Thinking is Dialogical
Professor of Politics David Innes responds:

May a student refuse to read a particular book or to view a particular film on account of what he judges to be the ungodliness of its content? In this question, we are faced with the variety of Christian consciences. The point is not that the student is "offended," but that he believes that we are requiring him to sin, or that he fears we could be. Even if he is mistaken, he would indeed be sinning if he were to go against conscience, whether or not the act in itself is morally wrong. As Luther said, "to go against conscience is neither right nor safe." If he is simply paralyzed by the fear that there might be something in one pagan book or another that would lace his mind with sinful thoughts, then clearly he is not ready for this level of intellectual “kingdom combat,” if I may. We should not point such students too quickly to alternative paths of service, however. If the student who raises this objection happens also to be an intelligent person with a tender conscience who takes his sin and God's holiness seriously, this is precisely the kind of student we want.

Some things are ungodly in certain respects, but otherwise have merit in themselves or have significant cultural importance. A Christian scholar, i.e. a mature person with theologically informed and active critical faculties, may investigate them without sinning. There are certain works of less than complete purity (bad language, unbiblical worldview, immodesty) which we might require students to watch or to read for what I will call intellectual provocation. Thinking is dialogical. While simply foolish thoughts are a waste of everyone's time, intelligent and talented people who have been blinded by sin can provoke insights in us which otherwise we would miss. Furthermore, some of these largely blinded people have illuminating insights. We read and listen to them because we know that the Lord speaks truth through them by common grace. We read and view these works also for the sake of cultural literacy. This is not an end in itself, however, nor is it a way of showing off our sophistication. Rather, in order to engage the ideas and practices of the world critically, a Christian must know his world’s cultural language and what is on the world’s mind.

There are boundaries I would not cross, however, whether it is a matter of maturity on my part or the work in question. Some things are simply off limits. To invite them into one's mind is sin. This pertains especially to films. They appeal much more directly to the imagination than photographs (bad enough) and paintings. There have been other popular movies, perhaps artistically serious ones, with language so bad or scenes of such graphic sexual intimacy that I either did not watch them or shut them off. The dialogue can desensitize you to crudity and blasphemy. Images, whether violent or sexual, can fill your private picture gallery with images that are morally or spiritually harmful to you. For the reason, I will not watch contemporary horror films. But it is a matter of personal judgment, i.e. prudence, where exactly one is to draw these lines. In making those decisions, one must consider the nature of the ungodliness in the work, one’s own state of maturity, and the purity of the reasons one has for reading, listening to or viewing the work – a matter of the heart. One person may read Catcher in the Rye and another may refuse it. One person may watch Pulp Fiction and another may see no profit for himself in doing so. The one may not judge the other unless there is an evident unwholesomeness in the interest one’s brother has in it. In that case, charitable counsel is the first step in addressing the issue. Because we take seriously the Lord's call to holiness in our hearts and in our thought lives, we draw lines for ourselves all the time. Being in but not of the world is not easy, however. It requires an introspective and circumspect vigilance. I have lines that I draw for myself and I suspect that, because I am flesh, I have a few of them wrong. In order to discern wisely in these matters, we must first understand the nature of the lines, the human landscape on which they are drawn, and the soul for the benefit of which they establish Biblical spiritual boundaries.

Ideas are another matter entirely, however. Paul said that "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..." (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Every idea must be examined and weighed against the Word of God. But you must know the word of God! Founded firmly on that, you can and must take on any idea that raises itself against the knowledge of God.

Sometimes engaging the world for Christ involves wading into worldliness. Saving people who are drowning in their own filth means wading into that filth. For example, that includes just being in New York. Paul did the same thing when he took the gospel to Corinth. But with guarded hearts and God’s sustaining grace, we can nonetheless remain “unspotted by the world.”