TLP 267: Teach Your Children to Interpret their Movies Correctly

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But there's another category into which I believe far too many Christian young people slip. It happens because so many of us like to be amused.

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We like to shut our brains off and simply enjoy something without giving it any critical thought. Welcome to Truth.

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Love. Parents. Where we use God's Word to become intentional premeditated parents.

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Here's your host, AM Brewster. As helpful as today's content will be, I fear that this episode may one day be partially dated.

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Nearly all of our episodes are evergreen because they have nothing to do with parenting fads, trends, pop culture, or current events, but they're firmly rooted in God's unchanging, eternally relevant, and gloriously practical

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Word. However, in episode 24, we talked about how the world trains your kids to fail by referencing the song

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Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. Well, that song came out in 2009, so even though the interpretational tools we use to understand how failure philosophies in our kids' music train our kids to fail, it's easy for that episode to feel dated because it's referencing, quote, an old song.

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And that's probably going to happen to this episode at one point or another because any examples we use to illustrate the principles we're discussing today are eventually going to be old and outdated.

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But we must remember that the truth still stands. So if you're listening to this episode in the year 3058 and you haven't even heard of the movies

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I'm going to reference, that's okay. The point is not the movie. The point is how we can help our children interpret their movies in a

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Christ -honoring way. And the truths from God's words for that are going to be just as true in 3058 as they are now.

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But before we get any deeper into that, I do want to take a moment to thank Josh, Heatherly, Kara, and an anonymous donor for making this episode possible.

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We are a listener -supported ministry and I praise God for providing the finances necessary to do what we do.

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But I also believe the Lord would be glorified by our doing more. So if you think that you might be able to help us do more for the glory of God, please click on the 5 ways to support

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TLP link in the description of this episode. It may be hard to believe, but if all of you gave only $5 a month, a little more than a dollar a week, we could start implementing phase 2 of our development here at TLP.

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We hope for TruthLoveParent .com to become the premier hub for all things biblical parenting, so that whether your family is hurting or thriving, you can find everything you need to take the next step in your conformity to Christ.

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God called and created us to be. It's an awesome work and there's always room for one more.

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Okay, so how can we help our kids interpret their entertainment correctly? Broadly, this information will be applicable to all forms of entertainment or teaching that involves human language.

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I am not going to deal with musical melodies and sports and things like that. This is about ideas, communication, and philosophy.

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However, my illustrations and examples are going to be pulled primarily from movies. The main reason for that is that the idea for this episode came from one movie in particular.

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So my first main illustration will come from that movie, but I will also allude to many others. But before we dive in, let me remind you of the fact that we have episode notes linked below and that we have another fantastic episode all about the most dangerous element in your kid's entertainment.

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That episode is also linked below and the main pulse of that show will be extremely important here as well because it will cover our last two points of this episode.

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But first, let me ask you this. How does your family approach movies?

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Number one, I'm going to suggest the best way to approach entertainment is with your spirit turned on.

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I ask how does your family approach movies because the mental posture we take while watching movies will either seriously handicap us or set us up for spiritual success.

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Psalm 1 1 reads, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

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Unless every movie you watch is decidedly Christian, you can be guaranteed that you are putting yourself and your family under the influence of wicked, sinful scoffers.

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That's just a fact. So if you're going to put yourself into their presence, are you walking with them?

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Are you standing with them? Are you sitting with them? And what does all of that mean? The idea is that we're putting ourselves into a relationship with them that we are inviting their influence.

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I can sit in a room and listen to someone lecture about evolution, but do so from a contrary perspective where I'm listening to better understand how they think, but I'll never accept what they say as truth.

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Or I can sit there and consider their lecture for the purpose of making it part of my worldview. The first would be appropriate, the second would not be.

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So when we sit down to watch a movie, what is our posture? Not our physical posture, but our spiritual posture.

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There are some who are spiritually and mentally engaged to reject any lies they encounter. I believe this is the posture we need to take all of the time.

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This is why 1 John 4, 1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

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We need to be actively pushing everything that flows into our eyes and ears through the filter of God's Word. That's the first way to approach movies.

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Of course, some people are spiritually mature and are willing to embrace failure philosophies and enjoy the sin on the screen.

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That's the second way, and that form of movie watching should be avoided at all costs. But there's another category into which

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I believe far too many Christian young people slip. It happens because so many of us like to be amused.

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We like to shut our brains off and simply enjoy something without giving it any critical thought. We're watching the movie just to have fun, or unwind, or distract ourselves from the cares of the day, and we enter the experience with our guard down and our hearts exposed to whatever lie the writers and directors and actors want to present.

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So the first consideration for the day is that we cannot afford to approach our movies and music and books with our minds turned off.

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My daughter is almost 10, and she has enjoyed all sorts of books from Dr. Seuss to the classics, but recently she started a series of young adult fiction that is a new genre for her.

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And since my wife and I know almost nothing about the series, we are doing our due diligence to find reviews and learn as much as we can about the book without having to read it.

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And still, it doesn't matter how many people say the series is appropriate and inspiring and a giant step for young adult fiction, that doesn't mean that there aren't going to be huge, biblically objectionable elements.

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So I'm constantly trying to engage my daughter's mind to critically analyze the characters and their decisions and their worldview and even the general plotline of the story to make sure it doesn't contradict

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God's revealed will. And where it does, I'm asking her to talk to us about it. So hear what

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I'm saying. I don't believe it's unwise to allow your children to encounter failure philosophies.

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It's unwise to let your kids encounter them without being able to biblically and critically engage with the ideas, accepting what's right and rejecting what's wrong.

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So let's talk about what it takes to equip your kids to do that, and then discuss how that right foundation can lead to the right interpretation.

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So number two, the best way to spot lies is to know the truth. Now I know you saw this one coming, but I had to start with it.

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You're not going to be able to spot counterfeit money if you spend all your time studying counterfeit money. There are as many fakes as there are criminals and after a while you're going to forget what real money looks like.

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However, hire an observant teenager to be a cashier and it won't be long before that child is so intimately aware of what real money looks like and feels like they'll be able to spot a fake the moment it's handed to them.

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Our kids need to be so intimately aware of the reality that God created that the moment someone suggests that things work differently than God says, your child instantly realizes the error in what they're hearing.

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All of this to say that I don't think you need to spend the majority of your time teaching your kids about the world's failure philosophies.

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The majority of your time needs to be spent teaching the truth of Scripture. Now, that's not to say that you don't teach your kids about the world's failure philosophies at all.

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I have taught my kids about evolution, atheism, abortion, transgenderism, and a bunch of other lies, but I teach it to them with the purpose of helping them compare and contrast it with God's truth that they've already been taught.

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However, again, I try not to expose them to a secular lie without first at least introducing them to what

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God has to say about it. Remember, Proverbs 18, 17, the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.

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I prefer my kids have God's case stated first and then use that to examine the lies. But we don't always have that luxury, so we do our best.

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And that's it. That's the foundation of solid interpretation. That's all we can do. Everything must come back to and be compared to God's Word, and in the end,

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God's Word must be obeyed. Now, what do you do with that knowledge? Number three, the best way to know how your kids interpret life is to talk to them about it.

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I won't spend much time on this point because we've discussed it a lot on this show, but also because that's the content of the rest of this episode.

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So maybe you watch a movie at home, your kid sees one at a friend's house, maybe you head out to the theater and your child is exposed to the potential truth and lies of the movie.

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If their brains are turned on and have been filled with truth, they have a far better chance of being able to answer the following questions in a

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Christ -honoring way. And if you talk to them, you'll be able to know their hearts. Now, let's look at six questions your children should be able to work through when it comes to encountering the world's lies in entertainment.

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Number one, how does your child interpret obvious sin? When your kids witness characters doing wicked things, how do they understand it?

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There was a tribe of people in a third -world country who valued treachery as a culture. When a missionary shared the gospel with them, they thought

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Judas was the best character because he befriended Christ and then betrayed him. Now, why did

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I share that anecdote? I share it because some of our kids watch movies because they want to enjoy the sinful parts.

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They want to see the sex scene. They fantasize about what it would be like to be the criminal who just stole $500 million.

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They enjoy the sinful lifestyles and worldly philosophies in the movie because it's a reflection of their heart.

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We must not assume our kids will correctly interpret the sin they see on the screen. Now, I assume you're not deliberately watching movies with gratuitous sin, but we have to acknowledge that every protagonist needs an antagonist.

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Every bad guy does sinful things. Now, it's not bad to witness that happening. The Bible is filled from front to back with historical accounts of wicked people doing wicked things, but the

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Scripture interprets that wickedness for us and helps us see the destruction and foolishness of it.

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In the same way, we need to help our kids do the same, especially in movies where there's a very fine line and a super gray line between the good guys and the bad guys.

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When the protagonist is the criminal, we're blurring the distinction and making it hard for our kids to differentiate how they're supposed to feel about the quote -unquote good guy doing wicked things.

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I'm going to say that every single movie ever produced is going to portray sinful people doing sinful things.

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Our kids need to be taught to interpret that sin correctly. It needs to be viewed as sin. It needs to be understood to be destructive.

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Our children need to interpret it as being unsatisfactory and undesirable. And though this may be a hard one to talk about because the kids don't want to admit that they like the sinful stuff, this is the easy one.

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It only gets more challenging from here. Number two, how does your child interpret feel -good messages?

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So you're watching a movie and there's this idea or message that gives you the goosebumps and the tingles because it's empowering and noble.

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Let me give you the example that sparked the idea for this whole episode. So my family was very excited about seeing

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The Greatest Showman. You may or may not have seen it, but it stars Hugh Jackman and portrays P .T.

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Barnum's quasi -historical rise to fame. Now you may already be scandalized that my family would have seen that movie.

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Maybe you think the music or language or costumes are inappropriate and maybe you're right. My point is not to label any of the movies that we're going to talk about today as necessarily good or bad or even start a discussion about all of the possible biblically objectionable elements in each one of them.

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There were a lot just in this one movie. I'm just pulling one example from the movie to make this point. So one of the climactic songs in the movie is the one the world has really applauded and onto which many groups have latched.

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Let me give you an idea of the lyrics. Here's just a few of the lines. Another round of bullets hits my skin.

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Well fire away, because today I won't let the shame sink in. We are bursting through the barricades and reaching for the sun.

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Yeah, that's what we've become. I won't let them break me down to dust. I know that there's a place for us, for we are glorious.

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When the sharpest words want to cut me down, I'm going to send a flood, I'm going to drown them out. I am brave.

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I am bruised. I am who I'm meant to be. This is me. Look out, because here

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I come, and I'm marching on to the beat I drum. I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies. This is me.

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Now let me tell you that the aberrant sexuality proponents love this song.

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This is the anthem of inclusion and self -acceptance. I am brave. I am bruised. I am who I'm meant to be.

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This is me. And I think it's good for our kids to be able to see how the world might use such an anthem to legitimize their sinful lifestyles.

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However, I believe the Christian can find great joy in this song as well. Listen again and consider these words spoken by David as the world harangued him for righteous living.

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When the sharpest words want to cut me down, I'm going to send a flood, I'm going to drown them out. I am brave.

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I am bruised. I am who I'm meant to be. We could say, I am who Christ created me to be. This is me in Christ sanctified by Him.

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Look out, because here I come, and I'm marching on to the beat I drum, specifically the beat that God would have us follow.

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And I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies. This is me. You see, within the context of conformity to Christ, this song can be interpreted in a very holy and appropriate way.

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Another round of bullets hits my skin. Well, fire away, because today I won't let the shame sink in.

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We are bursting through the barricades and reaching for the sun. Yeah, that's what we've become.

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I won't let them break me down to dust. I know that there's a place for us, for we are glorious.

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You see, I think you understand where I'm going with this, but how are your kids interpreting that song?

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Does it resonate as an anthem against authority, or does it help them celebrate their sinful lifestyle?

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Or could it possibly make them think a little bit more about the spiritual warfare they're in? Well, you won't know until you ask.

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Number three, how does your child interpret moralistic philosophies? This idea is similar to the last one.

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My illustration for this point is from Groundhog Day. If you haven't seen it, Bill Murray plays a pompous weather forecaster who ends up repeating the same day over and over until he learns valuable lessons.

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Over the course of the movie, he moves from being an arrogant, unkind, self -absorbed jerk to a humble, generous, others -serving, and really sweet, lovable guy.

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But how does your child interpret that? Most of us would love it if our kids had a Groundhog Day slash

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It's a Wonderful Life slash Family Man kind of experience that shows them just how lucky they are to be alive and helps them throw off their sinful ways and embrace

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Christ's calling for their lives. But in the movies, most of these moralistic life lessons have no basis in God's Word.

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Some children interpret those events as being stupid. They liked the jerk better. Some children, because of their spiritual maturity, will connect the ethical life lessons to the truth they know from Scripture.

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But some children will have it reinforced that quote -unquote good living and quote -unquote decency are the goal for a successful life.

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And who knows how other children will interpret that lesson. Talk to your kids about what they think.

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It can be during the movie, after the movie, days later, during a meal, but don't let it slide. Remember, like we discussed in episode 104, your kids need an interpreter.

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It's amazing how children can hear truth and arrive at far -fetched, ridiculous, and often downright sinful conclusions.

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They need help logically, analytically, and biblically thinking through the material. I also want to recommend a two -part interview

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I conducted with my mom, called Teach Your Children to Think. Those episodes are another pivotal part of helping our kids learn to step through information and arrive at biblical conclusions.

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4. How Does Your Child Interpret Religious Events? Superman is counseled by a priest.

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A symbolist discovers the living heir of Jesus Christ. A man talks to God in a shack.

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As antagonistic as the world is to organized religion, it amazes me how many times Hollywood finds value in allowing a religious figure to give life -changing advice.

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This is due to the fact that most people still have an underlying belief that religious people are the ones who have the answers to life.

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But Hollywood also likes to make their religious experiences palatable and acceptable to our secular notions.

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It likes to define terms the way they make sense to us. So after being told by Superman that he doesn't believe the enemy could be trusted, but he's not certain that the people of earth can be trusted either, the priest tells

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Superman, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith first. The trust part comes later.

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Now, I get what he's saying. It's not egregious, but it's also not biblical. We discussed this at length in the

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Mirror's Christianity series. Faith, trust, and belief are all identical terms used throughout Scripture, so how exactly should we respond to the advice to take a leap of faith first before the trust part comes later?

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For me, that's just confusing. How are my kids to understand that? Even more so, how are my kids supposed to respond to this female who's claiming to be the

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God of the Bible who's saying things that are very unbiblical? There are so many lies about God and the

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Bible in the movie The Shack, but when it all sounds so inspirational and feel -good and moralistic, how will your child interpret those counterfeit truths?

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Worse yet, how will your kids know how to respond when they see a movie about a group of people who seem to have very convincing arguments for the fact that Jesus maybe was married to Mary Magdalene and had a child with her?

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Now, perhaps you prefer to not allow your kids to watch such movies, and I wouldn't criticize you for it, but your kids will one day encounter failure philosophies and lies very similar to the ones in the movies, and how will they know how to respond when that happens?

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I once worked for a man who claimed to be a Gnostic who believed that people are like God's fingers. God experiences the world through us as we live our lives.

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Hmm. How would your kids interpret, understand, and respond to that claim that they're hearing while they're at work at Panera Bread Company?

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The moment anything takes an air of religiosity in the movies, are your kids going to be able to tell the difference between truth and lies and come to the right conclusions?

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I recommend you create a family habit of talking about things like that after you've watched movies. I remember when

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I was young, I actually thought that all the references to God and Allah in the original Disney's Aladdin were a positive thing, but then my parents helped me realize that the

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God they were talking about was the God of Islam, and that changed how I interpreted the scenes thereafter.

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Moving on. Number five. How does your child interpret atheism and death in the movies?

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The vast majority of movies produced these days have absolutely no concept of God. How does that sit with your kids?

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When certain of the Avengers die in Endgame, did your kids ever wonder what happened to them?

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Did they just enter into nothing? Did they go to heaven? Did they go to hell? Why? I think it's interesting that we allow movies to redefine our understanding of the afterlife.

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If we're honest, we have to acknowledge that this hero who just died to save humanity was in fact, as the writers created him, unsaved.

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That means, biblically speaking, that after he sacrificed himself for the whole world, he entered hell.

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I know we don't like to think like that when we're watching movies, but isn't it interesting how we allow ourselves to ignore

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God's clear teachings simply to be entertained? Death is very common in movies.

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Do our kids respond in a desensitized way with no thoughts to their life in eternity, or do they interpret those scenes differently because they're saved and they know what

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God says about it? I think it's easy for us to overlook death in movies. We see so much of it, but I don't think the problem is that we have become accustomed to death.

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I think the bigger issue is that we become accustomed to a death that doesn't exist. A death that doesn't conform to God's descriptions.

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A Hollywood death. But, if interpreting atheistic deaths is difficult, consider this last point.

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How does your child interpret atheistic success stories? So the Avengers or the

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Justice League or the My Little Ponies save the world, without God. The boy and girl make love work, somehow, without God.

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The protagonists save the dinosaurs, without God. And nearly every movie we watch tempts us to believe that life works just fine without any consideration of God.

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Do your children believe that? How do they work through that? I'm concerned that they don't really think about it, and subconsciously they're sitting in their seat with scoffers and allowing their views of life to tacitly influence them into thinking that church is a facet of life where God is important, but when it comes to being successful in relationships or business or family or science or whatever else, you just don't need

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God. Maybe you know exactly how your kids think and work through these questions.

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Perhaps your family has discussed these issues and compared the entertainment to the word, and that's wonderful. But perhaps you don't know what your kids think, if anything, when they watch movies.

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I strongly encourage you to have those discussions and bring truth to bear on those ideologies. You may be very surprised to hear the conclusions to which your kids have come.

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We want to equip you and your family to glorify God in all you do, and we pray this episode has been a huge part of that.

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And we hope that our upcoming review series will continue that process in you and your kids. So, to that end,

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I will see you next time. Truth. Love. Parents. Is part of the

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Evermind Ministries family, and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional, premeditated parent.

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Join us next time as we search God's Word for the truth your family needs today.