The Chosen

[1Timothy115]

If you've previewed any of it...

Do you think it brings dishonor to Jesus Christ?

[BrotherTony]

I've seen the first few seasons....I have to say that I really wasn't fond of it, but it was clean. I don't believe it brought any dishonor to Christ, but I believe it takes liberties it shouldn't. We all could try to fill in Christs early years before ministry. But, why would we want to? God's told us all we need to know.

[Jerry]

I've heard the name but not what it was about. Is it supposed to be about the life of Christ? If so, I hope they are not portraying Him as doing any signs or miracles, as the Gospels indicate His first signs and miracles were done during His years of ministry. Also, hope they don't delve into myths cultists teach about Jesus going into Asia or other Eastern countries to learn from other religious leaders.

[HappyChristian]

I personally have not seen it so cannot comment to the show itself. I have, however, seen stills of scenes and am not impressed with how they purport Jesus to look.

[1Timothy115]

1 hour ago, HappyChristian said:

I personally have not seen it so cannot comment to the show itself. I have, however, seen stills of scenes and am not impressed with how they purport Jesus to look.

I may look for their trailers and look it over.

[1Timothy115]

5 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

"but it was clean"

Something that can be watched and "clean" that is a plus. I have to turn away during commercials these days because of all the protected alphabet people (LGBTQ...WXY&Z), sex, & worldliness shown as normal!

[Jerry]

I did find some of the episodes on a tv app I have, so I watched the first episode. The an ad on Youtube showed that there is a free "The Chosen App" where you can watch all the episodes on it for free. So I started watching episode 2 today - only got about 5-10 minutes in so far.

The show attempts to show the public ministry of Christ (as we see in the Gospels), and contains some flashbacks of certain characters or of the nation to give some background or history.

There was no swearing on episode one, but someone calls another character "a something (a certain animal - can't remember which) anus."

There is Christian rock music throughout various parts of it. The advertisements show "Jesus" as quick to show off his wit to those around him. In episode one, at one point Nicodemus refers to "all the angels of God", and names the ones in Jewish myths, such as Uriel, Raphael, etc.

One part that bothers me, which could be an attempt to slip some corruption in, or just bad choices by the producers and writers in light of the corruption in modern Christendom: They have two characters in episode one named Lilith (in the context of the show it was an assumed name by Mary Magdalene - but in Jewish myths, she is Adam's first wife who later took on the form of the serpent to enlighten mankind), and Eden (the name of Peter's wife). I think that having these two women's names for the two primary female characters in episode one is not coincidence - but at least the red flags will help me critique this show a little better.

Also, they portray Matthew in a manner that comes off to me as very effeminate, which is bothersome.

I recognize two actors from other shows I have seen in the past - cannot remember which ones, but the rest of the cast is unfamiliar to me.

The show proclaims to be not made by Hollywood, but crowd-funded - giving the impression that the producers wanted to get the story out without Hollywood's touch on it. That seems like a decent thing, but it could also give them an opportunity to present the ministry of Jesus and the surrounding characters in whatever manner they wanted to.

Initial impressions, aside from a couple of concerns I mentioned above, the show seems ok, assuming they keep going in the same way to cover more of Jesus' ministry and don't slip in some junk (though one of the advertisements seem to indicate they may possibly make Peter out to be the rock in Matthew 16 - typically Catholic presentations of the life of Christ focus on Peter being the rock the church is built on, instead of the rock being the belief in Christ).

Then of course, there is the whole issue of images of Jesus being portrayed (which the Bible clearly forbids) - yes, it is a tv show about Him, not a statue or a still image - YET, Mel Gibson did a movie on "the passion of the Christ" put out by his Catholic movie production company called ICON (statues of Jesus intended to be worshipped) Productions, implying his religious movies were moving icons/statues of Jesus to be worshipped, so to consider any movies or Tv shows of Jesus being in the same light (in the eyes of God) is a reasonable application. Also, having physical portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ gives a physical impression of Him, which may linger in some people's minds when praying or thinking about the true Saviour. The Bible NEVER portrays Jesus physically (and the description of Jesus in Revelation 1 is a symbolic, not a physical, representation) - it always focusses on who He is, what He has done, how He interacted with those around Him, etc.

[Jerry]

Checking out the app a bit. It lists a lot of CCM artists involved in it. So it may not be a "Hollywood" portrayal of Christ, but instead another attempt at a "mainstream Christian" portrayal of Jesus, which could be just as bad - maybe even more so, as Hollywood typically just wants to mock and distort Jesus and Bible Christianity; whereas "mainstream Christianity" is too often presenting another Jesus, a Jesus the whole world can follow.

 

[Jerry]

On the app, there is a 20 minute prologue to the show called The Shepherd (can't remember if the title was plural or not). It deals with the shepherds that visited the family in the manger. One shepherd was crippled in one leg. After the angels gave the announcement to the shepherds of the birth of the Saviour, the crippled shepherd ran towards where the couple was - and was healed as he ran, dropping his crutch.

In one of the other videos in the app, the producer basically says it was an ecumenical project, consulting and working with believers, unbelievers, mormons, jewish rabbis, evangelicals and catholics - not trying to present a specific doctrinal viewpoint, but what the Bible actually says (yeah, right - you have to water it down to the lowest common denominator to present a view of the Gospels/life of Christ that all can agree on).

Does that mean there is nothing of value in it? Not saying that - but I am saying IF you do watch it, compare everything to the Bible, and take their presentation with a grain of salt.

For the sake of the videos, I will say the production level is well done and so is the acting (don't want to call it "good," as you know what the Bible says in Romans 6:23) - but decent production efforts does not constitute truth or automatically result in a final product that pleases God.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Jerry

[BrotherTony]

Jerry, thank you for the admonition...but I'm pretty sure everyone here already KNOWS to compare these things to the Bible and are doing so as they watch. Most here are not new or immature Christians.

[1Timothy115]

Jerry, thank you I will probably begin to watch these with a critical eye. I'll provide any other things I notice, either good or bad. If it were not for the portrayal of Christ's earthly ministry in it, I would probably treat it as another Christian production. But we know what the Bible teaches about "counsel" in the Proverbs, so again thanks for taking the time to look into the films and giving feedback.

[Jerry]

55 minutes ago, BrotherTony said:

Jerry, thank you for the admonition...but I'm pretty sure everyone here already KNOWS to compare these things to the Bible and are doing so as they watch. Most here are not new or immature Christians.

? Your statement sounds like I said something in error or treated others here wrong. All of us should be diligent about searching the Scriptures daily and comparing everything we encounter with it. If you don't need the word of exhortation or encouragement yourself, it is still Biblical and worth saying, and is not a slight to do so, nor a looking down on anything else. This is something I always say and encourage others to do - you don't knock a preacher for saying things like this all the time or bringing a Biblical reminder like this regularly to their attention.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Jerry

[BrotherTony]

I nowhere stated anything derogatory towards you. In fact, I thanked you for the admonition. As usual, you seem to read into people's statements what you want to. No offense was meant towards you. You're not MY preacher. I have one, as I'm pretty sure others here do as well. Peace to you. 

[PastorMatt]

14 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

Jerry, thank you for the admonition...but I'm pretty sure everyone here already KNOWS to compare these things to the Bible and are doing so as they watch. Most here are not new or immature Christians.

Don't forget we get a lot of traffic (saved and unsaved) from Google when people search, I believe Jerry's comments will be beneficial to some that may come across this site via search.

[SureWord]

On 2/20/2022 at 3:42 PM, 1Timothy115 said:

If you've previewed any of it...

Do you think it brings dishonor to Jesus Christ?

I've never heard of it but I know by now not to waste my time with any Hollywood version of the life of Christ. Even the well intentioned.

[1Timothy115]

1 hour ago, SureWord said:

I've never heard of it but I know by now not to waste my time with any Hollywood version of the life of Christ. Even the well intentioned.

Jerry, said it's an independent group not associated with Hollywood. I'll have to learn more myself.

[BrotherTony]

1 hour ago, 1Timothy115 said:

Jerry, said it's an independent group not associated with Hollywood. I'll have to learn more myself.

It's a group of Christians and non-Christians alike who are supporting this venture. Kirk Cameron did an interview with the creator of the program, and it was quite an interesting thing. It was quite informative. I think it could lean more towards the Biblical truth and less of the humanistic ideology of what happened, but overall, I can handle the program. It's not my favorite one, and I deleted the app from my computer and phone, and I've not watched any of the third season. I probably won't. I get more from the Bible than I do from the program.

[1Timothy115]

6 hours ago, BrotherTony said:

It's a group of Christians and non-Christians alike who are supporting this venture. Kirk Cameron did an interview with the creator of the program, and it was quite an interesting thing. It was quite informative. I think it could lean more towards the Biblical truth and less of the humanistic ideology of what happened, but overall, I can handle the program. It's not my favorite one, and I deleted the app from my computer and phone, and I've not watched any of the third season. I probably won't. I get more from the Bible than I do from the program.

Thanks Bro. Tony... P.S. I remembered you and your wife in prayer today.

[Jerry]

Here is an excellent article by Berean Call that points out various issues with this series. I think it is worth reading and considering so am passing it on. If you dislike the article, that's your discretion, but don't get mad at me because you have issues with what Tom McMahon is saying.

https://www.thebereancall.org/content/chosen-fiction

[1Timothy115]

1 hour ago, Jerry said:

Here is an excellent article by Berean Call that points out various issues with this series. I think it is worth reading and considering so am passing it on. If you dislike the article, that's your discretion, but don't get mad at me because you have issues with what Tom McMahon is saying.

https://www.thebereancall.org/content/chosen-fiction

I'll look at it...you're just a messenger not the message.