A few days ago, a Christian commentator said on her show that she didn’t think believers should be fans of horror: the books, podcasts, and movies built to make us afraid. Within hours the internet did what the internet does. Clips flew. Some agreed. Many pushed back hard. She later clarified that she wasn’t talking about suspense or tension in a good story, but about content made to feed a nagging sense of dread. By then, though, the fight had a life of its own.
This article isn’t about her, and it isn’t about scoring points in that argument. Good people can talk through where the lines fall in a story. But step back and look at the whole thing for a moment, because the real story wasn’t the comment. It was the reaction.
The Real Story Is the Reaction
Watch how hard believers will fight to keep their entertainment. Not their prayer life. Not their time in the Word. Their entertainment. A sister in Christ raises a question about what we let into our minds, and many of us respond as if someone tried to take our house.
That should make us pause. When something is just a pastime, we can hold it loosely. When we can’t hold it loosely, it isn’t a pastime anymore. The strength of our defense often tells us more about our hearts than about the thing we’re defending.
So before we argue about whether she said it well, let’s ask whether we heard what she was pointing at.
A Spirit Not of Fear
Paul wrote to young Timothy, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Notice what God gives us. Power, love, and self-control. Fear is not one of His gifts. So here is a fair question for any of us: if God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, why would we pay to be filled with one for fun?
That doesn’t mean every tense scene is sin, or that a story can’t show darkness. Scripture itself shows us plenty of darkness, and always so the light shines brighter. The question is what the content is for. Is it showing evil so we can see it for what it is? Or is it serving dread so we’ll come back for more?
What We Think On
Paul gives us a better diet: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
This isn’t a list of rules. It’s a menu. Paul isn’t only telling us what to avoid. He’s setting a table. The hungry heart doesn’t get healthy just by skipping junk. It gets healthy by eating real food. NewGrapes exists to be a place for the hungry, and this is the kind of food we want to put out.
The psalmist made it personal: “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (Psalm 101:3). That’s a choice made at the eyes, before it ever reaches the heart.
Freedom Without a Master
Someone will say, “But we have freedom in Christ.” Yes, we do. Praise God, we’re saved by grace through faith, not by a list of movies we avoided. Paul knew that argument well, and he answered it this way:
“‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).
Here is the hard truth in that verse: freedom without a master doesn’t stay free. It finds a new master. We were set free from sin for Christ. If we use that freedom to hand our minds over to whatever entertains us, we haven’t become freer. We’ve just changed owners.
The more “freedoms” a culture claims, the more it seems to be ruled by its appetites. That’s not a call for censorship, and it’s not a call for the government to lock everything down. Laws can’t change a heart. It’s a call for God’s people to remember who our Master is.
Stop Handing the Kids the Keys
There’s another reason this matters now more than ever. It’s not just the adults in the room anymore.
An adult chooses what to watch. Children today often get it pushed on them before they’re old enough to choose anything: autoplay, feeds, ads, and content built to grab them early and stir up things no child should be carrying yet.
Jesus saved some of His sharpest words for this: “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).
That warning should sober all of us. The answer isn’t panic, and it isn’t waiting for someone in power to fix it. It’s parents and churches deciding to stop handing kids the keys. Know what’s on the screen. Talk about it at the table. Give them something better to love. Fill the house with what’s true, honorable, and lovely, so the junk has less room.
The Spirit Converts, and He Uses Means
Some will say, “Only the Holy Spirit can change a heart.” That’s true, and we believe it with everything in us. We can’t argue anyone into the kingdom.
But the Spirit uses means. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). He uses preaching, Scripture, a friend’s honest word, and yes, someone being willing to name what is harmful. Naming the filth isn’t the same as trying to do the Spirit’s job. It’s one of the ways He does it.
And sometimes He even uses a voice we wouldn’t pick. God once spoke true words through Balaam (Numbers 23–24), a man Scripture later warns us about (2 Peter 2:15). God can hand us a true thing through a flawed messenger without endorsing the messenger. So whatever you think of the person who started this conversation, don’t let that keep you from weighing the question on its own.
Did You Catch the Real Point?
This was never really about one genre. It’s about the One who sits on the throne of our hearts, and whether we’ve quietly let something else climb up there with Him.
Jesus asked His disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). If He is Lord, He’s Lord of the remote too.
So here’s the question, not as a verdict, but as an invitation to sit with it before the Lord:
Do you honor Him with what you watch?