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One thing that has helped me with this whole issue is Jesus' statement that "it is not what goes into a man which defiles him, but what comes out of him. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, etc." (Mark 7:18-23). While Jesus was speaking of food, the principle is broader. We are not defiled (made wicked, made to sin) by things from the outside. This would be environmentalism (my actions are purely responses to external stimuli). Sin is the result of our own actions, our own heart responses.

Thus, I do not sin by watching something sinful take place. I am not defiled by hearing wicked speech. I am defiled, I do sin, when I react in a sinful way to what I see or hear.

Example: I hear a co-worker use the Lord's name in vain. I have not sinned, I have not been made unholy. If, however, I am emboldened to fall in with the crowd and I use the Lord's name in vain myself, then I have sinned. Or maybe I don't utter the blasphemy myself, but I consciously think the words -- I am driving my car in Atlanta traffic, and when a moron cuts in front of me I think "G-- D--- you." This is what the sin is -- not my hearing the blasphemy, but my acting on it.

Another example: I watch a movie with violence, whether "gratuitous" or not. If I learn what the underlying message of the movie is, I have not sinned. But if I harbor those scenes of violence in my mind, and maybe fantasize about carrying them out against someone I dislike, or maybe even make plans to carry them out, I have sinned. But it is not watching the movie itself which has defiled me -- it is my own sinful heart's response that leads to defilement.

The thing here is that this will vary from person to person, and from age group to age group. I personally can watch violent movies without acting on them or having the violent images capture my mind unduly. My wife, however, is very sensitive, and violent movies trouble her and the images stick in her mind excessively. She simply cannot watch them. On the other hand, mild sexual scenes do not bother her, while the same scenes lead me to sinful lust -- all I can remember of a movie with a nude scene is that nude scene. So I have to avoid movies with nudity. Children need to be protected more, because they are more impressionable, and viewing sinful actions may be more likely to leave lingering images than with adults.

The Philippians 4 passage ("Whatever things are true...") is often used to say, "Don't watch movies with profanity, sex, or violence; don't read such books; don't watch such TV programs." However, what does Paul say at the end of Phil. 4:8 - "meditate on these things." The key here is meditation, not casual thought. I am not to continually dwell on sinful things, I am not to fill my mind with profanity, etc. But I can watch a movie with violence in it, and still not meditate on that -- I can "meditate" (focus, concentrate) on the underlying theme or message of the movie, and filter out the objectionable parts. But I have learned I cannot watch a movie with nudity, for my sinful mind does end up meditating on that sinfulness.

This perspective certainly does not make our selection of movies and reading material easy -- there are no hard-and-fast rules for what Christians should and should not watch ("No movies worse than PG" "No 'Simpsons' on TV" "No Tom Clancy books" "No books with profanity"). We must decide what our own reactions are likely to be, and we must decide for those under our care (our children or students).