Just recently, the History Channel published a series entitled The Bible. The series was produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. She is most familiar for her role in Touched By An Angel, and Burnett is known for his work with Survivor, The Voice, Shark Tank, and The Apprentice series (among others). The channel has given a nod to the Bible here and there in the past, but undertook the mission of recounting the greatest story ever told from Genesis to Revelation in a 10-hour docudrama. According to the History Channel, the stories of the Bible "unfold through live action and cutting-edge computer generated imagery, offering new insight into famous scenes and iconic characters." Even the trailers show that viewers can expect a significant upgrade in quality from earlier Bible-based movies, like Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments. Technology has come a long way since then. The series generated enough interest to garner around 13.1 million viewers for the premiere, and just over ten million a week for each of the remaining episodes. If anything, the massive interest in the series is proof that people are still intrigued by the faith-generating story of the Scriptures. Was there a flood? Did the Israelites really cross the Red Sea? Was Jesus real? Did Jesus raise from the dead on the third day? People are curious.  

     Since news of the series broke, and now that it has aired, some have been asking about whether the show is accurate. This is an important question, especially since millions tuned in to view the series. Far too few people read the Bible regularly, meaning that understanding is usually influenced by other sources. Either people hear a version of a Biblical account or see it (like in this docudrama) and then reach conclusions based on these presentations. Most of those that have been asking me about the series are wanting information to help discuss the questions they know they will receive from friends that fit the category above--that is, from people that tend to know the Hollywood version of the Bible. Over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing the series and offer some information that may help you in these discussions.

     Before we begin, let me make clear the importance of this study and offer a clarification about  objections we will make along the way. First, we are not objecting to the use of poetic license. We employ the same technique in many of the songs we sing in worship. This is simply an artistic rendering of a truth, generating word pictures in our mind. However, these descriptions are not inspired and sometimes artists err by changing the truth. This is what we are hoping to distinguish in this review. We want to understand what is simply an effort of poetic license and what is an undermining of the Biblical story. This leads to the second and most important consideration. Christianity is the historical religion. Christianity is rooted in history. When people tamper with the history, when the story is changed or questioned, then they tamper with the foundations of Christianity. Faith is rooted in evidence (Heb. 11:1) and without the evidence there can be no faith.

     So for those that have been asking questions about The Bible TV series, I will seek to answer these over the next several bulletins. God wants all men to know the truth (1 Tim. 2:4) and this is our interest too. ~ David B. Smith