The Chosen - Godly Truth or Dangerous Fiction?

[Matthias]

Presenting a fictional Jesus to people is playing with fire. This the apostles did not do.

Presenting the true Jesus to people is offering them life. This the apostles did.

The Chosen - 95% of which is not coming from the Bible - may be well intentioned.

The road to destruction is paved with good intentions.

Though it be presented time and again, there is danger that the fanatic cannot see nor comprehend. The fanatic has fallen in love with a false image.

 

[Matthias]

Exchanging the truth for a fiction -> exchanging the truth for a lie.

The devil doesn’t mind anyone presenting a fictional Jesus. A fictional Jesus is no threat to him.

The devil is wroth at anyone presenting the real Jesus. The real Jesus is the death of him.

 

[Matthias]

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Offer your neighbor a fictional Jesus? That’s not love for your neighbor.

Offer your neighbor the real Jesus? That’s love for your neighbor.

Offer me a fictional Jesus, neighbor. You’re offering me truth mixed with falsehood.

Add to your fiction that I should read the Gospels, neighbor. I already do without want or need of your fiction.

Offer me the real Jesus and add that I should continue reading the Gospels, neighbor. I’ll thank you for loving me as you love yourself.

A fabricated fictionalized Jesus betrays the sufficiency of scripture.

 

[Matthias]

I watched a television program last weekend about the mythology of the west created by movie and television Westerns. I think it was on TMC. The West isn’t what Westerns lead us to believe that it was.

In a similar vein this college student writes,

”Since the beginning of the American movie industry, westerns have been seen as a defining genre of American film. They have created an image of the American West that has been ingrained in all Americans. However, there is a vast difference between the reality of the West and the image of the West that comes from movies. Westerns educate the public about the West with inaccurate information. They often weave just enough history into their plots that they seem real. By combining history with fiction they can rewrite America’s past in a way that pleases the audience. This process creates a mythical West that never really existed.”

(Janna Moser, “Westerns: Creating the American West”

https://wou.edu/history/files/2015/08/Janna-Moser.pdf

The Chosen follows the same formula.

By combining history with fiction they can rewrite Jesus’ past in a way that pleases the audience. This process creates a mythical Jesus that never really existed.

And still the fanatic cannot see the danger.

That doesn’t relieve me of what God calls me to do, even though it angers the fanatic who, ironically, urges me to do what God calls me to do.

 

[Matthias]

… What you want has been done to death.

You‘re greatly mistaken.

What I want is the true Jesus to be presented, not a fictionalized / mythological Jesus.

What I want has not been done to death. What I want is what people truly need.

 

[Matthias]

An appeal has been made to popularity. Popularity isn’t the right measuring tool.

The world loves a lie and hates the truth. The truth is not popular in the present evil age.

Equating popularity with the truth should, at the very least, cause us to raise an eyebrow.

But a television program, a movie or a book is popular with a large number of Christians. Doesn’t that establish the television program, the movie or the book as being the truth?

Let’s give The Chosen a brief rest and exclude it from what follows. (Remember, The Chosen is just a vehicle I used to address a wider issue.) Let’s briefly leave the movies and television programs behind too. I want to speak about another media.

Can the reader name a book that is wildly popular with a large number of Christians that is not presenting the truth?

 

[RLT63]

I am.

Offering people a fictionalized Jesus is dangerous.

Cautioning others about it brings forth your wrath.



A feasible Jesus isn’t the biblical Jesus. As several Christian pastors have pointed out using specific examples, the feasible we have been offered isn’t biblical. The examples they cite contradict the biblical.

I know people who love it. I didn’t like that absurd movie The Shack either but I know people that loved it. The question I think that should be asked about The Chosen is “What does God think about it?”

 

[RLT63]

An appeal has been made to popularity. Popularity isn’t the right measuring tool.

The world loves a lie and hates the truth. The truth is not popular in the present evil age.

Equating popularity with the truth should, at the very least, cause us to raise an eyebrow.

But a television program, a movie or a book is popular with a large number of Christians. Doesn’t that establish the television program, the movie or the book as being the truth?

Let’s give The Chosen a brief rest and exclude it from what follows. (Remember, The Chosen is just a vehicle I used to address a wider issue.) Let’s briefly leave the movies and television programs behind too. I want to speak about another media.

Can the reader name a book that is wildly popular with a large number of Christians that is not presenting the truth?

The Shack

 

[RLT63]

Thanks for clarifying. The show is fiction. The show is about a fictional Jesus.

Offer the people Jesus, not a fictional Jesus.

This is no different than watching Steven King’s The Stand and thinking you’re learning about Revelation

 

[Matthias]

I know people who love it. I didn’t like that absurd movie The Shack either but I know people that loved it. The question I think that should be asked about The Chosen is “What does God think about it?”

“What does God think about it?”

That’s an excellent question.

How would a fan of The Chosen answer it? I think a fan would probably say that God loves it.

Once people fall in love with something it’s hard for them to let it go.

The tricky thing about the “What does God think about it?” question is our tendency to answer it with whatever we think about it - “If I think it’s good (or bad), God thinks it’s good (or bad).”

I think that’s where discussing it with others becomes valuable.

 

[RLT63]

“What does God think about it?”

That’s an excellent question.

How would a fan of The Chosen answer it? I think a fan would probably say that God loves it.

Once people fall in love with something it’s hard for them to let it go.

The tricky thing about the “What does God think about it?” question is our tendency to answer it with whatever we think about it - “If I think it’s good (or bad), God thinks it’s good (or bad).”

I think that’s where discussing it with others becomes valuable.

Well I only watched one episode but that was enough to tell me that I didn’t like it.

 

[Matthias]

The Shack

That would make my list.

Back in the day people were asking me what I thought about it and whether or not I thought they should read it.

Remember, I’m the “read widely, read deeply, read thoughtfully, read critically” guy.

What did I think about it? I thought it was atrocious.

Did I think people should read it? No, but neither did I think that people mustn’t.

What does God think about The Shack?

God thinks it’s blasphemous … if God thinks about it what I think about it.

The depiction of God in The Shack doesn’t align well (to put it nicely) with scripture.

People I spoke with who read The Shack and loved it tended not to think about it critically.

 

[Matthias]

Well I only watched one episode but that was enough to tell me that I didn’t like it.

Whenever I react that quickly to something I call it my “internal radar picking up a bogey”.

 

[Rita]

There is a side of things that perhaps needs to be considered. The Shack and The chosen have got people talking about God, Scripture ect. People who have never picked up a bible may be encouraged to do just that, certainly before my son came to faith both of these things opened up conversation.
Also before every episode of the Chosen there is an introduction, and afterwards - they also do study guides which are based on scripture.

The author of the Shack had an amazing testimony.
Think outside the box with regards to what God is able to use rather than say something is so wrong !!

 

[Matthias]

There is a side of things that perhaps needs to be considered. The Shack and The chosen have got people talking about God, Scripture ect. People who have never picked up a bible may be encouraged to do just that, certainly before my son came to faith both of these things opened up conversation.

That sounds like the ends justifying the means.

Also before every episode of the Chosen there is an introduction, and afterwards - they also do study guides which are based on scripture.

That causes me to think that they think of themselves as teachers. I broached that issue yesterday and it wasn’t well received.

The person I’ve spoken to the most about it in this thread has said that the program is fiction, for entertainment, and isn’t about the Bible.

The author of the Shack had an amazing testimony.

Have you ever heard a testimony that others thought was amazing and you didn’t?

Think outside the box with regards to what God is able to use rather than say something is so wrong !!

You see no danger in doing that?

Among other things, I’m a retired pastor. I’ve seen lots of thinking outside of the box. The most recent is the Sparkle Creed. Have you seen it?

 

[Rita]

That would make my list.

Back in the day people were asking me what I thought about it and whether or not I thought they should read it.

Remember, I’m the “read widely, read deeply, read thoughtfully, read critically” guy.

What did I think about it? I thought it was atrocious.

Did I think people should read it? No, but neither did I think that people mustn’t.

What does God think about The Shack?

God thinks it’s blasphemous … if God thinks about it what I think about it.

The depiction of God in The Shack doesn’t align well (to put it nicely) with scripture.

People I spoke with who read The Shack and loved it tended not to think about it critically.

That sounds like the ends justifying the means.



That causes me to think that they think of themselves as teachers. I broached that issue yesterday and it wasn’t well received.

The person I’ve spoken to the most about it in this thread has said that the program is fiction, for entertainment, and isn’t about the Bible.



Have you ever heard a testimony that others thought was amazing and you didn’t?



You see no danger in doing that?

Among other things, I’m a retired pastor. I’ve seen lots of thinking outside of the box. The most recent is the Sparkle Creed. Have you seen it?

Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean being open to everything - but you can at least consider ‘ how ‘ God has used something and consider a positive. Did you hear me say ‘ my son was not a believer and has now come to faith ‘ it opened up the conversations between me and him to discuss scripture - if you want to dismiss that, that’s fine .

 

[Matthias]

The Sparkle Creed

“I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural.

I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling-child of God.

I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.

I believe in the church of everyday saints as numerous, creative and resilient as patches on the AIDS quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars in wonder.

I believe in the call to each of us that love is love is love, so beloved, let us love.

I believe, glorious God. Help my unbelief. Amen.”

The Sparkle Creed – No Other Foundation

Recently I came across a video of a woman minister reciting what she called “the Sparkle Creed”. When I informed my wife of this in a spirit of jollification, she suggested that it might have originated in the Babylon Bee—i.e. that it was intended as a satire, and that I was misinterpreting it...

blogs.ancientfaith.com

 

[Matthias]

Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean being open to everything - but you can at least consider ‘ how ‘ God has used something and consider a positive.

I’ve considered it.

Did you hear me say ‘ my son was not a believer and has now come to faith ‘ it opened up the conversations between me and him to discuss scripture - if you want to dismiss that, that’s fine .

I heard you and didn’t dismiss it.

 

[Rita]

Just for the record I dislike the Sparkle creed xx

 

[RLT63]

That sounds like the ends justifying the means.



That causes me to think that they think of themselves as teachers. I broached that issue yesterday and it wasn’t well received.

The person I’ve spoken to the most about it in this thread has said that the program is fiction, for entertainment, and isn’t about the Bible.



Have you ever heard a testimony that others thought was amazing and you didn’t?



You see no danger in doing that?

Among other things, I’m a retired pastor. I’ve seen lots of thinking outside of the box. The most recent is the Sparkle Creed. Have you seen it?

Are people getting closer to the God of the Bible through these programs or closer to their own version of God?