Some Things I Have to Tell You

• I cannot wait to share my school plan for next year with you! Yes, I know that doesn't affect your life in the least bit...but I love sharing that kind of stuff. I'm so happy to have it all figured out and even though we still have four more days of THIS year....I am really excited about next year already. Tomorrow, I suppose. Unless something really exciting happens in my life before then.

So, look for a curriculum post tomorrow is what I'm saying.

• Hey, if your husband owns a lawn care business, you probably shouldn't post pictures on the computer of your child playing in the sprinkler in the backyard. Where the grass is NOT greener.

We're in the middle of a drought, OK?

Because people might give him a hard time and then you will have to post a picture of the front yard for damage control. You know how some people only iron the front of their shirt if they are going to have a jacket on? Yeah, it's like that.

My husband's lawn care service is GREAT! See???

• I get up at 6:45 every morning and make lunch, breakfast, and coffee for my husband. I try to have clean clothes ready for him every morning in places where he can find them but I don't do so well on that 2nd one. I used to lay in bed while he got himself ready for work and left without breakfast. (He didn't eat breakfast for 17 years of marriage---that changed with the diabetes diagnosis) I liked sleeping in but I always felt guilty. Getting up with him is better. I'm even a little bit used to it. I like the girls to get up by 8, but sometimes Little Bit sleeps until 8:30. She goes to bed at the same time as her big sister, so it's only fair she gets to sleep more. I know some of you get up WAY earlier than us, but remember there are no naps at the House Revised. Some of our friends have resumed their summer bat-like ways so I actually feel like an early riser. Do you get up with your husband?

• I'm trying to learn to coupon. Oh it alludes me. My good friend Karly has given me some e-instruction and yesterday I scored my first totally free item. I was very happy with myself.

Total? $0.00  Happy.

Today I am going to menu plan (using my 30 Meals list) and check out all the store ads but this time I know what I'm doing! (a little bit) With Karly's stellar instructions, I know just what to do tomorrow when I go to W-mart to price match. The only problem is, I'm seriously concerned about my local W-mart cashiers' ability to handle what I will be asking of them. We plan to go really early so I get them fresh on their game and hopefully not crowded too. I'll let you know how it goes. Brenda learns to coupon....oh dear.

Applying the Standard

You guys have made me kind of nervous. I thought I would get a lot of feedback (positive or negative I wasn't sure) on these movie/TV posts, but you have been eerily silent. So, I shall continue.

If we all agree that Christians should concern themselves with what is set before their eyes (and the eyes of their children), then we have to figure out how to go about that. It may seem like a very simple thing to do, but I imagine if you were a new Christian, and had previously watched whatever you wanted, this would seem a daunting change to make.

First, some practical things. There are several places where you can go to get good reviews of movies from a Christian perspective. My go-to site is www.pluggedin.com and I look up anything I can there. They even have reviews of video games. Julia also shared a few in the comments section of another post: www.americanvision.org/movieology and www.movieguide.org . Does anyone know of other sites that give reviews?


I have learned my lesson about reviews. We picked out a Mary Kate and Ashley movie from Netflix for the girls to watch called Billboard Dad. It looked cute....it's MK and A for goodness sake....it'll be fine. It was old and Plugged In didn't have a review on it so I read the Netflix reviews people left. AND IT WAS RATED G. So I thought all was well. In one scene, the dad is getting ready to go on a date and the twins ask him, "Dad, do we need to give you the safe sex talk?" Needless to say, this Mama almost choked on her lunch. I will be more careful or pre-screen from now on. 


So you might think the answer might be to just watch educational things with your children. Documentaries will save the day, right? Um, I have a sinking feeling that is not true either. 


I will say I have found older movies to be better. I'm talking about Shirley Temple old. Roy Rogers old. OLD. Morals were higher back then for the most part I suppose. I would still look into it, but you are probably safer with older movies than more modern ones and some of them are so charming. 


Of course ask friends if they have seen a particular movie. Christian friends whom you trust. After all, we don't all have time to sit around pre-screening things for our children. We can help each other out. 


The last thing I want to say is this. You will be hard pressed to find a movie or show with no "sinful things" in them. In movies there are bad guys and bad guys do bad things. I think the difference is, does the person doing the bad things get away with it? Or are there repercussions from their actions? For example, if a movie showed someone robbing and lying--I would want them to be caught and punished. Old westerns are great about this. In some movies, the characters act perfectly horrible and life just goes on. We cannot have a flippant attitude about sin. I wasn't allowed to watch The Love Boat growing up. Later my mom told me it was because people slept together who were not married to each other. Mind you when I was growing up, married people on TV shows did share a bed and it was even implied that they were going to....um, really share the bed. But if they were married characters then my parents were fine with that. (I'm talking about prime time TV here-nothing graphic-like Hart to Hart. Oh my word I'm showing my age.) 


There are a lot of lessons to be learned from seeing bad guys do bad things on TV. My mom was always really good about making comments like, "Oh that horrible man! He just lied right to her face. That was wrong!" I also think discussing movies and shows afterward is important. 


Am I saying it's OK to watch people engaged in all sorts of sinful behavior in movies? No..I'm not saying that. Obviously sexual sins are a bit much. But watching a bad guy who stole something get caught and go to jail? That I can handle. That we can discuss. There is good and bad in the world and I would rather my children learn about alcoholism from an episode of Little House on the Prairie than from real life experience. Especially with time to discuss it afterward. 


I would like to wrap up with some thoughts from Erin and her husband. She left a comment on my last post that I thought just beautifully wrapped up this whole topic. I'd like to share part of it here:


"...it came up in our family devotion time, not by me, but by my husband! The point of discussion during family devotions was that it's not necessarily about setting "rules", but more of drawing close to God and seeing His beauty and preciousness so much that this other filth becomes just that in our eyes - filth. Guidelines (rules) and parameters/restrictions are beneficial and helpful, but as Christians, our goal not to be just "moral" people, checking off our "what we do right" list, but instead being transformed by our intimacy with the Holy Spirit so that our hearts no longer desire or are attracted to sin.



Amen! I couldn't have said it any better! So...some practical ways to have guidelines...and a reminder that it's really about loving the Lord. 


NOW. I'm done. Any other thoughts?

The Standard Is High

In my last post, I talked about how I realized that our standard for what we watch and read should be very high. The Bible is very clear about the Christian's relationship to sin....we should have no part of it.

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

We are not the same as we once were. We have been washed, sanctified, and justified...we cannot continue to walk as we once did.

Little Bit watching TV a few years ago...

Now let me take a moment to step aside and add something to my discussion on conviction. If God's Word is unchanging, then how are there possibly Christians who do NOT feel convicted to ________ or to not _____________? I do not think there are as many choices as we think there are. It cannot all be "I'm OK, You're OK." If a Christian is content to watch movies or TV full of sin and all the things we are supposed to not have anything to do with, then I think there is a problem!

The folks who raved about the awful movie on Facebook are young Christians at best. Perhaps they do not know? Perhaps they have not read and understood God's Word? Maybe they need to be taught. I certainly know that I was a young Christian once who watched things I should not have. I remember all too well. I am not trying to stand on a soapbox and look down my nose at others who are not doing as good as I am. (please read that with all the sarcasm you can muster) That is not what I am trying to say. I realize that convictions come at different times in people's lives.

I will set nothing wicked before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me. Psalm 101:3

What I am saying is that many American Christians have lowered their standards as far as the entertainment world goes. The entertainment world has lowered its standards after all, and I'm afraid that many of us have bent a little too far.

But I'm not participating in these sinful behaviors....I'm just watching fictional characters do it.
It's a movie. It's not real life.
I can hear those words and not start saying them. After all, I'm an adult. I know right from wrong.
It was a really good movie. I just wish they had left out _________. Could have done without that.
It's fine for grown-ups but it's not good for the kids.

What else do we say about TV and movies? What excuses do we make? How much sin have we let into our homes through the television set? How desensitized have we become to the things that God detests?

I am talking to myself here too! I think we really, truly need to ask ourselves these questions. And even if, by some miracle, we truly were NOT affected in any way by what we see (which I doubt), how much good have we missed out on?

Am I saying that watching TV or movies is a sin? Absolutely not! I am saying that we need to think very, very hard about what we have been watching and if it lines up with the standard in God's Word.

Next up: We'll discuss the really practical part of deciding what to watch.

Any thoughts so far?

The Standard

Face book shocks me sometimes. I have learned a lot about people that I maybe did not want to know. As I shared with you last week, some folks (who I happen to know are church go-ers) had raved about a movie they had seen that I, personally, did not think Christians should be seeing at all.

And so I ranted a bit to a friend via e-mail. And we got into a really good e-discussion about just what is the standard. I mean, sure...I thought these people should not have seen that movie, but maybe I've seen movies that other people think I should not have seen. How are so many different Christians coming up with so many different ideas about what is OK? Is it really all up to us to decide? Can we really all walk around saying, "Well, that may be OK for you, but I have felt convicted to ______________" ?

Will the Lord convict us all of different things? Isn't He the same yesterday, today, and forever?

I'll tell you, that was a lot to think about! But think I did, because that very night in church (two different churches by the way) my friend and I both heard messages that pertained to our very conversation.

So, you want to know what I decided, right? Well, first I had more questions than anything. Questions I think we should ask ourselves.

• How close can we be to sin without sinning? Just observing it? Accepting it? Watching it? Talking about it? Spending time with those who participate in it?
• How can we know if we are doing things right? One person has one idea and another person has a different idea. Can we all be right?
• What does the Bible say about convictions? Can we be led to do one thing while someone else is led to do another?
• What is the standard?

So before we really get to movies (a practical example of this all), we have to think about conviction. I looked up the word "conviction" in my concordance and found some verses that talk about it.
John 16:8
Titus 1:7-9
Jude 1:15

In all these cases, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin. And how does He convict? God's Word. The Gospel. Look at 1 Corinthians 14:23-25....

²³ Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? ²⁴ But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. ²⁵ And thus^[c] the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.

How is the unbeliever convicted? By hearing the Word of God. How does the bishop (in Titus) exhort and convict those who contradict? By sound doctrine. God's Word.

Therefore, I do not want to hear about how someone "felt led" or what "the Spirit told them" to do or not do. I care what God's Word says. Because His Word, my friends, is our standard.

(I'm not saying the Spirit of God cannot prompt people. I just think the "Holy Spirit excuse" might be over-used.) It matters what God's Word says. God will not prompt you to do anything differently than His Word says. And yes, the Holy Spirit reminds us of all we have been taught (God's Word).

Therefore, I went to God's Word.

That night in church we studied Ephesians 5 which starts out, "Therefore be imitators of God..." Then it goes on to list some bad, worldly things and says, "let it not even be named among you." Later on it says, "...have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Another version says, "But among you there must not be even a hint of....(sinful things)" and "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness..."

So. Let it not even be named among us. Have no fellowship with. There must not be even a hint. Have nothing to do with it.

Friends, our name and sin should not even be mentioned in the same sentence! We are to be imitators of God. That is a pretty high standard!

The Bible also tells us what we are to be about. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

(Remember, we're thinking about movies here.)

So if these are the things God's Word says, then is that the barometer we've been using to help us decide what to watch? What our children watch? What we read? What plays we go to? (In historical times the theater was considered raunchy and horrible!)

What barometer have we been using?

Next up: We will discuss this a bit more (you didn't think I could do it all in one post, did you?) and hash out some practicals of this whole movie/TV business.

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon

S has been sick for a few days. Like...all he does is sleep sick. With diabetes, this is a whole different ball game. His blood sugar has been in the 180-195 range because his body is fighting off the germs. Needless to say, we went to the doctor today to get medicine for the sickness. That's something he would rarely have ever done before diabetes. He really feels rotten.

I didn't feel very good tonight either. I don't really think I'm getting sick although the doctor told me I had "no chance" of not getting it. Thanks Dr. Hopeful! I just have a headache. Thankful for big girls who can help make supper and get their own baths!

So that post on movies will have to wait until I can think more clearly and without pain.

I'm off to bed--the last one to hit the hay tonight!