The Final Harvest Blog

By Eva Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

Eva wrote the following for an organization known as Kid’s First after we had the opportunity to review two movies for them. The first movie, No More Baths, is the story of children who protest when a black man’s property is taken from him. Of course, the protest is that the children vow to take no more baths until this is resolved. The second movie we had the pleasure of watching was called Walking Across Egypt. An elderly lady has to decide if Jesus really meant what He was saying about taking care of “the least of these.” This lady chooses to get to know a young man currently in a penitentiary for youth.

No More Baths

Watched Feb 4^th, 2009.

Are these the kinds of movies you’d want your kids to see?

We try to show our child movies that teach about Jesus Christ. We found this to be very secular humanist. Can you expect society to have true moral standards while neglecting the Author of moral standards? Secular humanism attempts to do just that and invariably fails at it. With the exception of the biblical reference (unnoted) of “Am I my brother’s keeper?” this movie tries to instill values whose basis is found in the Word of God, but without acknowledging the Word of God. Therefore, while we found the movie to be “clean” and acceptable for family audiences, it falls short of our personal standards and would not be our ideal choice for family entertainment. We feel that it teaches people to take matters into their own hands using worldly wisdom and clever devices of men to solve problems and there is no indication that any of the characters ever bother to appeal to the highest power through prayer. It’s a great movie for the secular world but, unfortunately, they are usually more interested in movie fare that appeals to a baser nature. So when you say “family features” you are apparently trying to appeal to all of society on the assumption that they want wholesome entertainment. We, however, seek out films that enlighten us, feed our spirits, present eternal truths as established in God’s Word and inspire us to be like Jesus. This film kept us feeling sad and upset for about 85 out of 90 minutes. And at no point did we see the powerful and almighty God sought out or glorified. Therefore, this is just not our cup of tea.

Could you use these films to help your kids understand values like friendship, kindness, and honesty?

No. We do not believe those values exist unless you acknowledge the basis of them. It is the Word of God that teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves; it’s the Word of God that establishes that we should not lie, cheat, steal, or operate in greed. When you take that standard away, you have no premise upon which to determine values at all.

What is most important in a film to you: The content of the film, the entertainment value, or the values taught in the film?

We find all three to be of equal importance however all three must relate to the Word of God in some way. We would rather watch old episodes of Gomer Pyle who unashamedly makes a stand for right and wrong with God’s Word as his foundation.

Walking Across Egypt

We enjoyed this one very much. This movie had the Christian values we feel are imperative to successful living on this planet. Thank you for allowing us to preview this one! It fit all our criteria for preferred entertainment, valuable teaching tool, and worthwhile content. The Word was prominent throughout the movie and the need to follow the teachings of Christ was exemplified throughout the movie. As opposed to being upset with a last minute redemption (as in the previous movie), there were satisfying redemptive elements consistently portrayed in Walking Across Egypt. 

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