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Lacey Rabalais

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Motherhood

Movie Review // Soul

December 30, 2020

After hearing mixed reviews across from friends and social media about this movie, I didn’t know what to think. I had trusted moms saying stay away from the movie and others, including popular Christian mothers, saying that they loved the movie. Nothing else to do but watch it myself. So when I couldn’t sleep, I decided to get up, make some coffee, and settle in.

*Remember* This is just my observation and opinion. Before watching I prayed, asked for discernment and not a critical mind and heart. My goal is to steward the lives God has entrusted me with and I want to do that well.

What is it that makes you…YOU? This December, Pixar Animation Studios’ all-new feature film “Soul” introduces Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) – a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22 (voice of Tina Fey), who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions. Directed by Academy Award® winner Pete Docter (“Inside Out,” “Up”), co-directed by Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”) and produced by Academy Award nominee Dana Murray, p.g.a. (Pixar short “Lou”), Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” is streaming exclusively December 25, 2020 on Disney+. Rated PG.

Description on Soul on Disney.com

The movie starts off great; mentions the struggles of teachers wanting their students to be passionate and the message of the importance of teachers. However, the movie takes a quick turn into a lot of New Age language. What is the New Age? According to GotQuestions.org, “The New Age movement is a counterfeit philosophy that appeals to the feelings of individuals, leading them to think that that they are God and can enhance their lives through their own person.” You can read the full article, What is the New Age Movement.

A Quick Run Down of Concerning Language…

  • Life Starts Now // The whole movie talks about living life and not just letting life pass you by. But the notion that life starts anytime after conception or even birth, is false. We are all currently living. We can enjoy our lives each and every day without waiting for a perfect moment or goal.
  • Great Beyond & The Great Before (You Seminar)// It’s portrayed as a conveyor belt entering a bright light. The main character, Joe, does ask if he’s in heaven or hell, but other than that nothing is mentioned other than the great beyond is what happens when you die. The Great Before is where the little souls are programmed. They have to find their spark before they get their ticket to earth. Some have been there for thousands of years and have had mentors like Lincoln, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Muhammad Ali, Marie Antoinette, and a few more. This just further misrepresents what happens before we’re born and after we die.
  • The Coming Together (Jerry) – Defined in the movie as “all quantized fields of the universe appearing in a form your feeble human brain can comprehend” // There are multiples of these characters but they all have the same name. They seem to be “in charge” of making sure souls get to earth or beyond. They also pick if souls are miserable or happy with what type of personality types souls get. Seems to be that you have one behavior type and you have no choice in your thoughts and behavior.
  • Spark // Each character is looking for their spark. The thing that makes them special.
  • Mundane life isn’t special // Joe (the main character) realizes that his life as a teacher, son, and not-famous but extremely talented musician is boring and purposeless.
  • Crushing souls is what earth is for // “No it’s not” was my audible response to so many comments in this movie. Earth isn’t soul-crushing. Sure, it’s refining and sanctifying and not perfect, nor easy. But it’s not soul-crushing. Earth is for glorifying God.
  • The Zone “Place between physical and spiritual” // Described as when athletes are in “the zone”. But others that are capable of going to the zone can mess with someone and interrupt their talent.
  • Chakra & Meditative state // According to Wikipedia chakras are “The Chakras are part of esoteric medieval-era beliefs about physiology and psychic centers that emerged across Indian traditions. The belief held that human life simultaneously exists in two parallel dimensions, one “physical body” and other “psychological, emotional, mind, non-physical” it is called the “subtle body”. The mediative state is mentioned with chakras and getting into a place where he imagined his body so that his soul and body could come back together.
  • Hellish Planet // More degrading of the earth as it’s not part of a creation that God said was good. Demeans what hell is and that spending eternity in hell will be nothing like earth but torture and wrath.
  • Orcus & Gemini // No clue what Orcus was so I had to google it. It was a surprising find that he’s a greek and roman mythological god of the underworld. Gemini being astrology related.
  • Reasons for living // The movie portrays the reason for living is all about self-fulfillment. Should we live if we can’t be happy or maybe we just give up?
  • Purpose // The worldly lie that our purpose is to succeed and/or be happy is another lie funneled over and over in this movie. Searching for purpose and being lost without purpose is a life that we must ignore. We have a purpose. Our purpose is to glorify God. Surely we will have different ways of accomplishing our purpose. But we have a purpose. God created a body of people. Just like hands and feet have different functions, they work together with the same purpose.
  • Life starts when you succeed // Finally, Joe can start living, now that he succeeds. Or he can start living when he realized that his boring mundane life really wasn’t that horrible and now he can actually enjoy it.

Summary

Obviously, this is my opinion! You’re entitled to your own opinion. Is the movie horrible? I guess it depends on your definition of horrible. We won’t be watching with our kids and if for some reason they do end up watching it, we will be having a lot of conversations about truth and discernment. As a Christian mother, I could not recommend this movie for small children. If using it as a lesson is your goal, I’d make sure your child is old enough and mature enough to comprehend.

There are people applauding this movie and they seem to be enjoying the message of living your life before you die and don’t miss out on life. (Sort of ironic as the world tells us to currently stay home and not live life).

It is so important to teach our children to discern truth in this world. More and more it seems like parents are willing to trust the world to teach our kids and trust that they won’t sneak their unbiblical worldviews into messages. The amount of New Age thought and language in this movie is extreme.

Recommend: No way.

Movie Review // Disney’s Soul

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Last week I had the opportunity to sit among women Last week I had the opportunity to sit among women who said they want to learn more about God and His word.
Because I volunteered to lead a study and because I never want to go light in leading a provided study, here I sit.

Seven reference books stacked on the floor, a few lectures listened to, and now I get to write a list of questions. I’m good at asking questions that stretch the mind. I do it all day to myself.

So for lunch, I grabbed a BLT from my fav spot and worshiped. Because other than wife, mom, and homemaker....this is the coolest thing God’s ever had me do. And because it’s the coolest, I refuse to do it mediocre.

Theology matters - because God matters.
For our good & His glory. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For our good & His glory.
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It’s hard to say that what the world deems as bad, God can say it’s good.
I say this from the stance that I think loss is bad. Grief is hard. Miscarriage shouldn’t be good.
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Today is a hard day. Not a bad day. Hard because it’s the due date of the child we lost. Five years of empty should-be-birthdays.
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But God.
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Instead of sitting in the what-ifs, I’ll bask in His glory. Maybe this can help me understand a fraction of God’s grief over the cross. I can’t fathom that at all.
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Hope. 
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My hope isn’t in this world, nor answering why, nor is my hope in the children that I have.
My hope is in an eternity with God. Where I’ll one day meet my child and spend an eternity of days with them at the feet of Jesus. Because of God’s mercies, I can say that hope in an eternity like that beats out all the what-ifs and should-bes here.
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My children are His first. Each day with them is merely an extension of His grace and we live at the mercy and pleasure of a mighty God.
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Do I want to say that my loss and grief is good? No I don’t want to but I trust God that it is. It’s good that because of trials, I’ve been sanctified more. It’s good that because of grief I’ve had to learn to depend more on Him than myself or my husband. It’s good because when I surrender and believe that it’s all His, I’m obedient and He gets the glory.
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It’s good.....because God said so.
It’s good.....because He is sovereign. 
It’s good.....because God is good.
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It is good. It is good. It is good.
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For me, it helps with searching for scriptures. I For me, it helps with searching for scriptures. I might not know the exact location of a book but this has helped with my overall knowledge and understanding of the Bible. I now can ask myself, what category does this book fall into, and then search that way. I love bible tabs but this makes it more based on my knowledge and understanding.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This is how it's broken down...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Pentateuch // First 5 books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
History // Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Poetry // Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Major Prophets // Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Minor Prophets // Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Gospels // Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
History // Acts⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Letters // Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Prophecy // Revelation⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#bibletabs #biblestudy #homegrowntheologian #washitapebible #biblejournaling #theologianalways #everyonesatheologian #esvbible #crosswaybooks #theologian #biblestudent
The world may seem like it's on fire. ⠀⠀⠀⠀ The world may seem like it's on fire. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Some places might actually be. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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But you know what's most important to focus on? God. Spouse. Family. Church. Community.

Watching the news is overwhelming. No one seems to know what's up and what's sideways. Where are the adults?!?!?!
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Oh wait. At some point in the last couple of decades, I became an adult. And I'm at home raising boys to be adults in the next couple of decades.
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That is purposeful work. That is how we further the kingdom. That's how we help others know God.
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Do the work right in front of you!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It's less stressful than watching the other adults burn the place to the ground. Plus we know that one day...this whole place is going to be up in flames (read Revelation).
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Surely we want to do our best to make the world a little better, but it's not all on us. God is sovereign. And what I'm going to focus on are what God has asked me to steward in the time I have. Because that's important to Him.
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What's important to God should be what is important to us.
I often get asked how I have so much time to read. I often get asked how I have so much time to read. No matter if it's a nonfiction book or my bible, I have time to read because I make the time to read. I love to read. I love to learn. I love theology because I love God.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If you want to read your bible more this year....⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1. Make the time.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2. Remove distractions. Turn your phone on do not disturb, turn off the tv, let your kids play outside while you read, read aloud to your family.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
3. Accountability makes you stick with it. A discussion group helps because you don't want to be the only one not knowing what is going on!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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You can do it. There's no race. But I promise the more you do it, the more you will want to do it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#homegrowntheologian #theologymatters #readyourbible #bibleinayear #theology #priorities #solasistersco #biblestudy #biblejournal #raisingtinydisciples #kidtheologians #familytheologians #familydevotions
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