>\nAction movies, or even violence portrayed, is too vague to say whether it is a proper movie to watch or not. A war movie will have violence in it. Some movies make a strong distinction between good and evil and obviously say good is the only right position. For example, the Lord of the Rings movies contain a lot of action and violence, but it doesn’t promote violence or evil. But there are numerous “slasher” movies that glorify evil. It is the later Christians should avoid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What about people who like action movies and stuff like that, or producers who make violent movies. I mean, you can like action movies but that does not mean that you support violence. There is a difference between making a joke about something and claiming that you actually would do it. You can live…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[759,353,38],"class_list":["post-16084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-entertainment","tag-influence","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31346,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-say-one-thing-in-a-joking-manner-but-then-do-the-opposite-is-it-still-a-lie-just-because-the-other-person-missed-the-joke\/","url_meta":{"origin":16084,"position":0},"title":"If you say one thing in a joking manner, but then do the opposite, is it still a lie just because the other person missed the joke?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering about lying. Let's say my wife tells me just want to look at my hobby and my response is no, but I say it in a very playful way -- a way that she knows that I am playing and that I really mean that yes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39307,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-handle-inappropriate-talk-in-a-youth-bible-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":16084,"position":1},"title":"How do you handle inappropriate talk in a youth Bible study?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just graduated from high school and started hanging out with my sister's friends who are the college-age people in our church. Most of them are on our youth staff. They meet together in what they call a Bible study, but we did not touch a Bible once. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15859,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-dark-humor-sinful\/","url_meta":{"origin":16084,"position":2},"title":"Is dark humor sinful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is all dark humor a sin? Answer: Dark humor refers to making something that is shocking, morbid, or disgusting into a joke. A part of its appeal is the strength of the conflicting emotions that it brings about. The problem is that it treats serious subjects as if they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16091,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-say-something-that-is-not-true-when-joking\/","url_meta":{"origin":16084,"position":3},"title":"Is it wrong to say something that is not true when joking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Sometimes when I\u2019m joking, I will mostly say jokes like \"There's a cockroach on your shoulder!\" when there isn\u2019t. I like to use sarcasm too. Are these jokes counted as sin? Is sarcasm bad? Answer: Lying is always wrong. \"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41076,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-tell-jokes\/","url_meta":{"origin":16084,"position":4},"title":"Is it wrong to tell jokes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, I want to know the difference between jesting and comedy. Is being a comedian godly? Answer: Humor is an important part of communication. There is nothing wrong with telling jokes, so long as they are appropriate. You would not make a joke that implied you would (or did)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16400,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-reach-out-to-my-atheist-roommate\/","url_meta":{"origin":16084,"position":5},"title":"How do I reach out to my atheist roommate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Well, recently I have moved into college as a freshman. Now, the person I'm rooming with is a friend I've had through high school. He calls himself an atheist. Now, I'm not exactly sure if he is a true atheist or not. He doesn't actively protest God and go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}