A confession: I watched the movie There Will Be Blood last month. The critics all raved about Daniel Day Lewis's performance. When I checked Plugged In for sex, violence and language, it wasn't bad. Minimal amounts of each. It had been nominated for a Best Picture academy award. I thought I was safe. I love movies, and while I try to stay away from most R-rated ones, occasionally a movie like Dead Man Walking is redemptive and worth watching.

And therein lays the problem - nothing redemptive about There Will Be Blood. Lewis's character, Daniel Plainview, is as wretched and evil a human being as you'll ever see. Watching him put his deaf 11 year-old son on a train by himself left me feeling as bad as any murder scene.

Spending nearly 2 and a half hours in the company of evil is not entertaining, it's just dumbing down your inner man. If it's true, "as a man thinks, so is he," then I'm just a little more spiritually calloused this morning.

I can hear some saying, "Come on - you're being prudish. It's a cruel world out there - we need to toughen up. Also, aren't you being legalistic - Jesus set us free."

To which I say, "Fair enough, but the Bible says, 'Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.'" (1 Peter 2:16)

Living in our modern world is like navigating a boat in shallow, reef-filled waters. We were made to enjoy the ride, but the reefs can take you out. If you're like me, it's the subtleties of life that can slow you down. Choosing to watch someone do wrong things (in a movie or in real life) may not be the same as doing it, but it can pollute the pure flow of spirit-inspired thought in your brain.

Maybe that's why Paul says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)