1 Bad Habits A Science Experiment

2 Needed Items An old audiocassette tape A volunteer!

3 Key Text “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me” (Psalm 19:13).

4 When a sin is repeated often, it becomes a habit that is hard to break.

5 The tape in the audiocassette represents a fault or problem. I am going to wrap the tape a couple of times around my volunteer, who has her arms at her sides, and then ask her to break loose from her “fault.”

6 Next I will wrap the tape around her arms many times (10-30 times) and then ask her to break free from her “fault.” Of course, it is more difficult. The small strength of each individual section of tape combines with all the others to add up to a strong barrier. Likewise, bad habits take over a person’s life and strengthen with each repetition.

7 But there is help to overcome the sin, and that is through prayer and by claiming God’s promises and by depending on his power, demonstrated by cutting the strands with scissors.

8 A single strand can be easily broken, especially by snapping it, but if a person were wrapped twenty times, it would take twenty times as much force to break loose. (Adapted from Science & the Bible, by Donald. B. Deyoung)

9 Next Sabbath you will need a candle, one inflated balloon, and a second inflated balloon that is one fourth filled with water.