A worldview is more than curse words. For the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, I’m John Stonestreet with The Point.

“13 Reasons Why,” a Netflix series that wrapped up last week, offers a very important lesson on why Christians must rethink how we often approach TV and movies.

Writing at Mere Orthodoxy, Samuel James points out the series has all the features that normally disqualify a show for evangelicals: sex, violence, substance abuse, and lots of language.

But it’s the series’ message—that suicide is a powerful way to take revenge—that really makes it horrible. Too often, says James, we treat ratings and tallies of curse words, nude scenes, and body counts as the only basis for rejecting a film or TV show. Absent these, we assume it must be okay.

But even if “13 Reasons Why” were squeaky clean, its message aims to subtly change us, and how we see human value, in a very dark way. That’s how art works, in fact. Unless we’re asking “what worldview does this teach?” and not just, “what is this rated?” our defenses will be down.