I remember when I was 8, there was an uproar about why our new youth leader was allowing boys and girls to swim together in the same swimming pool in the overnight lock-in. Shocking!

Believe it or not, it’s still a huge issue today for some people. That’s fine. I say let everyone be with their small arguments about the Bible as long as it doesn’t keep me from using the public pool.

Scoot the calendar forward to modern day and there has been a debate for the past several years over viewing movies in church such as “Avatar” (which has profanity!) or “Transformers” (violence AND profanity!) and discussing the movies with teenagers. During the discussions, redeeming topics from Scripture are brought out.

One side of the topic says, “You should never allow this type of thing in the church.” The other says, “Let’s watch it together, find the good topics in it and watch it with them.”

I remember listening to Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary one day on his radio show. A caller was a bit offended that his church was doing this. I think he expected some sympathy, but Dr. Mohler’s response was pretty straight forward – it’s a great idea. We need to be watching these movies with our kids and supervising them.

<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bm.jpg"><img class="alignleft" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bm-300x165.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="165" /></a>That leads me to my little world and my sweet daughters. I say “sweet” until you see them play the Xbox 360 while they play the new Batman: Arkham City and beat the ever loving crud out of some bad guys. You should see them. They sneak up stealthily behind a bad guy brandishing a gun, take him down and knock him unconscious.

“Did you see that?” they’ll say. “That was awesome!”

In the Batman series of games which started with Batman: Arkham Asylum, there is violence and profanity and the series is rated for teens. And I let my girls play.

Batman is a comic book character who is the alter ego of millionaire Bruce Wayne. His parents were killed in front of him by a criminal when he was a little boy and he has spent his life fighting crime as a vigilante. In both games, he uses a variety of weapons and tools to take down bad guys by non-lethal methods. He uses his detective skills to solve puzzles, meets interesting super villains and makes daring rescues. It’s a lot of fun.

There was a moment a couple of years ago when I had to make a conscious decision to allow my girls to play. It wasn’t as careless as me saying, “Yeah, I guess you’re tired of playing Barbie Horse Adventures. Go ahead and pop in Arkham Asylum.”

I had already played the game and the girls knew how much I loved Batman. I told them they could play but only when I was in the room with them. For a while, they watched me play and they begged me to play themselves. They were hooked.

Something interesting happened while they were playing. The first was when my wife Allison walked into the room and said, “He sure kills a lot of people.”

Katie said, “Batman never kills people. That would be murder.”

Other times, someone in the game will utter a profanity. Both girls will roll their eyes and look at me or each other. They’ll say, “They shouldn’t say that.” It’s like they’re registering disappointment with the game developers for putting profanity in a game rated “T”.

Then, my greatest theological “dad” moment. One of them asked, “I know his parents were killed, but why does he seek out justice?”

I said, “There is a lot of injustice in the world. People throughout history have experienced injustice and have fought against it. They didn’t always wear capes, but they did what they thought was right.”

Eyes fixed firmly on Batman as he soared across the sky, one asked, “Like who?”

I considered it for a moment. “Martin Luther, a long time ago, saw some injustice in the church he was part of.”

“Did he fight?” one of them asked as Batman took out yet another villan with a haymaker.

<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ml.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-817" style="margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ml-211x300.jpg" alt="" width="164" height="234" /></a>“He did, but not with his fists. He took up the power of the pen and began to write. He shared his thoughts with the people and was able to make great changes,” I said.

“What happened to him?” they asked as Batman went into detective mode.

“Well, he made a lot of people angry and his life was in danger for a long time. But over time, he ended up helping make the changes that started a new movement in Christianity. In fact, if it weren’t for Martin Luther, we wouldn’t have the church we go to now.”

They paused the game. “So, he really was a hero, just without the cape and utility belt.”

“Yeah, he was, girls. I don’t think there’s going to be a Martin Luther video game anytime soon.”

We don’t have to isolate ourselves from the culture in order to instruct them. In fact, knowing my children have strong consciences bound to Scripture before they engage the culture gives me peace when I know one day they will enter into it without me. Being part of the culture with them brings me not only a chance to instruct, but a chance to enjoy certain aspects of it with them. Not only that, but we can share common interests and hobbies.

That, and now my girls know how much Batman and Martin Luther rock.