Dear Diego, I hope all is well. I thought I would tell you about another TV show I like to watch. It’s called Mythbusters. The show is about a team of people who test rumors, advice, superstitions, and stories to find out if they might be true. They are experts at working with dangerous things like fire. They can do experiments that I could never safely do myself, and when they find out something important, I can learn about it by watching their show.

For example, like many children, I’ve always been told that if you’re frying something in oil and it catches fire, it’s dangerous to try to put it out with water. On one episode of Mythbusters, they tried this to see if it really is dangerous. They built a tiny building with a transparent wall and remote-control machinery so they could run an experiment from a safe distance. One machine started an oil fire. Another machine poured water on the fire. The water turned to steam as soon as it hit the burning oil. It blew burning oil all over the place and the tiny building burned up. No one was hurt because they were very careful. Now that I’ve seen the show, I know for sure that pouring water onto burning oil is very dangerous, and I understand exactly why. That piece of advice was “confirmed”. They tested it and it was true.

In another episode, they tested gadgets that someone was selling. The inventors claimed these gadgets could read someone’s thoughts. Those claims were “busted” because the team tried to use all the gadgets and could not make them work. They were lies.

It’s very important to know what you believe and why you think it’s true. Did someone you trust tell you? Are you sure they are correct? Could it be a meaningless superstition? Could it be something true but strange? Has it been tested?

Second Timothy 4:3-5 says sometimes people don’t like the truth. Instead, they will only listen to people who say what they want to hear, even if it’s a lie. Paul writes to his student Timothy that he should be wise. He says part of our job as Christians is to seek out true things and make sure we understand them. Finding out the truth can be hard. Remember that God is the source of all truth. He gives us minds to ask questions and defend ourselves from lies. The Mythbusters TV show is a fun way to learn how to explore God’s world wisely.

All the best,
— Garrett Mitchener