Mystery machineScooby-doo was one of my favourite cartoon series when I was growing up. So when I saw it on again a few days ago, I thought I’d make a trip down memory lane. I was disappointed and a bit scared.

This was no Scooby-doo from my childhood. A basic premise had been changed. In the early Scooby-doo, all monsters and ghouls were actually human beings in disguise. (For the uninitiated, the Scooby-doo series featured a team of four teenagers and a dog, investigating X-File type cases involving attacks by evil monsters.) There were no real ghosts/vampires/ zombies etc. They were just evil folks dressed up as monsters for some criminal purpose.

But the episode of Scooby-doo I saw a few days ago involved a character that was presented as a real witch with terrible supernatural powers. Clearly the cartoon series had made a shift. It now presented evil supernatural beings as real. And powerful.

This seems to be a common theme in entertainment media these days. From the “X-Files” to “Charmed”, the message that comes across is that supernatural evil is real. And very powerful.

In most shows evil does get defeated in the end. But often by the skin of one’s teeth. And evil is never completely defeated. It rises again by the next show.

Supernatural evil as powerful. Supernatural evil as immortal. This is the text and subtext of many shows out there. And this disturbs me for two reasons.

One, a regular diet of such shows may make us forget that it is God who is all powerful. For example:

*He created the universe by calling it into existence out of nothing. (Genesis 1:1 – 2:4) *He is able to part a sea and destroy the most powerful army of the day. (Exodus 14:15-31) *He can defeat Satan with His finger. (Luke 11:14-22) *He is able to die and rise again. (Matthew 28:1-8) *He defeats sin, Satan, and death when He is at His weakest, on the cross. (Colossians 2: 14-15)

No contest here.

However, a constant diet of shows that portray supernatural evil as powerful may make us forget that any power evil beings may have, is at best derived from God and is allowed to exist for God’s overall purposes.

But only God is all powerful.

A second reason why I am disturbed by this regular diet of reminders that evil is powerful, is the presupposition that power is the main game in town. If evil is powerful, than those on the side of the angels have to be more powerful. But didn’t the chief angel fall because he wanted to be as powerful as God? (Isaiah 14:3-15)

Now I do not go to “Touched By and Angel” for my theology but I like a phrase from that series. The evil angel from that series was described as having exchanged ‘the power of love’ for ‘the love of power’. That is a sound bite worth remembering.

The Scriptures are clear that life does NOT revolve around the acquisition of more and more power. It revolves around trusting and obeying a God that is holy, loving, and all-powerful. And all legitimate supernatural power is always sanctified by holiness, love, and service, to be exercised strictly in obedience to the Lord.

And that is something we must regularly tell our children. And ourselves.

It’s a pity about Scooby-doo though. I really liked that series.