For our final round of Summer Serials, we are watching the original 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Today Celeste takes a look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and points out the differences between Master Splinter and Shredder. Who is a better example of making disciples?

Thanks to our friends in the Devoted Geek Life Facebook Group we are doing the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series for our final leg of Summer Serials! We are super excited about this!

The Geekyness

In the original movie, the Foot clan is taking young men who either do not have father figures, families, or their fathers and families are just too busy for them. These young men have found, acceptance, strength and what they believe is love in the foot clan, with the Shredder as the inferred patriarchal figure. The reality though is that is much more a Master and Slave situation.

In contrast, the 4 Turtles have been raised in a very different environment. While the Shredder’s style of teaching is a Master and Slave situation, the turtles’ is a true Father and Sons situation. Splinter has lovingly raised these boys up to become not just ninja, but men… cough… turtles…. of honor. He has sacrificed for them and earned their love and respect.

The Connection

Sadly the first example is something we see not only in today’s society but in today’s church. We have young men and women who have had these salvation moments, made the commitment to follow Jesus and be like Him, but they don’t know how. This is a problem.

The fact is that there are believers who haven’t been trained in how to walk out there walk for themselves. I truly believe that this is where we get the groups of people who either are super legalistic or who think that all Christians are legalistic so they live a worldly lifestyle while living for Jesus “in their own way”.  The sad truth is that if you do not have a relationship with strong believers and have not been discipled with someone then you do not understand these things that the Bible is asking you to do and not do, because it is all so foreign to you

The Resolution

In Matthew 28:18-20 says…

“And Jesus came and said to them,’All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

This is our commission as Christians. We are not told to just tell everyone the gospel but also not leave them High and dry when they have accepted it.  We cannot assume that they know what to do next if anything we must assume that they have no idea what to do next and why they need to change at all.

This is our responsibility. We need to help the new believers to know how God wants them to live. We need to remind each other as more mature believers how we are supposed to live. That is the point of living out this walk together.

At the same time, it must be done correctly. We need to teach them in love and honor, cultivating sons and daughters rather than slaves. Sadly some are burned by the church because of this very reason.

Let us know your thoughts on this devotion in the comments below and also answer our question of the week!

The question of the week If you had to pick a ninja weapon what would it be?