It’s funny the simple things that turn into teachable moments. One time while I was teaching a combined history lesson to our kids our outside dogs bayed solid in the fence line of our driveway. The distraction, too much to ignore and continue with the history lesson, I very quickly went outside to investigate and see what kind of critter they had managed to coral. Upon further inspection, I discovered a very cornered nine-banded armadillo which I rescued from the fence and the dogs and brought back to the porch. The history lesson was something we could come back to at a later date, we had the most amazing opportunity to have a hands-on (gloved) biology lesson before turning our new friend loose in a safe place. The perks of a nontraditional classroom and nontraditional teaching are endless, opportunities for teachable moments that are usually far more impactful come at the least scheduled times, and rarely in a classroom!

Our poor kids probably crave normal and boring outings because their dad and I rarely fail to seize a teachable moment, even when watching television. There have been many movies, “Christian” and secular, that have provided us the opportunity for theological conversations. Recently my daughter sarcastically remarked out loud while watching a movie, “but I thought all sins are equal.” In the movie one of the characters, while standing in front of a copy of the Lord’s prayer and several of the ten commandments, told her son that murder was the greatest sin of them all. Instantly, because Gracie has actually read her Bible, she knew that to be incorrect, as James 2:10 teaches us that “whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point is guilty of all of it.” There are other movies that portray a Biblical narrative that don’t line up with what the Word of God actually says.

We have a tendency to choose the easy path, movies are easier than reading books and I have even been guilty of reading the Cliffs notes version of a book in high school a couple times. Passing or failing an exam on “Great Expectations” or “Hamlet” in high school based off of sufficient or insufficient information is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but what is a big deal, is not having a proper understanding of God and his great love for you and how he has made a way for you to be reconciled to Him because you based it off of books, movies, music, commentaries, and devotionals rather than His actual Word. This is not to say that some devotionals, books, and commentaries aren’t actually excellent, and some movies can be helpful wrap your mind around timelines and events. I love to read both and have some favorite authors even but, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR READING THE WORD OF GOD! If ever something contradicts, I always let God’s word be the authority, I wouldn’t recognize a contradiction unless I was also reading the Word of God!

side note* If ya’ll aren’t reading these blogs with a southern accent and a head weave and maybe clapping after each fully capitalized word, you’re missing out! If you’ve ever had a class with me, you’re probably definitely already doing that!!

READ YOUR BIBLE

M. Henderson and every Sunday School, youth, and Bible teacher who has ever lived or ever will! …..also did ya clap?

Hollywood’s job isn’t to make sure your movies, are 100% theologically sound, it’s to entertain. One of the questions I received years ago after a television show one of the youth had watched was whether or not we became angels when we die, and if we get our wings. Angels are created beings as are humans, in the same way a cat doesn’t become a hamster when it dies, a human doesn’t become an angel. Psalm 8:5 tells us we (humans) were created a little lower than the angels. Genesis tells us that God created everything after its own kind, for example, angels after angels, cows after cows, there may be different types, or races but they’re all the same. Further, when Paul tells the people of Corinth that people will judge angels, that’s another clear indication that humans don’t turn into angels.

It’s so important to READ YOUR BIBLE, not the cliffs notes, and not the movies, it’s important not to come to the Bible to search for proof of what you have already made your mind up about. The Bible needs to be the authority, read it and let it correct your ideologies, and inform you. I have had plenty of times where I was convicted by the Holy Spirit while reading Scripture!

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 NASB95

When you allow the Bible to be the authority and you commit yourself to reading it and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you through it while you read, you are able to measure incorrect ideologies against it and not fall prey to the lies of devil. When the author of the authority in your life is God you cannot go wrong, but, when you place a human, be it yourself, or someone else through their movies, teaching, or writing that’s when you could find yourself in trouble. I’m fallible, I’m human, I can make mistakes, I don’t want or mean to, but it can happen, so can you and everyone else out there. God does not. Untether yourself from worldly theological ideas especially for entertainment purposes and tether yourself to the word of God which never changes and never fails! This doesn’t mean don’t watch movies or do Bible study books or devotionals, or look at commentaries. I love them, it means don’t neglect your reading and studying of the actual Word of God alongside those things and always let His word be the authority if there’s a discrepancy.