Wicked: A Biblical Worldview Evaluation for Parents and Kids

[@maikibordercollie]

Very well presented.

[@gary_glover]

Thanks for taking the time to do this review! Greatly appreciated!

[@alicialudden9994]

Excellent discussion of how the musical and film presents worldviews of goodness vs wickedness and truth vs perception that are different than the Biblical perspective I would add that there are other themes that do align with the Biblical perspective, such as the importance of standing up for the vulnerable, loving others who seem different, and prioritizing doing what’s right over what happens to be popular

[@paulaglenn388]

Thank you for this. I'm sure my grandkids will probably be going. And to one of commenters, yes you CAN teach children to think critically (even10 yr olds). We MUST. And this is a great way to do it. You're right that most 20 yr olds can't think critically (or adults) which is why it's so important to teach them early, but it's never too late and is a learning process. "Foundation Worldview" is a great curriculum to start with. And listen her podcasts. There are others out there also. (But there are some that don't have biblical worldview, so you have to be careful)

[@joserivera8429]

More movie reviews!!!

[@melindamercier6811]

Such a great, well-rounded review!

[@dianakazakova4254]

Thank you Elizabeth! Good analyses. It reminded me of another very old story: For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ All you need to know about witches and witchcraft is that in OT they have been sacrificing kids seeking favors from idols. Also aborting kids of the ones who engage in adulterous behavior, that God explicitly forbade. Defying gravity is the dumbest song. You are stupid enough to try it? Go ahead, the consequences of that will be the gravity will defy you literally and figuratively.

[@MeganWilds-wm5ew]

Do you happen to have any good questions like these to ask a child about the movie The Wizard of Oz?

[@iahmarielle]

this is so helpful! thanks!

[@vanessae19]

Love this!

[@jabinleecango7368]

This is exactly how I treat movies whenever I watch one of knowing it might cause controversy. The same goes for Lord of the rings, Harry Potter etc.

[@margiefisher8125]

Oh yeah … and then you mention about going to see it again!! You pointed out everything that’s false thinking and an improper world view to hold as a Christian that is in the film. Everything that’s wrong about this you have talked to your child in your “discussion” about, but hey … let’s go watch it again!!?? If I’m at a film and it just isn’t ringing true to me. Something’s just off and red flags keep popping up in my heart. The Holy Spirit is saying … “You don’t need to be wasting your time on this and putting these things before your eyes and listening to these nuanced deceiving messages into your head. I’ll just walk out. Lesson learned. Money wasted. And the lesson was formidably, because I obeyed that pricking of my conscience and my wallet got stung. You remember stuff like that. And it’s good and profitable. To sit and stay and listen and watch it all in its entirety, but “discuss” the evil being portrayed as good and the good being portrayed as evil, after the fact, after WATCHING IT ALL, is way down stream from what God is trying to formulate in my life’s decisions and actions. Have I been tempted to keep watching?? Of course!! But I’m learning the quicker I obey the better. Quick to repent. Quick to forgive others. Quick to keep short accounts. You stay till the end or go back to see it again because you’re entertained. If your conscience is clear … great. But if it’s not. Then listen up and set an example for your watching children. What you’re enamored with, they will be enamored with as well.

[@KristinAlayna]

I disagree with the interpretation of the word wicked equating to sinner. Wicked implies evil such as evildoers. No human will call a newborn wicked, evil, or a sinner. Newborns are innocent because they have not done anything to make them guilty. Being born a sinner means being born imperfect, according to God's definition or standard of perfection. Being born a sinner means born with the potential to become an evildoer or wicked, not that you are evil when you are born. Likewise, when you accept Christ you are born again i.e. born with the potential to become perfect like Christ. It is a choice. Moreover, I think the movie should have been PG-13 but I understand the finance of needing it to have a younger audience for longevity. Maybe part 2 will be PG-13 since there are more mature themes. I understand the reservations Christians have but many of the moral critics are hypocritical because they watch Harry Potter or Disney's Descendants. The self-righteous may be mistaken in their assumption that they are part of the remnant. Many Christians walk around trying to be like Moses when they are supposed to be like Christ; not the giver of the law but the fulfillment.

[@lotuslove6753]

Everything this!!!

[@FoundationWorldview]

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We would encourage you to reconsider your statement, “Newborns are innocent because they have not done anything to make them guilty…Being born a sinner means born with the potential to become an evildoer or wicked, not that you are evil when you are born.” We agree that a newborn has not yet actively broken God’s moral law. However, newborns have inherited Adam’s sin. This includes both inheriting a sin nature (making it impossible not to sin) and inheriting guilt before the holy God as a member of Adam’s family. These truths are made clear in Scripture passages such as the following: - Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Jeremiah 17:9 -The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? - Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. - Romans 5:18-19 - Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. - 1 Corinthians 15:22 - For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. We would also encourage you to reconsider your statement, “When you accept Christ you are born again i.e. born with the potential to become perfect like Christ.” Scripture does not portray being born again as having the potential to become perfect. Rather, it portrays Christians as being: justified (declared right before God), positionally sanctified (set apart by being brought from darkness to light), and progressively sanctified (gradually becoming more like Jesus). We see these truths in passages such as the following: Justified - Romans 3:21-26 - But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. - Romans 5:9 - Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Positionally Sanctified - Ephesians 2:4-6 - But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. - Colossians 1:13-14 - He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - 1 Peter 2:9-10 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Progressively Sanctified - 2 Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. - Colossians 3:12-14 - Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Philippians 3:12-14 - 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Thank you again for taking the time to comment and consider these biblical truths.

[@dianakazakova4254]

Wow! You really know the word of God. I wouldn’t have said it better! Please continue doing good work for us all💕

[@deannapolaski9485]

Just took my 7 year old (he was fine sitting through it, didn’t get scared other than the monkey jump scare and he loved it). I love this!!! Thank you. I’ll definitely be bringing up these questions.

[@nickpaul5080]

I am not writing to judge anyone, but I dobt think you should call this a "biblical worldview " when God says we should have nothing to do with witchcraft, sorcery and magic. Deut. 18:10-13, Rom. 12:9, 1 Thes. 5:22

[@Brooks_MB33]

Love this!!

[@person6768]

I don't have to watch that movie for two seconds to know Christians shouldn't watch it. There's no such thing as a good witch. That alone is reason to stay away from it. But I admire your patience, godspeed

[@andrebyman8744]

There’s no such thing as witches at all… this is a fictional story. You’re missing out on the actual messages in the story because they use the word “witch”. I invite you to open your mind a little and at least see what it’s really about.

[@pauli7051]

You should learn the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Enjoy a great story with a powerful message. Even the original Wizard of Oz book and film had magic and it’s an american classic!

[@andrebyman8744]

I would say you DO need to watch it before assuming anyone shouldn’t watch it. It’s a good story with themes that go beyond the typical and less realistic good vs evil idea.

[@lotuslove6753]

@@andrebyman8744absolutely. There are heavy themes that are probably above the head of young kids with that said I wouldn’t take littles. They were disruptive in the theatre. Also these kind of movies aren’t wicken. I don’t understand such a legalistic view of such thing. Definitely different than wicken witchcraft demonic type stuff.

[@margiefisher8125]

I am totally lost on this. I find this completely counterproductive. That’s a kinder way of saying, this is ludicrous. “Careful thinking 10 year olds?” I don’t know of many careful thinking 10 year olds or even careful thinking 20 something year olds for that matter. If adults “struggle to know what is true because we have fallen minds and fallen body’s”, how much more a 10 year old!? This is ridiculous reasoning as a Christian parent. Children are sooooo enamored by the glitz and glamor and “special effects” of the Hollywood and THE BIG SCREEN, not to mention the songs that they are introduced to that they then sing over and over and over again! But hey, here: I’ll buy you a ticket! Let’s to go see this monstrosity together and we can “discuss” it later. What or perhaps better said, who is going to have the bigger impact on your young very impressionable child’s heart and mind and imagination?? What “mom” has to “say” about it after the fact, OR, the larger than life celebrities with their larger than life personas, wardrobes and the songs they sing that get inside a a kids head. A film with so many subtle lies and half truths (often more dangerous), subjective reasoning, victimhood mentality and both covert and overt homosexual tones presented in a positive light. It sounds like … “Hey, I really don’t want you to smoke so let’s light up a few cigs together, just you and I so you’ll understand how this behavior isn’t really good for you. Then will discuss it. Talk about post modern. Christian reviews of films over the past 15 years (including Focus On The Family), I fear have been so influenced by the culture than by the Word of God, that pretty much anything is acceptable viewing. I trust the Word of God and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. But some folks seem to have to run everything by a trusted Christian organization or Christian blogger to know if a film is a yes or no. This is sad reasoning and a sad refection of parents I think just want to be entertained to the hilt too. So let’s make it a family affair and go see it together! After all it’s PG. Which means absolutely nothing.

[@pauli7051]

You’re funny

[@donawyo]

Yes, garbage in garbage out. Don’t put garbage in!

[@barbaraburgio6737]

You are spot on!!

[@Notjust-T]

girl... it's a fictional story about not judging a book by its cover.

[@margiefisher8125]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bojaXniKe79pidUsi=xyaPTdNTS6EARsjB

[@homewardbound799]

🤯

[@Zarryah]

I follow Foundation Worldview to HELP me as a Christian parent raise my children to know and love the Lord. I think it does take some sort of a community to help raise children in the way they should go. However I don’t think this was a good video at all. No Christ follower should go and see this movie. It is completely demonic, it called wicked! Like it’s right there in the title! Your walking around the whole point saying parent shouldn't take under 10 to see it because it’s a long movie and the ending has intense images but then say the opening scene has adultery and there’s gay propaganda, and there’s magic throughout but you don’t consider it wildly inappropriate and not the main focus of the movie!🤔 I’m confused what worldview are you teaching? I understand talking to kids about movies they’ve seen and righting wrongs seen in them but this movie is a very poor example!

[@kstsells]

Agree!!