culture

Who has captured my kids’ imagination?

Just read a hilarious (yet sobering) article from Jon Acuff’s site Stuff Christians Like.  He relays how his kids seem to be much more familiar with pop culture than Bible stories.

My kids digest a lot of media.  And we don’t even have any actual TV channels coming in our home. But with the internet and netflix and a loud marketing machine all around us, my kids still absorb a hefty portion  of “stuff”.   My two oldest boys know so much more about Star Wars than I have ever even heard about.  They know the connections between soldiers, Jedi, aliens, sith lords, etc.  I have been around Star Wars for far longer than they have been alive, yet they know the intricate details.

Can they relate God’s redemptive story from creation to the coming of the Messiah like they can relate the flow of the Star Wars Legacy?  Can I?

The true cost of “just vegging out”.

I have been a great advocate of protecting my right to sit and watch tv/movies.  I have viewed it as a reward for a hard days work.  At the end of the day, I just want to sit and veg. But what has that cost me over the years.  Man, this really gets me.  I don’t want to fall into this hyper legalistic zone and condemn all forms of television as evil or sinful…but is it worth it?  I’m teaching my kids (at least by example) the truly important thing in life is to watch tv and movies.  And further more….

The more “grown up” movies we watch as mom and dad, we are inferring to our kids they can look forward to the day when they get to watch violence, sex, cursing as much as they want when they grow up.  Maturity is equated with unrestricted access to all sorts of sin on display. Think about it. The video games and movies rated Mature are full of completely immature material.

Check out what the Bible says about maturity:

• James 1:4 NIV84
  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

• Hebrews 5:14 NIV84
  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

• Ephesians 4:13 NIV84
  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

• 1 Corinthians 2:6 NIV84
  We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

How is that for a slightly different view of maturity?  Biblical maturity is defined by those who can distinguish good from evil, not those who have full access and can “handle” more evil.

I don’t mean to get heavy.  It is totally cute when our kids do say the darndest things, but what do I need to change in my home to ensure my kids really do have a saving knowledge of God and that they truly do love the stories of the Bible, more than anything George Lucas can come up with.

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