AVE YOU SEEN TITANIC? THE question hailed from a Seventh-day Adventist academy teacher with whom I was making casual conversation. This part of the exchange was destined for a dead end.

"No, I haven't," I replied simply. He didn't know that I hadn't been in a movie theater for more than two decades.

Stunned at my response, the man replied, "Well, you really should--it's worth it."

His response would haunt me for months.

The Sift Factor
What did the academy teacher mean when he said "It's worth it"? First, let's break it down into literal components:

Word or Phrase Definition¹
     it pronoun, usually in reference to a lifeless thing
     is to be
     worth the value of something measured by its qualities
     it (see above)

Is this what the teacher meant, that Titanic is "a lifeless thing, the worth of which is measured by its qualities"? Maybe, maybe not. My reading of the man's remark runs along this line: I believe he meant that the now-famous movie contained enough "redemptive value" to make it worth a Seventh-day Adventist's wading through any immoral elements to gain the "good stuff," meaning the parts that are perceived to edify and enrich one's life-or at least not detract from spiritual goals.

If this is indeed what he meant, it implies that we possess the ability to sift arbitrarily through a movie's (or a song's) content and reject non-Christian elements such as vulgarity, nudity, and violence, while taking hold of "whatever is true, . . . noble, . . . right, . . . pure," and other Christian character-building components.

That's not been my experience.

Who Can Forget?
As I mentioned, it's been a very long time since I darkened the doorway of a movie theater. Aren't I great; aren't I holy?

You've--I mean, I've--got to be kidding. One big reason I choose not to go to movie theaters (or rent questionable videos) is precisely that, as a sinful human being, I do not have the capacity to strain out God-offending material from that which is worth depositing into my memory banks. And make no mistake about it: All of what we view in a theater (or any other media event) remains with us when we make our way to the exits.

The human memory is an astonishing combination computer/sponge. For starters, "if you were to stretch out all the neurons and dendritic connections in the brain and lay them end to end, they would reach for 100,000 miles and circle the earth at the equator four times."² Just as amazing, "the brain holds 1014 bits of information and thus has a storage capacity 1,000 times that of a Cray-2 supercomputer."³ Accordingly, "the capacity of the brain is such that it can hold information equivalent to that contained in 25 million books. . . . In contrast, the Library of Congress has 17 million volumes."⁴

This is awe-inspiring information.⁵ But there is more to this brainy equation.

Media-Savvy Resources "Forethought is of far more value than afterthought" (Medical Ministry, p. 157). Ellen White was directing her remarks to managers, but they apply to parents who want their kids to choose the best in entertainment. As an editor and parent, I've found the two Christian resources listed below to be of exceptional value. They provide very specific information regarding current media fare. A word of caution: without including actual profanity, they do tell it like it is regarding specific TV, video, and music fare. Teen culture is also discussed. Plugged In. Write to: Focus on the Family Plugged In, Colorado Springs, CO 80995. Phone: (719) 531-3400). Web site: www.family.org. Click on Plugged In. Youthculture@today. Write to: Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, P.O. Box 414, 664 Westbrooke Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022. Phone: (717) 653-1950. Web site: www.cpyu.org.

"When we hear something, the memory goes down one pathway and is stored in a certain way. When we see something, the brain uses a different pathway and different storage venue. Visual images can be powerful triggers for remembering. It has been asserted that by the time we are 30, each of us carries around with us a mental videotape cassette containing some 3 trillion pictures and holograms of ourselves in action. These pictures are indelibly imprinted, which is one reason R-rated movies are worrisome. Once those images are stored in the film archives of our brains, there is no delete button."⁶

Whether it's our reading, TV, video, music, or movie choices, like the spaghetti sauce ad of yesteryear says: "It's in there."

Cold Reality
A humorous story tells of a woman who owned a parrot that had learned profanity by overhearing the TV. When the parrot blurted out an exceptionally offensive phrase, the woman grabbed the parrot and said, "I'm going to chill the cusswords out of you!" With that she thrust the parrot into the freezer. Sometime later she opened the door of the freezer and yanked out the parrot. "Now," she said to the bird, "have you learned your lesson?" The parrot, still shivering, replied, "Yes, ma'am. But that turkey in there must've really said a mouthful!"⁷

Although there are better responses to profane speech, the parrot's predicament illustrates an undeniable truth. Slowly, steadily, we're transformed by that which plays in the theater of our minds-for better or for worse. We begin to parrot the thoughts and actions we've seen on-screen.

Sadly, I've learned that lesson firsthand the hard way. While God has forgiven me for the past poor media choices I've made and has transformed my tongue into a kinder, gentler organ, He hasn't erased all the ungodly images etched deep into my mind, even though I've prayed about it. Perhaps His preferred method is to overprint them with the words of Scripture and increasing knowledge of His amazing grace. Each day I must choose to allow the healing process to continue.

Is It Really Worth It?
The truth is, I can't decide for someone else what's worth viewing and what's not. As Guide editor and father of three boys, I find it tough to know how to handle the matter of ever-encroaching, questionable entertainment. Some experts (Christian and otherwise) urge parents to view and listen to their kids' media choices right alongside their offspring. The proposed next step is to ask questions and discuss the moral values that were expounded through the media experience.

I'm still working that one through. If the bad stuff has already made its way into the heart and mind of my precious progeny, isn't it a little too late to talk it over? On the other hand, such discussions could be helpful in encouraging a child to make godly choices in the future. Like I said, I'm still working it out-through prayer and godly counsel from parents more seasoned than I. Maybe in the end I will indeed decide that in an imperfect world the imperfect process of post media debriefing is the best approach.

Maybe Titanic is "worth it" to some. But not for me--not now. Aren't I great, aren't I holy? Ha! That's more ridiculous than the parrot joke. But I do serve a great and holy God, and each day I am compelled to embrace and emulate His personhood as best I can with the help of His Holy Spirit. Making prayerful media choices and mentoring our kids to do the same can help bring each of us closer to achieving that goal.

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¹ Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition.
² Richard A. Swenson, More Than Meets the Eye (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2000), pp. 39, 40.
³ ibid., p. 40.
⁴ ibid.
⁵ According to Swenson, "a playful professor once hooked up a bowl of Jell-O to an EEG machine and obtained a readout that was 'virtually identical to the brain waves of healthy humans'" (ibid., p. 41). I demand a second opinion.
⁶ Ibid., p. 47.
⁷ Adapted from Michael Hodgin, 1001 Humorous illustrations for Public Speaking (Grand Rapids: Zondervan publishing House, 1994), p. 284.

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Randy Fishell is editor of Guide magazine.