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"The Bible" ....3-3-13 on the History Channel

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Danus

Danus

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This Sunday, 3-3-13, The History Channel will be premiering a long anticipated, 5 week, 5 episode, 2 hours each, called "The Bible." The series will cover the major stories of the Bible from Genesis all the way to Revelations.

Here is the official trailer.


[video=youtube;1hThfoBzWxw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hThfoBzWxw[/video]
 
Formally known as the Hitler Channel & From the makers of the Ancient Alien series presents...
 
Now to see Ancient Alien series & Hitler info, you have to subscribe to the more expensive History Channel.

It's nice to know that more people will be able to see "The Bible" .... let's hope it is well done
 
There has been some concern voiced in the Christian community that this series may not be handled well, but much of that steams from the fact that the History Channel is airing it. After all, many of the "shows" about the bible that have aired on the HC have not been treated well at all. It's a valid concern. However, it's important to point out that the History Channel itself is not behind the making of this mini-series. They are simply agreeing to show it. Thanks to Mark Burnett.

The producers behind it are Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey. While there may be some questions there, they have gone to great lengths to ensure that this project is treated with a great deal of respect, and they have shared their own faith as being the foundation for this project. I believe they are sincere,

The series does have the stamp of approval by many leading and well respected theologians, bible scholars, and pastors. Among them Rick Warren. I do not know the full list. Much of what I've been able to find however, seems to point to a well done docudrama.

As these things go, there have not been very many biblical dramas that have passed strict biblical orthodoxy in terms of meaningful content to the scripture itself. Obviously there has to be some creative license used with sets, costumes, and inferences of what might happen between the verses with the characters. You can't really have a deep engaging visual drama of these stories otherwise. However, there have been movies made about the bible that have perverted scripture with such liberties, but like anything else such things are often left to the viewer to decide based on what they think they know and how they relate to these stories.

It takes a lot of "guts" and assurance to pull off something like this. Mark Burnett and Roma Downey will either be crucified by Hollywood, the Christian community or both. One thing for sure, the media will be circling them like jackals waiting for leftovers after the kill. I think it is very important that all Christians watch this film series and give it an honest view. If it's good, biblically based, accurate to scripture for telling these stories with passion and Love, we need to support it. This may be a window for many to gain an interest into the bible. I hope it is, and I hope it stirs our passion to get into the word of God, or for some, back into it. If it;s trash it will fail on it's own.
 
I hope it will serve as a Sunday School lesson up date for me... We grown Christians should be able to chew the meat and spit the bones, if and when we find them...
 
She is married to television producer/entrepreneur Mark Burnett. On Thanksgiving Day 2006, Burnett proposed to Downey during a family vacation in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference">[7]</sup> They wed on 28 April 2007 in their Malibu home.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference">[8]</sup> Her Touched By An Angel co-star, Della Reese, officiated at the wedding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_Downey

In more recent times, she became an ordained New Thought minister in the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Della_Reese

New Thought, sometimes known as Higher Thought,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference">[1]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference">[2]</sup> promotes the ideas that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is everywhere, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.<sup id="cite_ref-newthoughtalliance.org_3-0" class="reference">[3]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-newthought.info_4-0" class="reference">[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Thought</sup>
<sup></sup>
<sup></sup>
 
I can't help but to tell a favorite story of mine... I was working in a video rental store a while back and someone rented Passion of the Christ. The lady told me she loved the movie. I causally replied, "Yea. I thought the book was better though." as if it were merely a movie rendition of a Stephen King book or something like that. She simply said, "Mm-mmm" without really considering what the book was.

Hopefully the series will stay as true as possible, but I'm sure most will agree that it will not compare with the written word.
 
LOL, I got a good chuckle from that [MENTION=89337]Slider[/MENTION]. I hope that lady realized what you meant at some point.

I try to watch most of the biblical movies I find available. I like to see how accurate they are to scripture. Often they hit the major points and general theme leaving me with only the dialog to critique, but I also find a lot of "between scripture" problems.

These are issues where some of the movies will have scenes and dialog designed to link what is known of scripture. For example, the birth of Christ. We don't know what type of idle conversation Mary and Joseph might have had when searching for a room in Bethlehem. Who knows exactly? A young couple, the woman about to give birth, they could have been frustrated and snapping at each other. LOL, but we could add some dialog as long as it was appropriate. As long as we link what we know of scripture, it's OK to assume "some" of what we don't know for the purpose of drama, but sometimes that goes too far.

The most resent movie I watched was called simply; "Jesus". It premiered on the GMC channel some time ago, and in that movie Jesus was portrayed as a simpleton who did not really know his purpose, but thankfully Marry, his mother, was able to tell him what his purpose was and lead him in all the right directions. LOL. What a disaster. It even had scenes from un-canonized gospels like the gospel of "Thomas" where Jesus brings a bird back to life when he was a toddler. These being known as the "lost gospels" or the apocrypha. When I see that type of stuff it's not too far to begin seeing what type of theology is being presented. That's when my popcorn goes stale.
 
LOL, I got a good chuckle from that [MENTION=89337]Slider[/MENTION]. I hope that lady realized what you meant at some point.

I try to watch most of the biblical movies I find available. I like to see how accurate they are to scripture. Often they hit the major points and general theme leaving me with only the dialog to critique, but I also find a lot of "between scripture" problems.

These are issues where some of the movies will have scenes and dialog designed to link what is known of scripture. For example, the birth of Christ. We don't know what type of idle conversation Mary and Joseph might have had when searching for a room in Bethlehem. Who knows exactly? A young couple, the woman about to give birth, they could have been frustrated and snapping at each other. LOL, but we could add some dialog as long as it was appropriate. As long as we link what we know of scripture, it's OK to assume "some" of what we don't know for the purpose of drama, but sometimes that goes too far.

The most resent movie I watched was called simply; "Jesus". It premiered on the GMC channel some time ago, and in that movie Jesus was portrayed as a simpleton who did not really know his purpose, but thankfully Marry, his mother, was able to tell him what his purpose was and lead him in all the right directions. LOL. What a disaster. It even had scenes from un-canonized gospels like the gospel of "Thomas" where Jesus brings a bird back to life when he was a toddler. These being known as the "lost gospels" or the apocrypha. When I see that type of stuff it's not too far to begin seeing what type of theology is being presented. That's when my popcorn goes stale.
 
So if I can watch this I will be looking for the undertone of what I posted in #7.

If it is the New Thought religion, one of the New Age type religions, then this is being presented to a very large audience.
 
Deborah13 said:
So if I can watch this I will be looking for the undertone of what I posted in #7.

If it is the New Thought religion, one of the New Age type religions, then this is being presented to a very large audience.
Click to expand...

Correct! We'll see, but I have a good feeling about it just because of some of the endorsements so far.

They have created a study series with it for churches & small groups but I think most churches are waiting to see it first.
 
[MENTION=93058]Deborah13[/MENTION], I did a little research on the "New Thought" movement. Interesting. It seems in line with the "Faith Movement", maybe a little Christian Science also. Here is a copy of some info I found.


New Thought practitioners believe there exists one God—an omnipresent Universal Mind or creative intelligence. It is a principle (not a being), an impersonal force that manifests itself personally, perfectly, and equally within all. The universe and all within it are expressions of God--the creative intelligence--with no beginning and no end.
There are no particular incarnations, as God is within all equally. Some believe Jesus exemplified a person who fully realized his divine nature, and therefore is the "wayshower."
New Thought practitioners reject the ideas of original sin, Satan, and evil. "Mistakes" and suffering result from ignorance of one's true nature as Perfect Mind and Love, which is God. Salvation lies in the realization of oneness with the impersonal life force, thus unlocking one's healing potential.
New Thought worship is syncretic. In the spirit of the American transcendentalists, who influenced early New Thinkers, most "churches" borrow freely from Eastern religions.
Most believe that spiritual awareness of God's omnipresence--that God is all and all are God--leads to personal and humanity's salvation. One can be healed through New Thought practices, often with the assistance of New Thought practitioners. Licensed practitioners offer counsel on spiritual healing for problems of the mind and body.
Some New Thought practitioners believe the individual soul merges with the universal spirit after death. Others believe in continual rebirth as a gift from God so that all may become immortal, as was Jesus Christ, with each lifetime a preparation for the next life, until perfection is reached.


As a biblical based Christian I have a lot of problems with this, but I can see some continuity. This belief system exalts the person in place of God, but interestingly connects that person to a God like force much like the faith movement. It seems to me that it's nothing more than a repackaging of the faith movement; very "Joel Osteen type of stuff.

So, what I would suggest in watching this series, we look for the interaction between God and the characters, and specifically how Jesus is portrayed. If they follow the text we should have no problems, but look for interpretive inferences of the text that might suggest something other than biblical Christianity.

I think if they are coming at this project strictly from a "New Thought" perspective, they will leave it open for the viewer to fill in the blanks in many areas. I think we'd see a weaker portrayal of God's interaction with the characters, possibly only seeing the characters speaking to God, but perhaps not much of God manifesting himself in a direct way. This is not a complete problem, but it also depends on the viewers knowledge of the bible as to how well some might take it. However, they are safe keeping it to the text. I'd also look for what they might leave out. After all, this is not going to be the complete bible, but the major stories, that together make up the larger story. If it tells that story, and emphasizes Jesus as a personal savior, and not just an example, then we should not have a problem with it.

When I try to find out what Mark and his wife Roma believe, I can't find much. They claim to be spiritual people of faith who value the bible. What does that mean? They know they are presenting this to a wide audience of various Christian and non-Christian beliefs, so they can't play around with it much.
 
Danus, I agree. I also took a look at part of the book they wrote that follows the story. I found it on Amazon. You can "look inside" at the story of Noah and Abram, that's as far as I went. "A Story of God and All of US".

In order to watch the movie I would have to buy a larger pkg. to DirectTV. Double the cost per month. I'm thinking about it but I'd cancel it right after the series is over.
 
Deborah13, there's also the option of waiting until it comes out on DVD. I don't know if blockbuster will carry it, but in my county the libraries are pretty good at getting them when they do come out.... And of course, there's the option of buying the series outright.

A third option is to look into whether history.com will have full episodes available online. They do with some of their shows.

Just something to look into and consider....
 
OK, the first episode aired last night and the reviews are coming in.

I give it high marks for production value and sticking to the letter of scripture in what it does show, but low marks on it's lack of direction, explanations, and selectivity of story. It had some gaps; Many, but I expected that.

In all fairness, it's difficult to produce such an epic series in the time frame they laid out. Last night was a fast food, slick presentation, that for the biblically literate was reasonably acceptable, but nothing great. My concern is for the non-biblically literate, both Christian and not.

For those that do not know their bible very well, last nights show leaves more questions than answers; which could be a good thing. It starts with Noah in the ark giving his family an oratory of the beginning, assumably to help calm them during a raging storm. Then the story lands the viewer in the presence of Abraham, and gives the highlights of his life. From there, we go straight to Moses. Yes we skip Jacob, although he is given honorable mentioned in passing.

Moses life is also treated with a fast forward button, but we do see him lead his people out of Egypt and into the desert; hooray! Then fast forward 40 years and we meet Rahab. That's where it is to continue next week.

There are about 40 minutes of commercials. That was disappointing, but interesting.The first obvious observation, in regard to the commercials, is that the episode only last about 1 hr and 15 min without the commercials. The other interesting thing was the type of commercials aired.

Christian Singles.com hit their target audience, as well did the Catholic Church. I really liked the Vatican's commercial. They made sure to let prospective converts know about their great works throughout time and that Jesus Christ himself started the RCC. Aside from those commercials, there was a promotion for a PPV cage wrestling match, and "The Vikings" mini series. I guess the HC figures if you like this Bible thing, you'll tune in for The Vikings, because they also show blood, fights, ghost and gods.

All in all, The Bible series get's a weak 3 out of 5 stars form me for far. It's going to have to get more meaningful to rise up from this point. I can see how it could be used along with a study, just for visual and depth of story, but it really needs to be lead for the lay viewer. As for kids watching it? Well, when it comes to the bible I think it's important to allow kids to be exposed fully, but again with good leadership. My nine year old did not care to see a lamb getting it's throat slit and the blood being smeared over door frames, but again, teaching moment; right?

Anyone viewing this with friends or family as a bible teaching aid I would suggest you use the commercial time to explain the story in more depth. Also record it so you have time to talk about it more.

Next week we reach the promise land and the whole thing culminates on Easter Sunday with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; which I hope is all in more detail than what they have presented so far. Thankfully I've not seen any obvious theological slants in the first part.

I would however, encourage the Christian community to watch this series. If anything, so that you can offer an explanation to the secular community, or fill in the gaps for those interested in the Bible who might ask.

The secular community is already taking notice of this series, Most of their critical comments surround the cast, set, and dialect used. I find that amusing since they beat "The Passion" so hard back in the day and that was in Arabic, with subtitles. In any case, most of them will criticize this no matter what, but they did also point out some of the same practical problems I've listed as well. Take a look at what some in the media are saying.

The New York Times – Neil Genzlinger
Overall feeling: Mark Burnett missed out on a good opportunity to do something great.

The Hollywood Reporter – Allison Keene
Overall feeling: The show struggles with identifying its central audience...... (I totally agree with this one)

The Los Angeles Times – Robert Lloyd
Overall feeling: It's been done.

The Miami Herald – Glen Garvin
Overall feeling: Totally unbelievable.

I'm not sure what these last two are saying LOL.
 
I might watch this once it comes out of DVD via Netflix. I really don't think you need to watch it to know there will be gaps, and if you know your bible you can pretty much fill any gaps anyone may find just by asking them a few pointed questions.
 
Lord if they missed Jacob then they will miss the exodus backdrop and why, alas from genesis to Joshua in 40 minutes, sheesh.
 
The thing that stood out to me the most was how the angels were portrayed. Did anyone else think they seemed a little demonic? It just seemed like an odd way to show the angels.

I watched this with a group of friends and most of them thought Abraham and Moses looked a little "crazy" if seen by people without any background on the Bible. Did anyone else feel this way?
 
I'm generally skeptical of the objectivity of shows on major media channels which deal with the Bible. Generally they treat evolution as fact and the Bible as myth. We'll see how it goes. It is encouraging that some well respected Christian theologians are endorsing it.
 
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