Latest / Equipped for Impact / Movies and the Heart- Timeless Truths in a Shifting Culture (Part 2)

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Movies and the Heart- Timeless Truths in a Shifting Culture (Part 2) · Equipped for Impact

• 0:00
  Nate: What show have you watched that made you think, man, this is well made?
• 0:04
  Nate: And then five minutes later you're thinking, boy, this is really teaching us something.
• 0:11
  Nate: Well, welcome to modern parenting.
• 0:16
  Luis: Stories don't just entertain, they train, and they train quietly, even if you don't realize it.
• 0:25
  Nate: Because what we watch repeatedly shapes what we want instinctively.
• 0:38
  Nate: Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders, and educators to raise up the next generation, to stand firm in their faith, and influence the world for Christ.
• 0:50
  Nate: We're your hosts.
• 0:51
  Nate: I'm Nate and I'm Lewis.
• 0:53
  Nate: And we are glad you're here with us today, where we are continuing on with our mini-series, Timeless Truth in a Shifting Culture.
• 1:03
  Nate: What we want to do is give you some unchanging principles with real-world application.
• 1:09
  Luis: In our last episode, Music and the Heart, we talked about music and how music shapes our heart.
• 1:17
  Nate: Yep, right.
• 1:17
  Nate: It directs us in a certain place.
• 1:19
  Luis: In fact, do you remember just yesterday we were having a conversation how I had a song stuck in my head?
• 1:24
  Nate: Stuck in your head, but you didn't even know the words.
• 1:26
  Luis: I didn't know the words.
• 1:26
  Nate: And so I asked you, I was like, how can you have a song in your head if you don't know the words?
• 1:31
  Nate: Like it just didn't make sense to me.
• 1:32
  Luis: The tune was just there, and I had to go onto Apple Music and find the song because I didn't know the name of the song.
• 1:38
  Luis: You're an Apple Music guy?
• 1:39
  Luis: I am.
• 1:40
  Luis: You're not a Spotify Amazon Music, Apple Music.
• 1:43
  Luis: I'm all into the Apple like ecosystem.
• 1:47
  Luis: Like Apple TV, Apple, you know, Mac, you know, my MacBook.
• 1:51
  Luis: Your MacBook.
• 1:52
  Luis: iPad, iPhone, yeah.
• 1:54
  Luis: Apple Watch.
• 1:54
  Luis: Apple Watch.
• 1:55
  Nate: AirTags.
• 1:55
  Nate: Yeah, I have a couple.
• 1:56
  Nate: Okay.
• 1:57
  Nate: There you go.
• 1:58
  Nate: There you go.
• 1:58
  Nate: Uh I know this doesn't surprise you, but I don't pay for music.
• 2:02
  Nate: Do you steal it?
• 2:03
  Nate: No, I just don't listen to music.
• 2:05
  Luis: Well played.
• 2:06
  Luis: Well played.
• 2:07
  Luis: Well, today we're going to talk about stories and the heart.
• 2:11
  Luis: And what we're going to talk about is film, movies, and streaming.
• 2:16
  Nate: And we're going to take the same framework but apply it to a different arena.
• 2:21
  Nate: So, you know, you're listening to this.
• 2:23
  Nate: You've heard our five principles last time.
• 2:25
  Nate: If you if you missed last episode, go back, download that, uh, listen through.
• 2:30
  Nate: But if you didn't, that's okay.
• 2:31
  Nate: This is not one of those where it's like you have to have listened to last episode or you'll be totally lost this episode.
• 2:37
  Nate: That's okay.
• 2:37
  Nate: We'll we'll quickly review the five principles that we're applying uh and weaving through this whole series.
• 2:44
  Nate: So, Lewis, uh, what's principle number one?
• 2:47
  Luis: Well, before I give you that, speaking of Lost, did you watch Lost?
• 2:51
  Nate: I did not.
• 2:52
  Nate: Something about aliens and a plane crash.
• 2:54
  Nate: That's all I know.
• 2:55
  Luis: No aliens, though.
• 2:56
  Luis: There's no aliens.
• 2:56
  Luis: No aliens, though.
• 2:57
  Nate: See, apparently I was just lost.
• 2:58
  Luis: Yeah, you were.
• 2:59
  Luis: Uh, principle number one is we are always being formed.
• 3:03
  Luis: So nobody is neutral.
• 3:05
  Luis: Something is discipling your home every day.
• 3:08
  Nate: Yeah.
• 3:09
  Nate: So principle number two is that your heart is the control center.
• 3:13
  Nate: We've talked about this a lot here on Equipped for Impact.
• 3:16
  Nate: So if you've been with us for a long time, you've heard this.
• 3:19
  Nate: If you're new, welcome.
• 3:20
  Nate: Thank you for joining us.
• 3:21
  Nate: Send us an email at uh podcast at WayneChristian.org.
• 3:24
  Nate: We would love to hear from you.
• 3:26
  Nate: But we keep coming back to this idea, the heart, right?
• 3:29
  Nate: Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
• 3:34
  Nate: Um, what you love drives how you live.
• 3:38
  Nate: So the heart is the control center.
• 3:40
  Luis: And principle three is every cultural product, it carries a vision of the good life.
• 3:47
  Luis: And so it's it's always preaching something.
• 3:49
  Luis: You are always hearing about, seeing their definition of what the good life actually is, according to them.
• 3:58
  Nate: Right.
• 3:58
  Nate: It's where you want to go, like your ultimate goal of the good life.
• 4:03
  Nate: And so number four kind of flows out of that is that discernment is a skill.
• 4:08
  Nate: It's not some special thing that only, you know, highly, you know, sophisticated, sanctified, whatever Christians have.
• 4:15
  Nate: It's a skill that can be learned.
• 4:16
  Nate: And so we are training ourselves, but we're also training our kids uh to be wise, to be steady, to not be paranoid, but to also have kind of that discernment filter up and running at all times.
• 4:29
  Luis: Aaron Powell And then the final principle was that we are discipling for mission, not not isolation, right?
• 4:35
  Luis: So so we're not raising uh cultural hermits, right?
• 4:39
  Luis: We we're we're trying to raise faithful Christians who have clarity and also have courage about the world that they're interacting with.
• 4:47
  Nate: Aaron Powell Yep, that's right.
• 4:48
  Nate: So let's take this.
• 4:49
  Nate: We talked about music last time and how music can can get in and it's kind of insidious, it can get into our heart and and drive that version of the good life home into our control center.
• 4:59
  Nate: So let's talk about stories.
• 5:01
  Nate: Like, Lewis, why do stories have so much power?
• 5:05
  Luis: Well, because stories don't just tell you what to think, right?
• 5:09
  Luis: A good story it it draws you in, it brings you in, and so you you begin to to feel, right?
• 5:17
  Luis: So stories are showing you what to feel.
• 5:20
  Luis: They begin to shape your imagination, they begin to normalize behaviors, and and in some instances, they might even turn sin into a joke or or a vibe, and then they can make righteousness look boring.
• 5:35
  Luis: Like just think about your favorite story that you maybe you've read, maybe your s uh a TV show that you've watched, and and all of these things are are causing you to feel a certain way, to think a certain way.
• 5:49
  Luis: You know, when you read a mystery, you begin to identify who the villains are and who the heroes are.
• 5:56
  Nate: Yeah.
• 5:56
  Nate: And I think that's that's really important for us, is because um, you know, it it is really just kind of like skipping, like I've said before, it's it's skipping past our um our logic center, you know, and just going straight for our heart.
• 6:12
  Nate: Um you know, it I've used this before.
• 6:15
  Nate: Uh I was just looking it up.
• 6:16
  Nate: It was a C.S.
• 6:17
  Nate: Lewis quote about um how when he was writing his stories, um, you know, people were asking, like when he wrote it, was he trying to uh just like jump in to try and teach a story?
• 6:30
  Nate: And so he starts with, or teach a teach a truth, a theological truth.
• 6:34
  Nate: And so he backed up and created a story to teach that.
• 6:36
  Nate: He's like, no, I'm just making up stories.
• 6:38
  Nate: But as I did that, I realized um it it says I I saw how stories could kind of sneak past the watchful dragons.
• 6:48
  Nate: Like and he's looking at it from the opposite point of like people who are defensive against uh biblical truth.
• 6:56
  Nate: And so he's trying to sneak past that watchful dragon to get them into, you know, a biblical truth.
• 7:01
  Nate: And so he wrote like Chronicles of Narnia, all of that stuff to to really get them into um, you know, the truth.
• 7:08
  Nate: And so it it snuck past that control center or that the logical filter to try and really get that truth to their heart.
• 7:15
  Nate: Well, stories do that on the opposite side too, of they can they can bring this uh value from the world and get past um our discernment filter if we're not careful and get right directly into our heart.
• 7:29
  Luis: And I think part of it too is because when you read a good story, when you watch a good movie or a good TV show, there's a part of you that has to suspend reality, right?
• 7:38
  Luis: Yeah, like you know, um I don't know if you're a Marvels fan or if you've watched any of the Marvels movies, right?
• 7:43
  Luis: Yep.
• 7:44
  Luis: But when you watch those movies, you have to suspend reality and belief, right?
• 7:47
  Luis: Like we know that there's not an Iron Man.
• 7:50
  Luis: We know that there's not a Hulk.
• 7:52
  Luis: Um Well Are you sure?
• 7:54
  Luis: That's uh maybe a different conversation for a different day.
• 7:56
  Luis: Oh, okay.
• 7:56
  Luis: We can we can unpack that later.
• 7:58
  Luis: Okay.
• 7:59
  Luis: But you have to suspend it, right?
• 8:01
  Nate: And you have to I want to rename Siri Jarvis so that maybe I can just talk to my phone as if it's Jarvis.
• 8:07
  Luis: I think somebody created a Jarvis.
• 8:08
  Luis: I I remember reading something vague.
• 8:10
  Luis: You may want to Google that.
• 8:12
  Luis: Um they created their their their own version of Jarvis, right?
• 8:15
  Luis: But but you've got to suspend reality.
• 8:17
  Luis: Several years ago, the TV show that was really popular was The Walking Dead, right?
• 8:22
  Luis: Oh, and so and so people had to suspend the belief that that doesn't happen, right?
• 8:28
  Luis: That that's not something people don't reanimate.
• 8:31
  Luis: But then when you suspend that reality, you then create heroes, you then create villains, you then kind of have to let your guard down in some areas.
• 8:41
  Luis: And and one of the things that stories do is they give us heroes to imitate, and it also gives us scripts to follow, right?
• 8:49
  Luis: And so to your point that you were just sharing, we now see like according to this book or this story or this movie, this is what love looks like, this is what success looks like, this is what freedom looks like, this is what it means.
• 9:05
  Nate: And we always put ourselves as the hero of that story, right?
• 9:09
  Nate: I'm fighting back or the victim.
• 9:10
  Nate: Yeah, right.
• 9:11
  Nate: Yep and and then that plays into, I think, a lot of where modern modern culture is struggling is you've got the hero, you've got the victim, and I'm just trying to run through and like if people are against me, like I'm putting myself back in that story.
• 9:24
  Nate: Like I am Iron Man.
• 9:26
  Nate: Now you all know.
• 9:27
  Nate: Oh, now we know.
• 9:28
  Nate: But you know, it's like, oh, Iron Man, and so I'm anybody that's against me is, you know, Hydra, and we're just gonna fight back.
• 9:36
  Luis: Yeah.
• 9:36
  Luis: And then today, in this world, right, where we have instant access to streaming, it's a constant thing, right?
• 9:43
  Luis: And so you used to watch a movie and be done, but now you have seasons, now you have clips, now you have edits, now now you watch it on the background, right?
• 9:54
  Luis: And so your TV's just just going and and there's this story that's populating your senses, right?
• 10:02
  Luis: Autoplay, and it it's always available.
• 10:05
  Nate: Right.
• 10:05
  Nate: So, parents, if you don't shape the story diet, the the algorithm will.
• 10:12
  Nate: You know, and I think that's a big thing.
• 10:14
  Nate: If you if you're really wanting to look a little bit deeper in that, um, Carrie Newhoff is really starting to put out a bunch of stuff of that, of just like the algorithm of all of these things, like YouTube.
• 10:23
  Nate: We can throw YouTube in this category too.
• 10:26
  Nate: It's just gonna play up what it thinks you want to watch next.
• 10:29
  Nate: Yeah.
• 10:29
  Nate: And then it's like curated this thing.
• 10:32
  Nate: The deeper you go down that rabbit trail, you're just gonna keep getting more of the same content.
• 10:36
  Nate: And really it's gonna keep pushing you to an extreme so that you're just feeding on that diet.
• 10:42
  Nate: So, parents, we're talking to our kids, wanting to make sure that what they are being fed by the algorithm, whether it's Netflix algorithm algorithm or YouTube or Instagram, whatever it is, what is it that my child is feasting on digitally right now in in this story video format?
• 11:01
  Luis: Yep.
• 11:02
  Luis: And that brings us really to kind of pivoting to this moment today and to our culture, right?
• 11:09
  Luis: So we mentioned it in our last episode, and we've talked about it before.
• 11:12
  Luis: Parents, if if you're not on access yet, we encourage you to get signed up for their newsletter because one of the things that they did is they put out this parents' guide to 2026, and and a lot of what we talked about last week and what we're gonna be talking about this week and other parts of our series come come from this guide.
• 11:34
  Luis: Like, let me be clear.
• 11:35
  Luis: I I am not up with the times, right?
• 11:38
  Luis: Like, I don't necessarily keep up with every single new song or every single new movie that's gonna be coming out.
• 11:45
  Nate: I've got girls, so I know Frozen 3 is coming out soon.
• 11:47
  Nate: Does it?
• 11:48
  Nate: Yes, yeah.
• 11:48
  Nate: I didn't even know that.
• 11:49
  Nate: Look, dude, you are a look.
• 11:51
  Nate: I'm glad I got to teach you something that's like pop culture.
• 11:55
  Nate: Yep, yep.
• 11:55
  Nate: Because that doesn't happen often.
• 11:56
  Nate: No.
• 11:57
  Luis: Did you know Moana live action is coming out?
• 11:59
  Luis: I think.
• 12:00
  Nate: I didn't know about that.
• 12:00
  Luis: Isn't it the rock?
• 12:01
  Luis: Which he played the cartoon voice, and he's gonna be Maui.
• 12:05
  Luis: Maui.
• 12:06
  Luis: It took me a second to remember his name.
• 12:08
  Luis: Yep.
• 12:08
  Luis: So but so so we're not we're not hip.
• 12:11
  Luis: Like I know I got well, hold on, let me maybe we are hip, but we're not maybe as hip as as parents think we are.
• 12:17
  Luis: Like we're not that up with the times, right?
• 12:20
  Luis: But Axis, thankfully, put out this guide that that that talks about this, and and they're flagging this year as a big year for movies, for streaming.
• 12:29
  Luis: And one of the themes that has been brought out is this idea of book talk to box office.
• 12:36
  Luis: Nick, you want to tell us about this a little bit?
• 12:38
  Nate: Yeah, so I mean, this whole idea is it's taking these these stories, young adult stories, um, and really, I mean, that the big stuff is gonna be like your your romance or young adult fiction, those types of things, and moving them from that viral book culture.
• 12:55
  Nate: Like, are you familiar with book book talk and like what all that is?
• 12:58
  Nate: Do you No.
• 12:59
  Nate: Okay.
• 13:00
  Nate: So, and I don't I only know this secondhand because I'm not on TikTok, but it's the whole idea of like these people, influencers who will read books and then talk about them on TikTok.
• 13:11
  Luis: Actually, yes, I am.
• 13:12
  Luis: Okay.
• 13:13
  Luis: By by accident.
• 13:15
  Luis: Like I was reading a review of of a book that one of my daughters wanted to read, and in it it referenced book talk and how this book had become popular because of a book talk.
• 13:27
  Nate: So so they're taking these books that are kind of like again, it's almost like the algorithm feeds it, and so like it pushes you to the extremes.
• 13:34
  Nate: So these types of books in um, you know, the cultural moment, especially young adult, they're gonna take those books and then they're turning them into movies.
• 13:43
  Nate: Many of them that have really taken off are coming, you know, out uh into the box office as mainstream movies.
• 13:50
  Nate: And so Axis, in their their guide, they're talking about different ones from, and again, I'm not familiar with all of these names.
• 13:57
  Nate: Um Colleen Hoover, uh Suzanne Collins, who is the um uh uh Mocking Jay.
• 14:03
  Nate: What is that?
• 14:04
  Nate: Oh, the Hunger Game.
• 14:05
  Nate: Hunger Games, sorry.
• 14:06
  Nate: I was like the Mocking J was the only one that was in my head at the moment.
• 14:09
  Nate: Um so anyway, like some of her fiction stuff is it's gonna keep coming out.
• 14:14
  Nate: Um, Emily Henry, and so Axis is is like pointing out like these things um are really getting pushed into film version.
• 14:26
  Luis: Because the teens and preteens are reading them, right?
• 14:29
  Luis: Yeah.
• 14:30
  Luis: And so now it's like the book was very popular with this subcategory of Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and it's like, okay, now let's make the book into a movie, right?
• 14:42
  Luis: Exactly, exactly.
• 14:43
  Nate: And many of the movies, I I know parents, it's uh not surprising, but they are not necessarily appropriate for that age level.
• 14:50
  Nate: Well, any age level, in my opinion.
• 14:52
  Nate: Um but they're gonna be really, you know, uh just given a lot of un undertones of, you know, just uh some of it is the teenage angst, but then you've also got the, you know, the love, the romance, and kind of painting a uh unrealistic picture of relationships.
• 15:10
  Nate: And of course, then you've got just the the sexualized nature that's gonna end up baking itself into many of these books and movies and things like that.
• 15:20
  Nate: And they're gonna be on streaming.
• 15:21
  Nate: Yeah.
• 15:21
  Nate: And so you just if you let your kids just watch anything, they're gonna have access to this type of thing.
• 15:26
  Luis: Aaron Ross Powell And so I know that Axis referred to one of Hoover's adaptations as being smut heavy and messy, right?
• 15:36
  Luis: And so something that parents we want you to hear, and I would encourage you to go and and read this this guide from Access is that romance is is catechizing a generation, right?
• 15:48
  Luis: It's it's teaching them what love is and what people are are for.
• 15:53
  Luis: And and that's not uncommon, right?
• 15:55
  Luis: Like like you think about our generation, right, Nate?
• 15:58
  Luis: I mean, you and I are within what five, six years apart.
• 16:00
  Luis: Yep.
• 16:01
  Luis: And so when I was coming up, there were certain books, there were certain movies, right?
• 16:05
  Luis: Like um, man, I can't even really remember kind of what movies shaped us, but um probably an older generation remembers how Greece might have shaped them, right?
• 16:14
  Luis: Yeah.
• 16:14
  Luis: Uh high school musical, how it shaped a generation of of students.
• 16:18
  Luis: Um what was the name of that of those vampire books um that were turned into was it Twilight?
• 16:24
  Luis: Twilight, right?
• 16:24
  Luis: Right.
• 16:25
  Luis: And so like how that kind of shaped, right?
• 16:26
  Luis: So so so it's not different, it's not new.
• 16:29
  Luis: Um and then the second thing is that that the pipeline is accelerating.
• 16:33
  Luis: So while it's not new, it is probably getting faster and spreading quicker because the internet today is that marketing engine.
• 16:44
  Luis: And Nate has talked about the algorithms and social media, and so like it's like it's just create this machine that feeds into the whole thing.
• 16:52
  Nate: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:53
  Nate: And then you've got other things like um there's the big, you know, uh family conversation before we hit record.
• 16:59
  Nate: You and I were just talking about the new um Narnia series, um, which of course I just quoted C.S.
• 17:06
  Nate: Lewis at the beginning of this episode.
• 17:07
  Nate: But Narnia, you know, they're re uh making this as a TV series, but it's coming out on Netflix, um, which I don't know about you, if you're listening to this, uh, how you feel about Netflix originals, but I have noticed that uh Netflix originals typically uh again run to those extremes.
• 17:26
  Nate: Um you know, you'll you'll see a series and it'll be you know a good series, it'll be fun, and then all of a sudden Netflix takes it over for a season, and you can tell like the language is is worse, the you know, insinuations are worse, you know, it's more explicit, it's just terrible.
• 17:41
  Nate: So I hear this Netflix making an original with uh Narnia, and that kind of scares me a little bit because I have no clue what they're gonna do to C.
• 17:51
  Nate: S.
• 17:51
  Nate: Lewis's work there with that.
• 17:53
  Nate: But that's coming out here at the end of 2026.
• 17:55
  Nate: Aren't they doing something with the Little House on the Prairie too?
• 17:57
  Luis: I had not heard that.
• 17:58
  Luis: I I remember hearing about it or reading about something with Little House on the Prairie.
• 18:02
  Nate: Right.
• 18:02
  Nate: So let's talk about it.
• 18:03
  Nate: You could before we move on, you you could jump into something like that.
• 18:06
  Nate: Like if you don't have that discernment that we talked about, you jump in thinking, Oh, it's Narnia.
• 18:10
  Nate: It's C.
• 18:11
  Nate: S.
• 18:11
  Nate: Lewis, he's a Christian, is whatever.
• 18:13
  Nate: But they unless you watch it and you know, which again, it's we're recording this months before it gets released, we have no clue what's coming out.
• 18:21
  Nate: Um but the director, Greta Gerwig, is the one who also directed the new Snow White live action, uh the Barbie movie.
• 18:30
  Nate: Like she bakes in worldview themes that are not necessarily biblical worldview themes.
• 18:36
  Nate: So if she's making a movie that ha is based on some books with biblical worldview, and we just don't know until we see it what what's gonna come out with that.
• 18:45
  Luis: And so I know you highlighted the Narnia, which is gonna be coming out in November, right?
• 18:50
  Luis: And then it's gonna hit Netflix in December.
• 18:52
  Luis: Yep.
• 18:52
  Luis: Access brings out a few other movies, series to be aware of.
• 18:57
  Luis: Um I'm not familiar with some of these, so so I'm we're just gonna give you the information.
• 19:02
  Luis: But one is is People We Meet on Vacation, which which is I believe it's already released on Netflix as of this month.
• 19:09
  Luis: And so that's probably gonna be something that's popular with teens.
• 19:12
  Luis: Uh a movie called Reminders of Him is gonna be in theaters in March, th uh in March.
• 19:18
  Luis: Um then there's gonna be another Hunger Games that's gonna be coming out later this year, and so you've got the Hunger Game Sunrise on the Reaping, and that's scheduled for for later in in the fall, right?
• 19:31
  Luis: And so then, you know, you aren't just watching these, right?
• 19:37
  Luis: Um, these are stories that are capturing your imagination.
• 19:43
  Luis: These are going to be everywhere, right?
• 19:46
  Luis: It's gonna be on social media, it's gonna be you're gonna see them on Netflix, you're gonna see them on streaming.
• 19:52
  Luis: When you go to watch a movie, you're you're gonna see the trailers for it.
• 19:56
  Luis: Like what's happening here, right, is that it's not just gonna be what your child is watching, it's gonna be what their friends are watching, it's gonna be what people are talking about, and it becomes this this shared language that kids are gonna be talking about.
• 20:17
  Nate: Right.
• 20:17
  Nate: Right.
• 20:18
  Nate: So let's uh let's let's pull this in and get get kind of real practical, okay?
• 20:23
  Nate: Um like what is it, Lewis, that um, you know, it kids are really starting to um or let's let's pull this back.
• 20:32
  Nate: You're you're a parent who is uh looking at this and they want they want to get uh grounded and really know, you know, w without having to go out and and preview every single movie.
• 20:43
  Nate: Like what can a parent do uh to make sure that their kids' diet is really uh something that that they're okay with and that's worth um watching, you know, their digital diet.
• 20:55
  Nate: Number one is make sure you're listening to this podcast.
• 20:57
  Nate: Ah, there you go.
• 20:58
  Nate: Make sure you subscribe, share with a friend.
• 21:01
  Luis: That's right.
• 21:01
  Luis: Subscribe, share with a friend.
• 21:02
  Luis: Um we're not hip, we're not down with the times, um, but we do have resources that help us keep up.
• 21:09
  Luis: Um but on a serious note, right?
• 21:10
  Luis: There's some great resources out there, like this podcast, but you've got the Colson Center's breakpoint.
• 21:15
  Luis: We've talked about that before, right?
• 21:17
  Luis: It's built on this exact approach, right?
• 21:19
  Luis: It it looks at the ever-changing culture and and it begins to provide commentary that you can read and you can learn more about it at the Colson Center, um, ColsonCenter.org.
• 21:31
  Luis: And then you also have, we've mentioned this before, right?
• 21:34
  Luis: Focus on the family.
• 21:35
  Luis: Plugged in.
• 21:36
  Luis: Plugged in.
• 21:36
  Luis: Plugged in is a great resource to use that that that helps you review movies and books and YouTube channels and Netflix series.
• 21:45
  Luis: You've got common sense media.
• 21:46
  Luis: Common sense media, yeah.
• 21:47
  Nate: That's another one we use a lot.
• 21:48
  Luis: Be careful with common sense because it's not written from a biblical worldview.
• 21:52
  Luis: Now it does have a good solid mission, but it does, in some instances, take some uh opposing views or voices that.
• 22:00
  Luis: That maybe aren't from a biblical rubber, but it's still a good a good place to start.
• 22:03
  Luis: So the Colson Center, Focus on the Families, Plugged In, and Common Sense Media are three that we use regularly.
• 22:12
  Nate: Yeah.
• 22:12
  Nate: And so what we come into this is our posture is not, you know, being afraid of it or like we said at the beginning, like isolation.
• 22:19
  Nate: We want to evaluate stories because we love our kids and we care about their hearts and we want to make sure that the the diet digitally that's getting through their eyes and their ears into their heart is going to help them or at least we're prepared to have those conversations to help them evaluate the stories as they're watching them.
• 22:44
  Nate: Which we talked last week about five questions.
• 22:46
  Nate: So so let's kind of apply these real quick to uh to to movies, streaming, stories, whatever.
• 22:52
  Nate: Lewis, walk us through those those five questions again.
• 22:54
  Luis: Yeah, so parents, if you listened to last week, these are gonna sound familiar, but it also applies in this in this context, right?
• 23:00
  Luis: So so what is this story, right?
• 23:02
  Luis: What is this movie?
• 23:03
  Luis: What is this TV show?
• 23:04
  Luis: What is it celebrating?
• 23:06
  Luis: Yep.
• 23:06
  Luis: Uh what does it call normal and desirable?
• 23:09
  Luis: So that good life again.
• 23:10
  Luis: Yes.
• 23:11
  Luis: Right.
• 23:11
  Luis: Uh what is it training the heart to love, to excuse, or even to mock, right?
• 23:16
  Luis: Like like some shows you watch are blatantly mocking a particular worldview or a lifestyle.
• 23:22
  Nate: I kind of think of that with um, especially on TV in the like 2000s.
• 23:27
  Nate: Um that's when a lot of these shows came out where the dad was always portrayed as like a doofus and didn't know anything and the mom knew everything.
• 23:35
  Nate: And then we wonder why here we are, you know, 20 years later and you know, people think dads are useless and they are not necessary.
• 23:43
  Nate: Well, it's because they grew up on a diet of movies and TV shows that showed dads as idiots.
• 23:48
  Nate: And so, well, of course, my dad's an idiot, I don't have to listen to him.
• 23:51
  Nate: So that's one of those, it's like even mocking them.
• 23:54
  Nate: Yeah.
• 23:54
  Nate: And it's it's getting that into their hearts.
• 23:56
  Luis: That's really good.
• 23:56
  Luis: The third question I'm sorry, the f uh fourth question is what fruit does it produce in attitudes and and actions, right?
• 24:02
  Luis: Yeah.
• 24:03
  Luis: Um I've shared this story before, but we made the decision when our daughters were young that they couldn't watch YouTube um and YouTube kids or even YouTube Shorts because my wife saw that when my daughters watch certain I guess YouTube videos, especially of kids playing with other toys or kids doing something, it she noticed that it changed their attitude and they might become more sassy, more um have have more of a disparaging attitude or maybe even kind of a stuck up attitude.
• 24:36
  Luis: And so what what fruit is being produced by this thing that I'm watching?
• 24:40
  Luis: And then the fifth question is how should we respond as Christians with conviction and charity?
• 24:46
  Luis: So when we see this show, how are we responding?
• 24:50
  Nate: Yeah, so so Lewis, as we kind of wrap this up, what um you know, what encouragement would you get to give to to parents?
• 24:58
  Nate: They're listening to this and they're like, okay, we we got a bunch of like information dump and we've got these questions.
• 25:04
  Nate: Like, what encouragement would you send them off with uh really just this week that they can do as it comes to their children and and movies?
• 25:14
  Luis: Your kids are gonna watch something this week.
• 25:16
  Luis: They're gonna watch a movie, they're gonna watch an episode, and here's what I would encourage you to do is take time out of your schedule to watch an episode with your child.
• 25:26
  Luis: Maybe it's just a trailer, right?
• 25:27
  Luis: Maybe if there's one of these movies that they want to watch.
• 25:30
  Luis: Watch the trailer and then ask them this question.
• 25:34
  Luis: What do you think this story is telling people about the good life?
• 25:41
  Nate: Yep, that's good.
• 25:42
  Nate: And it's simple and it's doable, right?
• 25:45
  Nate: And that's that's great.
• 25:46
  Nate: Discipleship, it's a rhythm that can have a huge, huge impact.
• 25:50
  Nate: Uh, so thank you all for listening today to Equipped for Impact.
• 25:54
  Nate: If this episode encouraged you, please share it with another parent who could use this resource.
• 25:59
  Nate: So the best way to, you know, help our show continue on and grow is really just word of mouth sharing.
• 26:05
  Nate: So share with somebody, uh, another parent who's wrestling with some of these same issues and could uh could could use this resource.
• 26:12
  Nate: And be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our next episode, play and the heart, where we're tackling the topic of gaming.
• 26:20
  Nate: Uh, until then, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ.