On this day in 1896 the first movie was shown in a theater in New York City.

Ever since the first silent film flickered across the silver screen, men, women, boys, and girls have watched with delighted imagination. Whether for a cartoon or a comedy, a romance, western, or space adventure, we’ve regularly filled theaters in every city and town across the country.

Movies are fun and entertaining because they capture us and entertain us. The professional acting, stirring music, and spectacular scenes draw us into the story. We’ve grown up with movies, and we see them, daily now, on televisions, videos, DVDs, and computers.

We know that movies aren’t real, of course. But sometimes we can feel as though we’re watching truth unfold because it is so real. Sometimes we’re shocked to learn that the writer, producer, or director of a movie made up things and put them in a movie advertised as a true story. Sometimes movies based on history are more fiction than fact.

After watching a movie some people say something like, “Now I know what really happened.” Instead, we should be thinking, “That was interesting. I wonder if that’s what really happened.” In other words, we shouldn’t accept as fact everything projected on a screen.

That’s especially important with movies and other media about Jesus and people in the Bible. Our authority should be the Bible, not a movie, book, or video. We can enjoy the presentation, but we should check the facts.

Today’s passage tells about the people of Berea. After listening to Paul and Silas preach, they compared the message with Scripture, to see is it made sense and was true. God’s Word was their guide.

So go ahead and enjoy your video entertainment. But know the difference between what’s real and what’s not.

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth (Acts 17:11).

To Do

Check out one or two of these websites that review movies: www.pluggedinonline.com; www.gospelcom.net/ifc; www.botcw.com; www.movieguide.org. Use the reviews to help you choose a movie to see and to know whether or not it sticks to the facts.

Also on this day . . .

1564—William Shakespeare was born.

1977—Dr. Allen Bussey completed 20,302 yo-yo loops.

1985—The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was not successful, which resulted in the resumption of selling the original version.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.