“…whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8-9
Having given two biblical reasons I believe “The Chosen” and all other such projects are not a good choice, let me now explain why, in practical terms, these kinds of fictionalized “Bible stories” (particularly but not exclusively about Jesus) are dangerous.
They dangerously confuse and mislead viewers regarding the truth.
All non-believers, and sadly most believers, are sufficiently unfamiliar with what the Bible actually says in order to know, when watching Bible films, what is biblical and what is not. The disastrous result is that many viewers (probably most) end up believing that something depicted in the film is in the Bible, when it is not!
When Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ ” came out in 2004, I did not want to see it. Because my thinking was not as developed twenty years ago as it is now, I caved to pressure from Christian family and friends and went to see the movie. I have not watched it again. There was a particular scene that moved me more than any other. To this day when I think of that film, that scene is the most memorable. It is not from the Bible. It is not even hinted at in the Bible. It was pure fiction. It was not even primarily about Jesus. It was about Mary.
I had a post graduate degree in Church History and another in Theology at the time, so I knew it was not biblical. How many others—who did not know the scriptures as I was fortunate enough to know them—would be gripped by the fictional aspects of the drama and think it was biblical?
Far more often than not, when I ask believers how they are doing in their walk with the Lord, the first answer is, “I’m not reading the Word as much as I ought,” or something to that effect. What I have never heard any Christians say is, “I’m not watching TV or movies as much as I ought.” Why is that? Forgive my bluntness, but I think it is because most tend to be lazy regarding Bible reading while loving entertainment. May I suggest that there are at least some who mistakenly rationalize that watching movies and/or shows like “The Chosen,” in some way makes up for a lack of Bible reading? And that in spite of the fact that much, if not most, of such programming is not only fiction, but fiction that many mistakenly assumes to be scriptural?
A footnote on this is an equally important warning that the vast majority of children’s Bible story books condition our children to confuse, and therefore accept, fiction as scripture. This is why, if I had it to do over, I would have read more straight Bible and less Bible story books to my children.
In my next (and final) post on this subject, I’ll write about the sources of projects like “The Chosen.”