No ado. Let’s jump right into our next tips on how to discern whether secular media is fit for viewing or not.

Remember, asking the Holy Spirit for His promptings is always a must!

We’ll start with #4, since the first three are covered in the first article in this series: Click Forward or Click Off? (Catholics Discerning Entertainment, Part 1).

4.         Consider if There’s More Good than Harm.

Now, I’m not talking about the pretend stuff going on in the story itself, because in order for a story to work (though Hallmark somehow seems to dodge this hurdle), things have to progressively get worse and worse. I’m talking about the stuff that can actually be harmful to you as a person.

Remember Tip #2 I gave in the last article, about skipping over scenes or moments that aren’t good for your mind and soul? Well, are you skimming so many scenes in the novel, fast forwarding so much in a movie, or muting your song or TV show so much that it’s disturbing the experience? Then it’s probably just best to move on. You’re not able to enjoy whatever’s left of the work, and besides, your brain knows at least what kind of stuff is going on and isn’t able to move on.

For example, once I was reading Marieke Nijkamp’s This Is Where It Ends, a heart-wrenching, honest, high-stakes thriller—it was right up my alley, and I loved it. I did have to do some “skip and skimming,” though, especially when it was talking about a theme that I, as a Catholic, do not believe in or support, but those moments were generally over quickly, and we were back to the struggle for survival. (Yes, that’s the kind of thing I read. And zombies.)

I thought I could do the same with a book called Ace of Spades; however, that theme was presented so much that I couldn’t get to the rest of the story! So I dropped that one, and that’s okay. Which brings us to our next point.

5.         Don’t Be Afraid of DNF’ing.

DNF stands for Did Not Finish. And let me tell you, it hurts.

I am an avid reader, so when there's something that pops up that's bad news for my heart and my relationship with God, I tend to weep inside myself because I'm left with such a destroying cliffhanger. Same with a movie or anything else. 

But sometimes you just have to do it. And it’s worth it—God will appreciate that sacrifice because it means He gets to stay close to you.

6.          Know Your Limits.

This tip requires you to be sensitive to your own spiritual, emotional, and mental state. Different depictions affect different people in different ways.

Maybe fictional violence doesn’t incite any negative mental or spiritual results in Tom—he just sees it as a made-up struggle for survival—but Rick struggles with temptations toward anger, aggression, and revenge, and Harry has prior disturbing experiences with violence. In that case, Tom will probably be able to watch a high-octane CIA thriller with a bucket load of shootouts and casualties, but Rick and Harry probably shouldn’t.

Or, maybe Jack can compartmentalize scary fantasy images as pretend, but Joe is deeply disturbed by them. Jack will probably be okay with watching World War Z (like I said, I love zombies), but Joe should steer clear.

Also remember that these are always in flux. Maybe generally you can handle fictional images of death, but a tragedy has recently happened close to you. Give your mind a break.

Do clean romances tend to make you feel healthily good inside, but lately you’ve been starting to be desirous? Drop off for a while.

If, for a long while, you can hear or read adult language without being tempted to use it, maybe you can watch some shows or read a book that contains the occasional word. (Though, I still recommend smashing the mute button when possible.) However, if you find those words beginning to readily jump into your mind and almost slip out of your mouth, it’s likely time take a break from being exposed to them at all.

I did that with a song once; it had a good beat, but it contained an occurrence of using God’s name in vain, so when I sang along, I always changed it, but one day, while jamming, I almost sang the exact lyrics. I’ve stopped listening to that song since.

BUT…

There is a BIG caveat: sensuality and sexuality. No one can ever handle that. Ever. It’s part of our fallen nature. Close your eyes, skip, DNF, do what you need to, but don’t assume that you can handle that without a temptation. It’s a temptation in itself. Don’t expose yourself to it.

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Well, there are your next three! Ciao for now, and see you soon with another few tips on how to be an unflinching Catholic who loves the world’s stories.