Would You Still Do It?

September is the beginning of a lot of things: new school year, new church year (for some churches), beginning of fall, the start of the NFL season, and the beginning of Fall Television (new seasons and new shows).

Every year there is a new, highly anticipated television series that a network hopes will bring home the bacon via high ratings. Most of the new shows flounder (such as one of my favorites that only got one season - "Kings"). This September is no different, with a slew of new shows slated to begin in the next couple weeks. One show in particular that has caught my eye is a new one on ABC called Flashforward.

In the show, the world blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and when they come to many (or all?) got a glimpse of their future and are trying to figure out (1) how their lives got to that point, (2) what caused the blackout. One part in the preview that caught my attention was a woman saying she saw herself with another man, who was not her husband. Watch the preview:



The idea, the suspense, the plot and characters have me intrigued, but the very brief scene with the woman has my mind racing... would we, if could see the consequences of our choices (or evaluate them in light of present joy or standards), would we still follow through with it? Would we, like the woman, be brokenhearted (even before it happens)? Would we work to prevent it from happening?

As my mind stirs about this, Paul's struggle with his sin and his love for God are in the back of my mind. In particular, the part where he says "when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong" (read about his struggle in Romans 7:14-25). Or the part in Corinthians where Paul reminds believers that we have a choice in pursuing our sinful desires or running from them and toward God (1 Cor. 10:13).

I have no idea what the series has in store or whether or not it is going to be a good piece to discuss sin and consequences, but thus far it certainly catches my attention.

PARENTS: Shows like this that portray sin and consequences are GREAT opportunities to discuss the power of our choices. It is a prime opportunity to discuss choices and their consequences from Scripture (both good and bad): Adam and Eve, Joseph and Potipher's wife, David and Bathsheba, King Asa, Ecclesiastes (Solomon lamenting "chasing the wind"), Peter denying Christ, temptation gives birth to sin which eventually gives birth to death (costs more than we bargained for - James 1:14-15), etc.

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