1Cor 15:33 – Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
If you think that listening to, reading, or watching evil communcations has no effect on you, then you are deceived.
Now, don’t go and blame television or the media for your behavior. Don’t blame your gossiping friends or your complaining coworkers for your bad attitudes.
Don’t shift blame and responsiblity for your thoughts and behavior to anyone or anything else.
Now that you know that these things will impact you, you now know you need to take action to minimize that impact.
Even if the evil communications provided the seeds you have a choice in how far they develop.
There is a process in which seeds develop into weeds. They get distributed, planted (exposed but not resisted), germinate (concieve the idea), develop roots (impacts thoughts, overrides your resistance and rationalizes), develop leaves (begins impacting speech and behavior), and finally bear fruit (result in sinful behavior).
The earlier you interrupt this process the better.
First, in the vast majority of cases you have the choice in whether you expose yourself to corrupt seeds. If you are never exposed to it, then you are never tempted by it. The things you see or hear the most will dominate you.
Being that we are in the world, we cannot expect to prevent all exposure. We can still interrupt and reverse the process.
To prevent the seeds from developing into weeds, you must first recognize them as counter to God’s Word. To do this, you must actually know what God has to say about the subject by having spent time in the Word. Once you recognize it as wrong, then remind yourself repeatedly of God’s view on the subject.
Additionally, you must starve out the weeds by not feeding and watering them. Repeated exposure, daydreaming wrong things, or idle conversations go to reenforce and grow the weeds.
(Updated 3 Aug)