Now comes the more complicated part of having the
Bible as a 5 week-long miniseries.
Obviously, the entire Bible could not be filmed and produced in this
project. That would literally be a year
of hour-long episodes and even that may not be enough to cover every detail of
Scripture.
So here is the ultimate dilemma: Which parts should
be filmed and which parts should be left out?
I believe now is an appropriate time for me to address something that I
read multiple times from various people in different discussion threads
online. This Bible series does not, nor
was it intended to, replace the Word of God.
Therefore, it is not God-inspired.
To quote one of my father figures, David Cash, as we were watching the
first episode together…“the book is always better.” That is a truth when it comes to fiction
novels, and it is a truth when it comes to the Bible also. I can’t tell you how many people were
complaining that the series was “inaccurate because they left so much
out.” I promise you, the plot is still
the same and the stories are still the same, even if the series took some
creative licensing in the process of telling the story. Again, the series is not meant to be a
word-for-word interpretation of the Bible.
It is designed to tell a story.
Simply, it is a re-telling of the Bible in visual form. It is not God-inspired as the actual Word of
God is. So…don’t treat it like it’s the
Word of God. Enjoy it for what it is.
Now that being said, I agree with many people that
some of that creative licensing was silly and unnecessary. I will not spoil anything for anyone who
hasn’t seen the first episode yet, but there were several details that were not
difficult to get right that they chose to alter. And there were slight additions that, while
not in Scripture, added flair to the story, and helped you imagine the emotions
and reactions of the people surrounding these stories we know so well.
Returning to my original point (I love rabbit
trails…), the producers had the difficult decisions of deciding what parts of
Scripture they wanted to tell and what parts needed to be passed over. This brings up the question “Well, what is
the Bible about?” The short answer would
be that the Bible is about the fall of mankind and God’s plan of redemption for
us. According to the producers in the one
of the interviews I watched, the focus behind this series became telling the
story of God’s love and the hope of the Gospel.
So if their focus was to tell a story about God’s
love and the hope of the Gospel, then that became the filter they used when
considering the many stories of the Bible.
They would be the first to tell you that it wasn’t that the stories they
skipped over weren’t important and there for a reason, they just had to stay
focused with their theme.
Trust me, I desperately wished they hadn’t skipped
some stuff. I was dying to see Jacob
wrestle with God overnight. That would
have been better than any UFC fight I’ve ever seen.
I would have loved to see the battle where Gideon and his small force
surround their enemies at night only to blow trumpets, shine lanterns, and
watch the enemy kill themselves.
Watching a pile of bones become restored back into a man because they
touched the bones of Elisha would have been pretty amazing too. Or watching Elijah fly off in a chariot of
fire. The point is, there were many
stories that could have been done that were skipped. But there was a reason why and it wasn’t
carelessness. The producers simply
didn’t have the time or funding to do every back story to every character mentioned
in Scripture. Mark Burnett, one of the
producers, talks about having two choices: film most of the stories, but in
little detail…or do less stories, but do them in an emotionally gripping way
and use stories that bridge together nicely to tell one big story. They chose to do less stories, but spend more
time telling those stories. And while
not every single one of those stories was told with 100% accuracy according to
Scripture, you can see God’s love for the people and His plan for them
propelling the story onward.
Telling a story was their goal. Sharing the Gospel in a visually enticing way
was the focus of the series, and that is what they accomplished. God didn’t author this series, man did. It is not the holy Word of God and it was not
intended to be. But the heart of the
story was about God’s love for us. And I
am sure that there will be many people out there who aren’t comfortable
stepping into a church, but would have no problem watching a series about the
Bible on the History Channel. They have to open their Bibles and encounter God
somehow and this creates a great opportunity.
I’ll leave you with this: what would happen to
America if the Christian community became more united and started backing
Christian things to see this world changed?
Instead of tearing down a product that was designed to glorify God and
tell a story of His love in a fresh and relevant way, why don’t we support the
efforts of Christians who are using their gifts for the Kingdom of God and not
just warming a pew once a week like so many in the Christian community do?
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