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Film Fantastic Mr. Fox on Our Sinful Nature

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American animated comedy film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about crafty Mr. Fox, who steals food from farmers. While raiding a squab farm one day, Mr. Fox and his wife Felicity trigger a trap and become caged. Felicity tells Fox that she is pregnant, and she pleads with him to find a safer job once they escape. Fox becomes a newspaper columnist and moves his family into a big home at the base of a tree.

But two years (or 12 "Fox years") after promising Felicity that he would quit stealing, Fox returns to his old ways. Every night, he sneaks out to steal from local farmers. The farmers eventually get fed up with Mr. Fox's thieving ways, so they dig their way into the Foxes' home. Fox and his family huddle underground with nowhere to go. One night, Felicity tells Fox, "Twelve fox years ago, you made a promise to me, while we we're caged inside that fox trap, that if we survived, you would never steal another chicken, turkey, goose, duck, or a squab, whatever they are, and I believed you." She starts to cry. "Why did you lie to me?"

"Because I'm a wild animal," Fox replies. His wife counters, "But you are also a husband and a father!" Mr. Fox says, "I'm just trying to tell you the truth about myself."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Regeneration; Original Sin—Just like Fox couldn't change his nature as a wild animal, neither can we change our sinful hearts. Only God can give us a new heart. (2) Excuses; Rationalization—We all can have pretty flimsy excuses to justify our sinful behavior.

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