haven't been so angry in a long time but...
After watching the show 'Rivals of Jesus' as part of the 'Secret Bible Week' special of National Geographics Channel, I was horribly disappointed and extremely angry too. It's rare for me to fume to that extent and I think the last time I reached that level of anger was many, many years ago. Short to say, I think the show was utterly horrible and biased on the pretense of objectiveness. Pretty strong words I know, but those were the thoughts that ran through my head after watching the show. I will highlight why I thought that why with a quick and brief review of the show.
I question the veracity of the sources which, interestingly, was not mentioned for most of the accounts of these 'rivals' but bible verses were quoted. I found this most strange. And interestingly, the verses quoted were not balanced and gave a lop-sided view. Allow me to illustrate. The show cited John the baptist as a rival to Jesus, and claimed that Jesus was a follower of John the baptist but decided to stick it out on his own later. It was claimed from the account by Matthew in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus participated in the ritual of all John's followers by coming to be baptised by him (the verse was even quoted). The show showed John (in cloth clothes, not camel hair as stated in the bible) baptising Jesus. The show however failed to mention what was stated in the same account quoted, that John initially did not wish to baptise Jesus, stating that he was the one who needed to be baptised by Jesus but finally relented when Jesus said that it was necessary. Now, if Jesus was truly John's disciple as the show stated, why would John claim that he needed to be baptised by Jesus? The show also mentioned that John was a prophet but failed to mention that he was prophesying of a messiah that is to come. This selective selection of what to quote and show makes me highly dubious of the reliability of the other accounts cited and the objectivity of the show.
There were also contradions in the show such as in the account of Simon the magician which once again, verses from the bible were quoted. Interestingly, the show stated that Simon was the incarnation of the power of God then later on when to give the account of how he offered money to Peter to lay hands on him and pray for him that he too might receive the Holy Spirit. Would the incarnation of the power of God need to pay a mere fisherman to pray for him and give him power? It was quite incredulous.
There were many other things which made me raise my eyebrowns but to prevent this post from getting too long, I shall quickly end this review. Suffice to say, there were other points such as the choice of words used, focus of the show which made me question the objectivity and reliability of the show. I though that by the chose of words used, the examples compared and the ommission of other things, the show presented a very biased view of Christianity and attempted to wrap it as an objective comparison of early Christianity and other somewhat contemporary religions and cults. I am most disappointed with NGC with their recent series including the gospel of Judas.
With much anger, I decided to seek God and dialogue with Him about what I thought. He led me to 2 Timothy 2:1-8 and how in the last days, people will want to have their ears tickled and listen to what they want to hear. This is one of those shows, like the Da Vinci Code and the hype about the gospel of Judas. I was closing my bible when I felt prompted to open it back to the same chapter to read on. Then I came to verse 5, 'but you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry'. I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 1 of how people pride themselves in their wisdom not realising that they are foolish in their pride of wisdom. My feelings changed from one of anger to one of compassion and grieve that people are lost without God and they knew it not. Instead, they take pride in their own wisdom and stand against God, mocking Him. The need for prayer also arose stronger from within as the Holy Spirit prompted me. I need to come in prayer more that God might reveal Himself, that revival will come to Christians and that those who do not yet know Jesus may come to know Him and be saved through His victory against sin and death, upon the cross.
I question the veracity of the sources which, interestingly, was not mentioned for most of the accounts of these 'rivals' but bible verses were quoted. I found this most strange. And interestingly, the verses quoted were not balanced and gave a lop-sided view. Allow me to illustrate. The show cited John the baptist as a rival to Jesus, and claimed that Jesus was a follower of John the baptist but decided to stick it out on his own later. It was claimed from the account by Matthew in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus participated in the ritual of all John's followers by coming to be baptised by him (the verse was even quoted). The show showed John (in cloth clothes, not camel hair as stated in the bible) baptising Jesus. The show however failed to mention what was stated in the same account quoted, that John initially did not wish to baptise Jesus, stating that he was the one who needed to be baptised by Jesus but finally relented when Jesus said that it was necessary. Now, if Jesus was truly John's disciple as the show stated, why would John claim that he needed to be baptised by Jesus? The show also mentioned that John was a prophet but failed to mention that he was prophesying of a messiah that is to come. This selective selection of what to quote and show makes me highly dubious of the reliability of the other accounts cited and the objectivity of the show.
There were also contradions in the show such as in the account of Simon the magician which once again, verses from the bible were quoted. Interestingly, the show stated that Simon was the incarnation of the power of God then later on when to give the account of how he offered money to Peter to lay hands on him and pray for him that he too might receive the Holy Spirit. Would the incarnation of the power of God need to pay a mere fisherman to pray for him and give him power? It was quite incredulous.
There were many other things which made me raise my eyebrowns but to prevent this post from getting too long, I shall quickly end this review. Suffice to say, there were other points such as the choice of words used, focus of the show which made me question the objectivity and reliability of the show. I though that by the chose of words used, the examples compared and the ommission of other things, the show presented a very biased view of Christianity and attempted to wrap it as an objective comparison of early Christianity and other somewhat contemporary religions and cults. I am most disappointed with NGC with their recent series including the gospel of Judas.
With much anger, I decided to seek God and dialogue with Him about what I thought. He led me to 2 Timothy 2:1-8 and how in the last days, people will want to have their ears tickled and listen to what they want to hear. This is one of those shows, like the Da Vinci Code and the hype about the gospel of Judas. I was closing my bible when I felt prompted to open it back to the same chapter to read on. Then I came to verse 5, 'but you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry'. I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 1 of how people pride themselves in their wisdom not realising that they are foolish in their pride of wisdom. My feelings changed from one of anger to one of compassion and grieve that people are lost without God and they knew it not. Instead, they take pride in their own wisdom and stand against God, mocking Him. The need for prayer also arose stronger from within as the Holy Spirit prompted me. I need to come in prayer more that God might reveal Himself, that revival will come to Christians and that those who do not yet know Jesus may come to know Him and be saved through His victory against sin and death, upon the cross.
posted by desmond at 11:18 PM
1 Comments:
AMEN!
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