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A Spiritual Lesson In Toon Language: Lesson 26e

Topic: Responsibilities V: The Double Standard

Series: The Smurfs, TaleSpin

Episodes: The Kaplowey Scroll (Smurfs), Destiny Rides Again (TaleSpin)

Lesson PDF link: 26e.pdf

Introduction

This lesson session is on hypocrisy and how easy it is to commit a sin like this. It is not easy to live a life that is free of this. I use a Smurfs episode called "The Kaplowey Scroll" to illustrate this point. Basically, there is a bad word that is "Kaplowey". Once found to be a bad word, no one is supposed to use it. However, the Smurfs (for some reason) find it appropriate to use the bad word for a "good" purpose. In actuality, all they need to do is banish the scroll using the scroll against itself. I found that this paralleled nicely with the TaleSpin episode "Destiny Rides Again", so I use the clips from that too to add to the lesson (optional). These clips are from lesson 21 Habits And Idols Part A and C (B doesn't have any of these clips but has the Smurfs episode Lure Of The Orb).

It is very interesting (I believe) how this lesson came together and why it is Biblical to use the word Kaplowey against itself, and for that matter, the idol shown in the TaleSpin episode "Destiny Rides Again". This lesson session here and the three-part lesson on the subject of idols can be used together probably if need be. I however, think they are different, they just parallel nicely.

Scriptures Used Include: Romans 2: 17'3: 8; Luke 13: 10-17

Today we will discuss what a "Double Standard" is and why it is bad. When you see or hear the term "Double Standard", what does it mean to you? Anyone that is a "Toon Language" buff will know that I sort of covered this in "Is Lying Good - You Make The Call (Hard)" when we were talking about lying for a good purpose (lesson 19b). This is going to be more in depth than that one, as this will be a sweeping lesson (a general principles lesson that says that any sin for "a good purpose" is out of place in a Christian's life and should be for anyone). We will now have our cartoon of choice. It is the Smurfs episode "The Kaplowey Scroll".

Cartoon Show: "The Kaplowey Scroll" (The Smurfs):

The Smurfs: "The Kaplowey Scroll": Direct link for video/webm

How would you feel if there was a "magic word" that would make anything disappear that you so desire (this means absolutely anything)? Do you see the double standard portrayed in this cartoon? I think that this would be scary. In reality if this were true, we probably wouldn't have a planet, no one would know where this scroll would be to "use it against itself", and humanity's goose would be cooked. We would probably all be dead. It would be the ultimate travesty if it worked on God too. Anyway, I wanted to paint this scroll as nothing but wickedness because such a scroll would be in all honesty.

The Smurfs are not supposed to say this curse word again, yet no one can stop. Why? For you "Toon Language" buffs we covered this question pretty thoroughly in the lesson entitled "Habits & Idols" A, B, and C (lesson 21). The answer is plain. It's extremely easy to commit a sin like this. However, there is a different spin on this lesson in the fact that even though both the TaleSpin episode in "Habits and Idols Part I" and the Smurfs episode "The Kaplowey Scroll" say that it's OK to use curses for good (because it was easy to do so), we are going to show that both cartoons (the current one just shown and that one from TaleSpin called "Destiny Rides Again" show a Double Standard that needs to be dealt with (Remember, these clips can be optional if already seen with lesson 21).

Clip #1 of "Destiny Rides Again" (TaleSpin):

TaleSpin: "Destiny Rides Again": Direct link for

Clip #2 of "Destiny Rides Again" (TaleSpin):

TaleSpin: "Destiny Rides Again": Direct link for

Bible Study: Romans 2: 17'3: 8; Luke 13: 10-17

The Bible States:

Ro 2:17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God;

Ro 2:18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

Ro 2:19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark,

Ro 2:20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth'

Ro 2:21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

Ro 2:22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Ro 2:23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

Ro 2:24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

Ro 2:25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.

Ro 2:26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

Ro 2:27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

Ro 2:28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

Ro 2:29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

Ro 3:1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?

Ro 3:2 Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

Ro 3:3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?

Ro 3:4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

Ro 3:5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)

Ro 3:6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

Ro 3:7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?"

Ro 3:8 Why not say'as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say'"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.

The Bible States:

Lk 13:10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,

Lk 13:11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

Lk 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."

Lk 13:13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Lk 13:14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."

Lk 13:15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?

Lk 13:16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

Lk 13:17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

When Paul in the book of Romans is talking to the Jewish believers here, he is talking about a double standard.

In the book of Luke, Jesus is accused of sinning (he didn't), and Jesus catches these people in a double standard. The synagogue ruler and any opponents of Jesus were humiliated.

Now, as for the cartoons mentioned earlier and the Bible (especially "The Kaplowey Scroll" which is our main feature this lesson), they glorify this double standard by showing good consequences of using the bad word "kaplowey" in that circumstance of cursing Gargamel's door.

Now as for the last section of the cartoon(s), we see the parallel of "using the curse against itself". In other words, the characters destroy the cursed object by using the rules and regulations that the objects in question are under against it ("I wish you gone" - speaking to the object). The object has to obey because that is its nature. That is why it is important to make sure we say to the Devil "Get Behind Me Satan" if we are of the Lord Jesus Christ; he has to obey, because that is the rule that the Devil is under. God made this rule against the Devil to our benefit and to the Devil's frustration. What have we learned from this experience today? How will we take this into our hearts so we don't rationalize our lives with a double standard?