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| Phil Vischer |
Here to talk with you a bit more about Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, and his convictions regarding the demise of Big Idea Productions. If you missed my previous post about his book, check it out here.
In a 2011 issue of WORLD magazine, Vischer acknowledged to interviewer Megan Basham that the bankruptcy and subsequent trials of Big Idea Productions have given him great perspective. His words are so telling of our Christian culture today. Check it out...
"I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, ‘Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,’ or, ‘Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!’ But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality.
American Christian[s]… are drinking a cocktail that’s a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we’ve intertwined them so completely that we can’t tell them apart anymore. Our gospel has become a gospel of following your dreams and being good so God will make all your dreams come true. It’s the Oprah god… We’ve completely taken this Disney notion of ‘when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true’ and melded that with faith and come up with something completely different. There’s something wrong in a culture that preaches nothing is more sacred than your dream. I mean, we walk away from marriages to follow our dreams. We abandon children to follow our dreams. We hurt people in the name of our dreams, which as a Christian is just preposterous."
["It's Not About the Dream," WORLD magazine, Sep 24, 2011, 57-58]
You see, we as Christian parents must be vigilant not to confuse these two concepts, as well. Moralism is not the gospel! We can teach our children Bible stories and biblical principles day and night, and they can still.miss.the.gospel.message.
They can miss the point that they cannot do and be all these godly things without dying to themselves and submitting their hearts and lives to Christ. And not just at the time of salvation! Each moment of every day will show them that they must die to themselves and put their trust in Christ if they are to walk in the way of the Lord and follow the precepts of His Word.
So I'd like to challenge each of us to recognize the difference between moralism and the gospel for ourselves and and be diligent to discuss these truths with our children on a regular basis. I firmly believe that the atmosphere of our homes, and our world at large, will drastically change if we do!
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