Ya just missed it!

Over the weekend my husband and i watched an incredible movie. Like most dramas, i was not interested but knew that once i saw it, i would be sorry i hadn't seen it sooner. I was correct. When the movie was over and a very important fact was revealed i wanted to watch it all over again. The movie...The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington. Now im not going to try and relate this movie to the gospel, far from it. And im not going to give the plot totally away, but i will say this...

Some catacalismic event has happened to the earth and populations are low. The "bad guy" send illiterate (yes, hardly anyone knows how to read) motorcycle gangs out to look for this book. Having the book will give him great power and make people do what he wants them to do. Guess what book he is looking for? You guessed it! The ONLY surviving copy of a King James Bible. Coincidentally Denzel aka Eli, has said book and is taking it somewhere that he believes he has to go to. I'll stop here to interject a few things.

1. You can gather from the movie that the bible is precious and very worthy to be protected. This is awesome but made me think seriously about how sad it would be if there were only 1 copy of God's work in the whold world and how often i forget to treasure the fact that i get the honor of carrying a bible with me everywhere i go.
2. At one point a scripture from Psalms is read aloud to someone and they are shocked at how beautiful and uplifting the words are. I would love to get back to that point. To be absolutely floored anytime i read in my bible.
3. the "bad guy" wanted to use this book to control people. It made me think how over time the name of christ has been dragged through the mud by people who wanted power and control and got it by falsely using God as a shield. I really don't like that.

Overall i was impressed with how the movie portrayed the bible as being such a good thing that was precious and worth fighting for.

What i did not like was when another character asked Eli what was so special about this book or why was is so meaningful to him. He replies "to do unto others as you would have done to you, that's what i got from it anyways" or some variation of that statement. WHAT?! Way to go Hollywood, once again you completely MISS what the gospel is about and just how truly precious the word of God is. No mention of Jesus, or the cross, nothing period!

I still enjoyed the movie, but what is the point of protecting God's word, and reading it everyday (because Eli did) if all you get from it is "do unto others...." yes that is a good point, but what about i am a sinner and i need a savior and the only chance of atonement i have is in christ? Huh hollywood, how about that for a movie?

grace and peace
sarah b.

Get the Good Bread!

A while ago I sent my husband to the grocery store. On the small list of items needed was bread. I had written down what brand I wanted just in case he forgot. Well, when he returned he explained to me that the store didn’t have what I had written down. Instead... “I got what I knew would be the most appealing to you and the least appealing to me.” It was funny because he was so right

In Christianity bread can be a synonym for Christ or the Word of God. In John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” And by daily reading God’s word we’re allowing God to fill up our souls and nourish us. By reading Gods word we draw closer to him because we learn about his character and his will for our lives.

So why the husband/bread story? Because in the same way that my husband knows im picky about my bread because I want food that is nourishing and good for our bodies, we need to be picky in our faith and what we choose to believe. There are many false gospels out there today and people who water down what the bible says. There are people who whether they know it or not would lead you down a dangerous road that weakens your faith in Christ. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are the prosperity gospel and the idea that since we have freedom in Christ ( Galatians 5:1 ) we are free to live as we please because we have our “Jesus Ticket.” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 says “ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

It is important for us as believers know and study God’s word so that we wont be swayed by false gospels. Think of it like this…it would be silly to study ALL the different versions of a counterfit 100 dollar bill right? That would be time consuming and yeah you would learn to recognize a fake one, but why not just study a real 100 dollar bill and when you see a counterfit come up, you know its not the real thing. God’s word is the real thing, so start feasting on the good bread!