When the God of Marvels Defeated a “God” of Marvel (Studios)

Editor’s Note: My apologies! Mr. Ryan Dawson submitted this earlier during the Holy Day season—an excellent meditation prompted by Marvel Entertainment’s current flirtation with the gods of Egypt and the fact that we’re observing a time when God demonstrated His superiority over those very gods. Still, the Days of Unleavened Bread aren’t over yet! And hopefully you will find this explanation of the revealed reality behind fiction to be helpful. Enjoy the rest of your days of not-fluffy-at-all bread!

It’s that time of year when we consider the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. We think about the plagues that God poured out—and, if we remember that these plagues were real, we are thankful that we did not get to see them. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking about the Exodus as a story rather than as history, but this was a real event in God’s plan that brought the world’s biggest superpower to its knees. Let’s take a look at the final plague that put fear into those who occupied the land of Canaan—the plague that made the world marvel at the one true God.

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Podcast: Passover Thoughts for the Young and Not-Yet-Baptized

We hope you are having a wonderful start to your Spring Holy Day season! This podcast was recorded not long before Passover, and we focus on mainly three topics: Why the Holy Day cycle starts with Passover, some of the differences in seeing the need for baptism for those who have grown up in the Church compared to those who haven’t, and the commonly heard comment made by some who don’t feel ready for baptism: “I’m not good enough, yet…” We talk about them all in this episode, and we refer to two articles: One by Dr. Scott Winnail meant to help younger people help evaluate when they might be ready for baptism, and another I wrote about what lessons we need to take from Passover to fully understand that the Days of Unleavened Bread have to teach us. I’ll add links to both of those below the video.

Have a wonderful Days of Unleavened Bread!

Links to those two articles:

Thinking Biblically: Entertainment

As you’ve probably heard or read on this website, we hope to cover how to think biblically about any given topic. I appreciate that phrase, as it’s close to something I’ve said frequently in sermons and other messages: “Keep your brain turned on!” 

But what about entertainment? 

Sometimes the problem with thinking biblically about entertainment is that entertainment is usually designed to help us stop thinking. When I consider some of the entertainment I enjoy, like fantasy football or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I know that part of the reason I enjoy it is because it’s not mentally taxing—I can transport myself to a happy, fictional place where superheroes defeat villains, or to an alternate reality where I know who will score more touchdowns. 

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