A Brownie Illustration on Sin

I picked this illustration up quite some time ago, and have used it many times.  Having recently gave this illustration, I thought I would post it in case some parent needs a little bit of help explaining how a little sin ruins the whole.

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Many parents are hard put to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, games, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home to see or hear. One parent came up with an original idea that was hard to refute.

He listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie: it had their favorite actors, everyone else was seeing it, even church members said it was great, it was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex (they never really showed it), the language was pretty good (they only used the Lord's name in vain three times in the whole movie), the video effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed. Yes, there was the scene where a building and a bunch of people got blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff, it wasn't very bad. Even with all these explanations for the rating, the father wouldn't give in. He didn't even give them a satisfying explanation for saying, "No." He just said "No."

Later that evening, this same father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had prepared. He explained that he had taken the family's favorite recipe and added something new. They asked what it was. He calmly replied that he had added dog poop. He stated that it was only a tiny bit and that all the other ingredients were gourmet quality. He had taken great care to bake it at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.

Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the teens would not take one. The father acted surprised. There was only one minor ingredient that would have caused them to act so stubbornly. He assured them that they would hardly notice it at all. But they all held firm and would not try the brownies.

He then explained that the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Satan tries to enter our minds and our homes by deceiving us into believing that just a little bit of evil doesn't matter. With the brownies, just a little bit makes all the difference between a great brownie and a totally unacceptable product. He explained that even though the smallest amount of dog poop makes the brownie totally unacceptable, they seemed to have no problem consuming a movie of similar ingredients. The movie people would have us believe the movies that are coming out are acceptable for adults and youths to see, but they are no more so than dog poop brownies are edible.

Now, when this father's children want to do something or see something they should not, the father merely asks them if they would like some of his special dog poop brownies and they never ask about that item again.