To defend entertainment choices filled with violence and sex, some will hold up the Bible as justification. What’s the difference between watching this violent movie and reading this portion of Scripture? they reason.

Even a recent Associated Press report might bolster this argument. Public schools and libraries are ganging up on the Bible because of the “sex and violence it contains”—joining the ranks of other raunchy reads. As the report points out, the main issue with the Bible is “the legal issues it raises.” Still, it’s a valid question worth considering: Does the Bible belong among the most provocative of texts? Should it be used to justify consumption of depraved entertainment?

True, the Bible is full of deviant behavior—murder (in its opening chapters, no less), dismemberment, infanticide, illicit affairs, incest, prostitution and witchcraft, to name a few. But there is a marked difference between the Bible’s portrayal of these sins and a film or television production about the same—two major differences, in fact.

The first obvious difference between the Bible’s portrayal of sin and that of a film or show is that the Bible doesn’t show explicit images or visual representations of these events.

Sure, you could say the Garden of Eden is full of nudity! But you don’t see it! Not that nudity is evil; in fact, it was among the elements of creation on the sixth day that was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But it is a view God reserved for the marriage union, since when the first two married people were no longer going to be the only humans around, God clothed them (Genesis 3:20-21).

When it comes to actual sin as depicted in the Bible—whether violence or sexual impropriety—God does not offer a realistic Hollywood reenactment of such sin. That’s a critical difference between the Bible’s portrayal and a film’s.

The idea of avoiding sinful images is actually endorsed in the Bible. King David, the author of Psalm 101, wrote this: “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me” (verse 3).

Now, David was not perfect: Through some of his sins, he saw some wicked things with his eyes. Certain images would always “haunt” him: “[M]y sin is ever before me,” he wrote in Psalm 51:3.

Also, just because the Bible doesn’t show sin explicitly, that doesn’t justify all books that have sinful or deviant behavior; even though they might be “only words,” there is a principle at play, as you will see below.

Consider that the Bible mentions the sin of uttering profanity. In both Matthew 26 and Mark 14, Peter used some sort of foul language when denying that he knew Jesus. But did you notice that—unlike most questionable books and movies—the Bible doesn’t actually record the curse words? It just says that he cursed: “But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak” (Mark 14:71). So when the actual “words” were sin, the Bible doesn’t record those words!

The second difference between the Bible’s portrayal of sin and that of a film or show (and even a book, for that matter): The sin is not glorified. Not every movie or show glorifies sin, but you can be certain the Bible never glorifies any of the sins that it records.

This gets into an extremely important principle in this entire discussion. Whether it’s violence, sex, profanity, or taking God’s name in vain, whenever we start rooting for the characters to sin, then our entertainment becomes sin. If we want the two characters to fornicate, commit adultery, and give in to those urges, we are sinning. If we laugh when they take God’s name in vain or are entertained by their foul mouth, we are sinning. If we find ourselves wanting the protagonists to get their vengeance on those who wronged them, we are sinning.

There are times in a story where characters are killed because of the actions they’ve taken—and sometimes it is a necessary and righteous outcome. The Bible makes this clear. But notice, even when we read or view those accounts, we shouldn’t get some sort of satisfaction out of it. “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,” God says in Ezekiel 33:11. This doesn’t mean He withholds the death penalty from the wicked, but you can be sure He isn’t getting some vengeful satisfaction out of it—like some scorned superhero out to take retribution on a rival villain.

God loves the sinner but hates the sin. David’s goal was never to set any wicked thing before his eyes, and the rest of the verse says, “I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” If our entertainment choices are dulling our hatred of sin, then these choices by their very definition become sin. And those sins easily cleave to us the more we witness realistic depictions of them.

Yes, the Bible contains a great many mentions of sins, but it is for the express purpose of getting us to hate sin, not to root for it—to avoid its disastrous and eternal consequences, not to relish its images in graphic detail.