Brownies with a Difference

Brownies with a Difference

Many parents are hard pressed to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home or to listen to or see.

One parent came up with an original idea that is hard to refute. The father listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it. Even church members said it was great. It was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex-they never really showed it. The language was pretty good-the Lord's name was only used in vain three times in the whole movie. The teens did admit there was a scene where a building and a bunch of people were blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff. It wasn't too bad. And, even if there were a few minor things, the special effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed.

However, even with all the justifications the teens made for the 13' rating, the father still wouldn't give in. He didn't even give his children a satisfactory explanation for saying, "No." He just said, "No!"

A little later on that evening the father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had baked. He explained that he'd taken the family's favorite recipe and added a little something new. The children asked what it was. The father calmly replied that he had added dog poop. However, he quickly assured them, it was only a little bit. All other ingredients were gourmet quality and he had taken great care to bake the brownies at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.

Even with their father's promise that the brownies were of almost perfect quality, the teens would not take any. The father acted surprised. After all, it was only one small part that was causing them to be so stubborn. He was certain they would hardly notice it. Still the teens held firm and would not try the brownies. The father then told his children how the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Our minds trick us into believing that just a little bit of evil won't matter. But, the truth is even a little bit of poop makes the difference between a great treat and something disgusting and totally unacceptable.

The father went on to explain that even though the movie industry would have us believe that most of today's movies are acceptable fare for adults and youth, they are not. Now, when this father's children want to see something that is of questionable material, the father merely asks them if they would like some of his special dog poop brownies.

posted with permission
http://lordsgrace.com/humor/laugh43.shtml

  My big downfall was reading. I especially have always loved science fiction and fantasy books. Many of those have a great deal of sex in them, and it's usually quite perverted too. Of course they often have other things in them as well that aren't good for us....but to go so far as to commit myself to not reading them was more then I could do for a long time. To be honest, for a long time I had no desire or intention to stop reading them. I've always studied the bible with the Lord every day and constantly talk to Him. I even mentioned this thing about reading those books to Him early one, but then just put it out of my mind because, like I said, I really wasn't committed to it.

Then, something happened to me. One night, after finishing reading a great Christian fiction book, I was, as usual, trying to decide what to read next. (I have a huge library of my own lol) As I considered my books, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I felt "different" when I was reading a good Christian book, and when I finished it, then I did with one of the secular ones. And it was a big difference too! It's hard to explain, because the feeling isn't normally something we notice or think about. I know that it was the Lord who caused me to notice it at that time. Anyway, when reading and finishing a good Christian fiction book, on top of feeling satisfied, I felt good; I felt "clean", and it always left me in a good mood too. However, when reading or finishing a good secular book, those feelings were all missing! At the time, I really couldn't define the "feelings" very well, and trying to explain them is next to impossible. What I did though was just kind of kept an eye on myself over the next month and paid attention to how I felt when I was reading and afterward. (I read almost every night for a couple of hours at least)

At the end of about 6 weeks of really paying close attention to myself, I realized that when I read secular books, regardless of how much I liked them or that they were my "favorites"; regardless of how I had a long time habit of always being careful to take my thoughts captive whenever I noticed anything that wasn't a godly thought; they never left me in a really good mood. While they didn't leave me in a bad mood, I noticed that both during and after reading them, it was always very easy for me to begin to feel angry if someone did or said anything that hit me the wrong way; become selfish, sarcastic, expected more of others in general, and was quick to snap at people for no particular reason. In general I was just in a kind of sour mood, although it wasn't something that really stood out -more deep inside, but it had a definite feel to it.

I was totally shocked! Really I was! Here I'd been reading these books all my life and had never noticed that before!

But, when I read a Christian Fiction book (I've always made sure that even my fiction books tell the truth about what God's Word says) that during and afterward, I was much more likely to be and act selfless, to be more loving and was always more aware and in control of my thoughts and feelings too. I found that I laughed a lot more then as well. So, in general, as I said before, I was just in a better mood all the way around, and it had a definite feel to it.

When I had this realization, I knew it was all from the Lord and that He was showing me something important. This happened a couple of years ago now, and since then, I've read very few secular books at all, and the ones I have read, I read with the idea of proving it to myself and once I'd read the book one last time, getting rid of it so I could eventually replace it with a Christian one. Now, whenever I even consider reading a secular book, just thinking about how it's going to leave me feeling is enough to give me the creeps! I saw quite clearly during that experiment how they stunted my growth in the Lord when I read them and how the Christian books actually helped me grow! Lastly, it showed me that when we want to please the Lord, that He will go out of His way to show us what we need to do to come even closer to Him.