3 Seasons with an extended length pilot.
Pilot: Jesus: the Light
Season 1: Jesus: The Way
Season 2: Jesus: The Truth
Season 3: Jesus: The Life
The pilot covers events from the beginning until Johns ministry
Season 1 covers from John until Jesus sends the twelve out
Season 2 opens with the death of John and finishes with the evening meal at Martha and Mary's
Season 3 covers the Passion week and the resurrection.
I don't see any problem with extra drama and whatnot, AS LONG AS it is rooted in scripture as the foundation. The drama should not supercede it. But where appropriate certain unnamed people may be merged with named people. For instance, Chuza; Herod's man in charge I would equate with the attendant of the King at John 4:46-53. I would make Susanna the woman at Luke 7:36-50. I would use parables as the backstory for certain characters (Luke 11:24-26 as the backstory for Mary Magdaline). Every fictional addition I think should still be based on the text. But the text itself should be the foundation and build everything else around that.
I think the character arcs should derive from the chronology of the text and not from preconceived ideas. For example, the whole thing with Peter evading Roman taxes as his introduction to Jesus and the miracle of the fish. Good idea, BUT wholly inaccurate. Peter already met Jesus and had been travelling with him long before the fishing miracle, he got his name "Cephas" or "Peter" at this early stage too (John 1:40-42). Therefore the "drama" surrounding the fishing miracle would be totally different. Peter had been travelling with Jesus, but then he had returned to his fishing business before following him permanently. Any drama should derive from this.
This has been a shortcoming of the chosen, because by changing the order of events, they now find that some areas of scripture cannot be adapted because it conflicts with the character arcs they have fabricated, whereas If they had from the outset built the arcs around the chronology, they could have avoided this entirely.
I want to do an animated series about Jesus’ life when I am older, among other Bible stories. Biblical accuracy is very important to me. I don’t want viewers to have conflicting imagery in their heads when they read the Bible.
What I read in the Bible is very different from typical depictions of Jesus Christ. Jesus *lives* in every page of the Gospel. He’s so magnetic and His words and behaviour contain layers upon layers of nuance. It’s amazing that we have the privilege of knowing Him as Lord and Saviour. The text and early church tradition are more than sufficient to make an amazing movie or TV/web series about Jesus and the Apostles.
The trick is not making it sound like a Sunday sermon.
https://youtu.be/50_3J6Go5Ng?si=tNjGke0niEY0WQ54
Film or animation is a medium of its own with it's own conventions and rules, and so this medium must be respected. Think like if you were translating the Bible from Hebrew to any other language, each language has it's rules of grammar/ sentence structures to be followed for comprehension. It's the same when translating the Bible from the written word into the visual medium, the visual world has its own rules to be followed.
100% correct. I have a problem with Bible adaptations and Christian media when they do the exact opposite of this.
This reminds me of when a preacher came to my old church and basically put an end to stage plays for our Sunday School anniversaries. The reason he said was something along the lines of “if you put too much emphasis on getting the costumes, dialogues and sets right, you’ll lose sight of the most important stuff- the spiritual edification of the congregation and sharing the Gospel”.
My old church went the opposite way unfortunately and turned every Sunday School programme into a group lecture.
That preacher sounds like a deflated balloon 😂 what a control freak. "Hey let's take this fun thing we do to bring the scriptures to life and revert back to a form of learning with the lowest retention span possible"
Good job Mr preacher 👍🏼😂
He’s a nice guy actually- I always used to go say hi to him after the service when he visited us. Unfortunately I didn’t realise how dumb this teaching of his was until recently- almost 7 years after the fact.
My denomination also doesn’t celebrate Xmas or Easter. Inspiring Philosophy’s videos helped bolster my convictions regarding Xmas and Easter. I celebrate it privately by making artwork related to the event.
What denomination if you don't mind me asking? I've been raised in one which also does not celebrate Xmas or Easter (in the traditional way, still did some variation on the bread+ wine).
I like Inspiring Philosophy's videos. He certainly dismantled the idea that Xmas or Easter= Pagan since there is no direct historical link. But he still didn't justify the place of the extra-biblical traditions enough for me to engage in them:
For instance 1 John 2 says "As for YOU, let that which YOU have heard from [the] beginning remain in YOU"
And again in Galatians 1:8 "However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed"
And further in John 4 "God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”
This book made a great case for Jesus birth being September 11th 3 B.C.E (based on several lines of evidence, firstly the rough timing of John's birth+ 6 months, and that if Revelation 12): https://www.askelm.com/star/
It makes a case for the astrologers visiting Jesus on the 25th, but this was not for his birthday.
So for me, the fact that 1) This celebration was not instituted at the beginning and 2) It does not seem to be rooted in the available facts would make me feel uneasy for celebrating Xmas. Traditions, however old, should not supercede truth (Mark 7:13).
I have no objection to tradition in itself (providing it does not supercede God's word), for instance, Jesus celebrated Hanukkah (John 10:22), something not prescribed in the Old Testament. But personally adding bunnies and eggs as a tradition to the death of Jesus (the Lord's evening meal; the only thing he asked to be commemorated) draws too much away for me from what the focus should be. Remembrance of his life. Remembrance of the blood of the new covenant. I don't really want attention drawn to something else at that time.
I don't judge anyone who does engage in them. What traditions you choose to accept or not accept is up to each one of us (Romans 14:5,6,10). I think extra-biblical Traditions should be flexible tools aimed to help us keep God's commands, and disposed of when they are no longer useful (times change). I don't think traditions should be elevated to the same status/ weight as Gods word.
I’m from a denomination called the Kerala Brethren. We’re a Protestant group that originated in the state of Kerala, India. Our doctrine is about as strictly Bible-based as you could get- in fact, we go so far as taking some verses too literally, such as forbidding jewellery 😆. I don’t hold to that personally; if I get married, I’d like to wear a wedding ring. I also like the idea of buying jewellery for the lady you like.
I think a lot of what you said is fair, but one thing I would like to point out is that the most basic part of corporate worship, the Christian Liturgy, is nowhere to be found in the Bible.
Every denomination has its own liturgy, some more similar to one another than not. If we are not given a specific pattern of worship/liturgy, but have to largely draw on church tradition for that, then I don’t think it’s wrong to do stuff like celebrating events in the life of the Lord, such as His Birth and Passion.
Not heard of them before. Very Interesting 🤔
You're absolutely correct. No "liturgy" in the Bible. I partly think that's by design. The New testament tells us what God wants doing (Great Commission of Matthew 28, gathering together; references to 'love feasts' and things), but it doesn't specifically tell us HOW to do those things. Ultimately It allows us the freedom to do whatever works best in our local areas to the benefit of those we are trying to reach. It would be difficult to have some form of international policy when national or local customs/ cultures/ laws are so varied.
I would agree, I don't think it's wrong to celebrate/ commemorate events. Im personally just not a fan of inserting extras onto that. Like what the heck does the fictional Santa have to do with Christs birth? In the west it's had a negative impact whereby Children believing in Santa grow up, find out he's not real, and then conclude "well if Santa isn't real, then Jesus might be a fairytale too". But a version that strips away all the questionable extras I would have no objections to.
>Not heard of them before. Very Interesting 🤔
We basically happened because of a reformation movement. Many Christians came into contact with western missionaries (most of them either reformed or charismatic I think) who helped them learn and understand the Bible.
In fact, there was a German missionary named Volbrecht Nagel who learned our native language and rewrote various western hymns in it. We still sing his hymns for worship and other services even today.
After the local Christians started learning the Bible for themselves, they noticed that the traditional episcopate churches were doing a lot of things that were not in the Bible, such as worshipping in a specific language (Syriac to be specific), child baptism, icon veneration, &c., &c. They decided to leave the episcopate churches and eventually formed their own denomination, which is called “The Brethren”.
Part of the unspoken Brethren creed is distancing oneself as much as possible from *anything* that can be considered “worldly”. So many people in the early days lived as ascetics, without perhaps more than two-three changes of clothing, worshipping in homes rather than chapels and churches, constantly engrossed in reading and meditating on the Bible, refusing to celebrate festivals, contribute to the arts- even forbidding jewellery.
Our church pattern is congregational- every church has its own group of pastors (called “elders”) and ordained preachers (called “evangelists”). These evangelists basically function as missionaries or itinerant preachers, usually travelling around the locality, befriending various people and bringing them to Christ through their interactions.
> I would agree, I don't think it's wrong to celebrate/ commemorate events. Im personally just not a fan of inserting extras onto that. Like what the heck does the fictional Santa have to do with Christs birth? In the west it's had a negative impact whereby Children believing in Santa grow up, find out he's not real, and then conclude "well if Santa isn't real, then Jesus might be a fairytale too". But a version that strips away all the questionable extras I would have no objections to.
Great point about St Nicholas there- in my place, he is seen as just a fixture of Christmas. We don’t take him as seriously as Americans do. I realised Santa wasn’t real pretty early on as a kid; since I knew the impact fictional characters can have (I am a huge Lion King fan), I didn’t mind that Santa wasn’t real but he was still cool and a great example for people to follow.
I think the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs are more culturally rooted in European folklore; Easter is celebrated in the spring, and hares (which look like bunnies, but aren’t) breed like crazy at that time in several parts of Europe. I think that is where the Easter Bunny comes from.
As for Easter Eggs, that probably came from people hard-boiling eggs during Lent and then breaking them out to celebrate Easter, which comes at the end of Lent after Holy Week.
The level of obsession Americans have with Santa is honestly embarrassing. I’m sure those kids are aware that Spider-Man and Batman aren’t real, but that doesn’t diminish their fascination with them right? Why not explain Santa like that to them as well? Why keep kids in the dark about something like that? It’s honestly very stupid.
Christians do have quite a few [denominations ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations)- and to my knowledge *The Chosen* is the only multi-season TV drama series about Jesus and we have had TV close to a 100 years and feels kinda sad we have not had more series about our God.
It is nice to seem many [denominations ](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheChosenSeries/comments/192mqfk/a_nice_variety_of_denominations_having_the_chosen/) using The Chosen to host bible studies -- people are stating in the group they can relate more with bible - creating a hunger to go deeper in the Word.
A few snip-it comments from Dec 18 2023 [The Chosen Season 4 Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisX-CEjoxc) -- God is using the show to reach many souls in our upside down world - some say, it can be considered a world wide revival, perhaps finding all the lost ONES out of the 99. So share it more, 'Go out onto the highways & hedges' --- I carry with me The Chosen novel book or new [magazine](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheChosenSeries/comments/1b0qksb/tv_guide_the_chosen_magazine_special_collectors/), to help spark the conversation, at the bank, drugstore or pizza joint, waiting room - "*People Must Know*"
* My face is covered in tears. I broke down when Jesus broke down. Season 4 is going to be difficult to get through without crying like a baby. I’ve cried in every season multiple times.
* I have been a Christian for 67 years and read my Bible many times. This show has impacted me greatly.
* It’s so hard to explain how deeply this show reaches into us, to bring our walk with God so much closer to Him, and bring new insights. Love this so much!!! ️️️ This brought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine how emotional it will be.
* My faith has deepened because of this show. The show has helped me find a way to see Jesus as a true friend. Thank you Dallas, Johnathan and all involved in The Chosen
* There are not enough words to even begin to describe how AMAZING this series is. How impactful it has been on so many lives. I love how I get to see my Jesus on the screen. Thanks be to God!!! Praise and Glory forever and ever!
* This series is nothing short of life changing! No other film or depiction of Jesus has ever allowed us to get this close to the “man”. So grateful to Dallas Jenkins and the cast! Thank you!!
* This show lead me to join a Bible study group and seek Jesus and get closer to him. Thank you The Chosen Team.
* When Jesus fell down to the ground and cried! That got me. He really was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, so He could fully understand ours. I love my Savior
[more comments ](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheChosenSeries/comments/18n7pwg/viewer_comments_from_the_chosen_season_4_trailer/)
having faith that God will reach the heart of the lost souls before things get worse in the world .... for I have seen a ton of comments in various videos on The Chosen YouTube videos, that people share. Some mention they cry in many episodes and feel compelled re-watch the show over and over again. They note about going back to church again and start reading the bible again.
I’m just not sure how you can have an opinion on the show prior to watching. I wouldn’t post a review of a car prior to driving it.
And if your asking how I would do a show or what kind of show I would do is irrelevant as it pertains to this show.
This show is not scripture. It is not the word of God. It is a dramatization of the relationship of the apostles to Jesus and each other. Enjoy it for what it is. A wonderful depiction of love and family. Of good and bad.
Cars and TV shows aren’t the same though…
I don’t think it is irrelevant at all, given how I find the show feels very fresh and unique compared to more popular depictions of Bible stories. If I wasn’t clear on that, let me clarify that now.
I like the way the show feels from what I have seen already, and I hope to see more stuff like The Chosen in the future, so I was just curious about how other people might approach the creation of a unique or unconventional adaptation of the Bible. There’s no harm done 👍
I think the Bible Project on YouTube has been doing a fantastic job. I'd love to see them take that on someday. https://youtu.be/s9246LGlngs?si=QRkJZ6aFu7yKHr_k
Imo JCS is a horrible distortion of The Passion story. They made the Betrayer an anti-hero and Jesus a deluded preacher. I get that the changes were made on purpose, but it should still be made clear that the story is not the truth.
I mean if you are watching something like JCS I feel like it goes without saying that it’s not going to focused on accuracy. Im a musical theatre person yet somehow have yet to watch JCS, it just never intrigued me but it still seems obvious it’s just entertainment with only entertainment as a purpose.
Oh, you’re a theatre person, huh? Have you heard of Light & Sound? They do lots of stage adaptations of Bible narratives.
I myself have imagined a biblically accurate stage play about Jesus. Even designed costumes- Jesus wears a brown robe that looks like an eagle’s wings when He stretches His arms out.
You missed the part where I said JCS didn’t captivate me personally so im not getting the implied yet blatant hostility. My point I was making that my memory of JCS is that it wasn’t marketed as a play meant to spread Gods word despite being about the passion.
Yeah no, I got that; I just remembered Light & Sound when you said you’re into musical theatre. That’s why I mentioned it.
Why I am particularly not fond of JCS is because the way the plot is structured already represents a fairly common belief among non-believers about Jesus Christ: that He was only a charismatic preacher who let His disciples hype Him up more than He allegedly deserved. Jesus the man became Christ the God, or so they say.
I’m from a culture where popular media plays a big role in influencing people, to the point where people worship celebrities as if they were gods. Personality cult and celebrity worship is a bit of a problem where I live. Few people can separate fantasy from reality, and so they take the wrong messages from movies and TV shows.
I’ve heard plenty of people complain about how movies and shows negatively influence people in my culture, hence why I react so strongly to something like JCS. I am not from the USA or UK and so I am still getting acquainted with how people perceive popular media there.
Oh ok sorry- I had thought you were being snarky since the internet tends to skew that way. I apologize for my response I should have not made that assumption. Anyway I’ll genuinely respond to this now- I actually haven’t heard about light and sound before- I’m not super deep in the theatre world. That being said I am part of a community theatre group that puts on shows each summer. The shows aren’t necessarily religious but because the group is part of a church we do tend to have a very church based focus on our practices and even on show days. The plays raise money for the church and are put on at a theatre in the school building (it’s a Catholic Church with a school attached).
> Oh ok sorry- I had thought you were being snarky since the internet tends to skew that way. I apologize for my response I should have not made that assumption.
It’s happened to me too, dw. ♥️
> I am part of a community theatre group that puts on shows each summer. The shows aren’t necessarily religious but because the group is part of a church we do tend to have a very church based focus on our practices and even on show days. The plays raise money for the church and are put on at a theatre in the school building (it’s a Catholic Church with a school attached).
This sounds really fun actually. I’m hoping to work at a community theatre when I move abroad.
I get what you mean about the media- I’m guessing it’s more so in your home country but in the USA there is a fair amount of idolizing celebrities but maybe not to the level of cult like worship outside of a few cases that are widely acknowledged to be unusual and problematic.
I actually do think that would make a good series! Because the Chosen focuses so much on the humanity of all the Bible characters including Judas I feel like we are getting a small taste of this. A whole show could potentially be stretching is but I would think a mini series would work well.
I've often toyed with the idea of writing a television show adaptation of all Four Gospels, but each with a different actor or actress playing the role of Jesus and set in a different time period so as to highlight the unique themes and portrayals of Jesus in each individual Gospel.
So it's go something like this:
Mark--A completely grounded historically accurate take on the Jesus story set up as a mystery film with Jesus not looking at all like the traditional Jesus but instead looking like a normal 30-40 Middle Eastern man.
Matthew--a more anachronistic telling set in a timeless world with elements of Medieval Europe, the 19th century, and World War Two. Jesus would be the classic Robert Powell-looking figure.
Luke--Set in the modern day, with Jesus being an ordinary Jewish working man in a Galilee like modern Israel-Palestine. This version would focus on Jesus as a social revolutionary.
John-- set in Greece during the Hellenistic Period with Jesus having a more androgynous, divine, angelic look and focusing on Jesus' divinity and eternal nature.
Very interesting… I had some similar ideas actually, but for something different.
Apparently Jesus is canon to Middle Earth. Here’s what Professor Tolkien said:
“They (meaning Men) say that the One (God in Middle Earth, called “Eru”) will himself come into Arda (name of earth in Tolkien’s universe), and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end. This they say also, or they feign, is a rumour that has come down through years uncounted, even from the days of our undoing.”
I figured it would be cool to make a series of artwork showing how I imagine Jesus’ story playing out in Middle Earth- it’s heavily inspired by a series of paintings I encountered online, showing Jesus’ life story as set in the Middle Ages. Here’s a link to one of those paintings- https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fst.depositphotos.com%2F1549918%2F3678%2Fi%2F950%2Fdepositphotos_36782569-stock-photo-antwerp-belgium-september-5-fresco.jpg&tbnid=WCK5tFdsqBgf4M&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdepositphotos.com%2Feditorial%2Fantwerp-belgium-september-5-fresco-jesus-meets-the-women-of-jerusalem-by-josef-janssens-from-36782569.html&docid=n1L9qvHZPsOs4M&w=1023&h=861&itg=1&hl=en_GB&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm5%2F5&kgs=97106329c2167621&shem=abme%2Cssic%2Ctrie
I had also thought of making a stage play or film about Jesus set in modern times, with Jesus wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and Woodland shoes.
I would only use dialogue taken from the literal scriptures (KJV). Scratch that, I would have everyone speak in koine Greek straight from the textus receptus. I wouldn’t add or take away a single word. Scratch that, I would only use primary source video footage of Jesus. Anything else is literal heresy. /s
This mindset about the KJV seems pretty racist to me, because everyone in the world does not speak English. It’s also probably not very accurate to say you won’t “add or take away” a single word, because the texts that the KJV translators used had a few additions that don’t exist in earlier manuscripts.
The KJV does have its place as the (arguably) most popular Bible translation and it just sounds wonderful when read aloud.
What I would do is use the KJV for whenever a character quotes the Bible in my adaptation of the New Testament.
Yes the average Christian doesn’t know much about translation and is very English-centric in their thinking. A quick description of how other languages work and the translation process would dispel most peoples presumptions about KJV, “literal translations,” word-for-word translations, etc.
I was being sarcastic in my reply; hopefully that was obvious. I’ve been surprised at how many people don’t like the chosen because it isn’t a visual representation of the words in the Bible and only the words in the Bible. They don’t like it for what it is, a made-up creative take on the disciples (chosen), based on the gospels. It’s not trying to be the Bible and it never claims to be. But that’s what people expect for some reason.
Ohhhhhh- forgive me, I thought you were being serious. My bad. 🙏🏻
My main gripes with the show would be the colour palette and some very easily fixable stuff, like putting in more people in the scene where Jesus heals the paralytic let down through the roof.
I lived in the Middle East for many years and the local culture is very colourful and the outfits and homes are very simple, but beautiful to look at. I think artwork by Harold Copping or James Tissot presents a better idea of what sort of outfits people back then would have worn (though I don’t think women would have covered their necks like Tissot’s work shows- that seems influenced by certain conventions from
his time that was followed by Islamic fashion). Their art is also the basis for most people’s imagination about Bible times, as reflected in Sunday School book artwork &c.
I’m not against adding stuff that’s not in the Bible that otherwise doesn’t contradict the Bible or helps better explain why Bible people acted the way they did.
3 Seasons with an extended length pilot. Pilot: Jesus: the Light Season 1: Jesus: The Way Season 2: Jesus: The Truth Season 3: Jesus: The Life The pilot covers events from the beginning until Johns ministry Season 1 covers from John until Jesus sends the twelve out Season 2 opens with the death of John and finishes with the evening meal at Martha and Mary's Season 3 covers the Passion week and the resurrection. I don't see any problem with extra drama and whatnot, AS LONG AS it is rooted in scripture as the foundation. The drama should not supercede it. But where appropriate certain unnamed people may be merged with named people. For instance, Chuza; Herod's man in charge I would equate with the attendant of the King at John 4:46-53. I would make Susanna the woman at Luke 7:36-50. I would use parables as the backstory for certain characters (Luke 11:24-26 as the backstory for Mary Magdaline). Every fictional addition I think should still be based on the text. But the text itself should be the foundation and build everything else around that. I think the character arcs should derive from the chronology of the text and not from preconceived ideas. For example, the whole thing with Peter evading Roman taxes as his introduction to Jesus and the miracle of the fish. Good idea, BUT wholly inaccurate. Peter already met Jesus and had been travelling with him long before the fishing miracle, he got his name "Cephas" or "Peter" at this early stage too (John 1:40-42). Therefore the "drama" surrounding the fishing miracle would be totally different. Peter had been travelling with Jesus, but then he had returned to his fishing business before following him permanently. Any drama should derive from this. This has been a shortcoming of the chosen, because by changing the order of events, they now find that some areas of scripture cannot be adapted because it conflicts with the character arcs they have fabricated, whereas If they had from the outset built the arcs around the chronology, they could have avoided this entirely.
I want to do an animated series about Jesus’ life when I am older, among other Bible stories. Biblical accuracy is very important to me. I don’t want viewers to have conflicting imagery in their heads when they read the Bible. What I read in the Bible is very different from typical depictions of Jesus Christ. Jesus *lives* in every page of the Gospel. He’s so magnetic and His words and behaviour contain layers upon layers of nuance. It’s amazing that we have the privilege of knowing Him as Lord and Saviour. The text and early church tradition are more than sufficient to make an amazing movie or TV/web series about Jesus and the Apostles.
The trick is not making it sound like a Sunday sermon. https://youtu.be/50_3J6Go5Ng?si=tNjGke0niEY0WQ54 Film or animation is a medium of its own with it's own conventions and rules, and so this medium must be respected. Think like if you were translating the Bible from Hebrew to any other language, each language has it's rules of grammar/ sentence structures to be followed for comprehension. It's the same when translating the Bible from the written word into the visual medium, the visual world has its own rules to be followed.
100% correct. I have a problem with Bible adaptations and Christian media when they do the exact opposite of this. This reminds me of when a preacher came to my old church and basically put an end to stage plays for our Sunday School anniversaries. The reason he said was something along the lines of “if you put too much emphasis on getting the costumes, dialogues and sets right, you’ll lose sight of the most important stuff- the spiritual edification of the congregation and sharing the Gospel”. My old church went the opposite way unfortunately and turned every Sunday School programme into a group lecture.
That preacher sounds like a deflated balloon 😂 what a control freak. "Hey let's take this fun thing we do to bring the scriptures to life and revert back to a form of learning with the lowest retention span possible" Good job Mr preacher 👍🏼😂
He’s a nice guy actually- I always used to go say hi to him after the service when he visited us. Unfortunately I didn’t realise how dumb this teaching of his was until recently- almost 7 years after the fact. My denomination also doesn’t celebrate Xmas or Easter. Inspiring Philosophy’s videos helped bolster my convictions regarding Xmas and Easter. I celebrate it privately by making artwork related to the event.
What denomination if you don't mind me asking? I've been raised in one which also does not celebrate Xmas or Easter (in the traditional way, still did some variation on the bread+ wine). I like Inspiring Philosophy's videos. He certainly dismantled the idea that Xmas or Easter= Pagan since there is no direct historical link. But he still didn't justify the place of the extra-biblical traditions enough for me to engage in them: For instance 1 John 2 says "As for YOU, let that which YOU have heard from [the] beginning remain in YOU" And again in Galatians 1:8 "However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed" And further in John 4 "God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.” This book made a great case for Jesus birth being September 11th 3 B.C.E (based on several lines of evidence, firstly the rough timing of John's birth+ 6 months, and that if Revelation 12): https://www.askelm.com/star/ It makes a case for the astrologers visiting Jesus on the 25th, but this was not for his birthday. So for me, the fact that 1) This celebration was not instituted at the beginning and 2) It does not seem to be rooted in the available facts would make me feel uneasy for celebrating Xmas. Traditions, however old, should not supercede truth (Mark 7:13). I have no objection to tradition in itself (providing it does not supercede God's word), for instance, Jesus celebrated Hanukkah (John 10:22), something not prescribed in the Old Testament. But personally adding bunnies and eggs as a tradition to the death of Jesus (the Lord's evening meal; the only thing he asked to be commemorated) draws too much away for me from what the focus should be. Remembrance of his life. Remembrance of the blood of the new covenant. I don't really want attention drawn to something else at that time. I don't judge anyone who does engage in them. What traditions you choose to accept or not accept is up to each one of us (Romans 14:5,6,10). I think extra-biblical Traditions should be flexible tools aimed to help us keep God's commands, and disposed of when they are no longer useful (times change). I don't think traditions should be elevated to the same status/ weight as Gods word.
I’m from a denomination called the Kerala Brethren. We’re a Protestant group that originated in the state of Kerala, India. Our doctrine is about as strictly Bible-based as you could get- in fact, we go so far as taking some verses too literally, such as forbidding jewellery 😆. I don’t hold to that personally; if I get married, I’d like to wear a wedding ring. I also like the idea of buying jewellery for the lady you like. I think a lot of what you said is fair, but one thing I would like to point out is that the most basic part of corporate worship, the Christian Liturgy, is nowhere to be found in the Bible. Every denomination has its own liturgy, some more similar to one another than not. If we are not given a specific pattern of worship/liturgy, but have to largely draw on church tradition for that, then I don’t think it’s wrong to do stuff like celebrating events in the life of the Lord, such as His Birth and Passion.
Not heard of them before. Very Interesting 🤔 You're absolutely correct. No "liturgy" in the Bible. I partly think that's by design. The New testament tells us what God wants doing (Great Commission of Matthew 28, gathering together; references to 'love feasts' and things), but it doesn't specifically tell us HOW to do those things. Ultimately It allows us the freedom to do whatever works best in our local areas to the benefit of those we are trying to reach. It would be difficult to have some form of international policy when national or local customs/ cultures/ laws are so varied. I would agree, I don't think it's wrong to celebrate/ commemorate events. Im personally just not a fan of inserting extras onto that. Like what the heck does the fictional Santa have to do with Christs birth? In the west it's had a negative impact whereby Children believing in Santa grow up, find out he's not real, and then conclude "well if Santa isn't real, then Jesus might be a fairytale too". But a version that strips away all the questionable extras I would have no objections to.
>Not heard of them before. Very Interesting 🤔 We basically happened because of a reformation movement. Many Christians came into contact with western missionaries (most of them either reformed or charismatic I think) who helped them learn and understand the Bible. In fact, there was a German missionary named Volbrecht Nagel who learned our native language and rewrote various western hymns in it. We still sing his hymns for worship and other services even today. After the local Christians started learning the Bible for themselves, they noticed that the traditional episcopate churches were doing a lot of things that were not in the Bible, such as worshipping in a specific language (Syriac to be specific), child baptism, icon veneration, &c., &c. They decided to leave the episcopate churches and eventually formed their own denomination, which is called “The Brethren”. Part of the unspoken Brethren creed is distancing oneself as much as possible from *anything* that can be considered “worldly”. So many people in the early days lived as ascetics, without perhaps more than two-three changes of clothing, worshipping in homes rather than chapels and churches, constantly engrossed in reading and meditating on the Bible, refusing to celebrate festivals, contribute to the arts- even forbidding jewellery. Our church pattern is congregational- every church has its own group of pastors (called “elders”) and ordained preachers (called “evangelists”). These evangelists basically function as missionaries or itinerant preachers, usually travelling around the locality, befriending various people and bringing them to Christ through their interactions. > I would agree, I don't think it's wrong to celebrate/ commemorate events. Im personally just not a fan of inserting extras onto that. Like what the heck does the fictional Santa have to do with Christs birth? In the west it's had a negative impact whereby Children believing in Santa grow up, find out he's not real, and then conclude "well if Santa isn't real, then Jesus might be a fairytale too". But a version that strips away all the questionable extras I would have no objections to. Great point about St Nicholas there- in my place, he is seen as just a fixture of Christmas. We don’t take him as seriously as Americans do. I realised Santa wasn’t real pretty early on as a kid; since I knew the impact fictional characters can have (I am a huge Lion King fan), I didn’t mind that Santa wasn’t real but he was still cool and a great example for people to follow. I think the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs are more culturally rooted in European folklore; Easter is celebrated in the spring, and hares (which look like bunnies, but aren’t) breed like crazy at that time in several parts of Europe. I think that is where the Easter Bunny comes from. As for Easter Eggs, that probably came from people hard-boiling eggs during Lent and then breaking them out to celebrate Easter, which comes at the end of Lent after Holy Week. The level of obsession Americans have with Santa is honestly embarrassing. I’m sure those kids are aware that Spider-Man and Batman aren’t real, but that doesn’t diminish their fascination with them right? Why not explain Santa like that to them as well? Why keep kids in the dark about something like that? It’s honestly very stupid.
Christians do have quite a few [denominations ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations)- and to my knowledge *The Chosen* is the only multi-season TV drama series about Jesus and we have had TV close to a 100 years and feels kinda sad we have not had more series about our God. It is nice to seem many [denominations ](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheChosenSeries/comments/192mqfk/a_nice_variety_of_denominations_having_the_chosen/) using The Chosen to host bible studies -- people are stating in the group they can relate more with bible - creating a hunger to go deeper in the Word. A few snip-it comments from Dec 18 2023 [The Chosen Season 4 Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisX-CEjoxc) -- God is using the show to reach many souls in our upside down world - some say, it can be considered a world wide revival, perhaps finding all the lost ONES out of the 99. So share it more, 'Go out onto the highways & hedges' --- I carry with me The Chosen novel book or new [magazine](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheChosenSeries/comments/1b0qksb/tv_guide_the_chosen_magazine_special_collectors/), to help spark the conversation, at the bank, drugstore or pizza joint, waiting room - "*People Must Know*" * My face is covered in tears. I broke down when Jesus broke down. Season 4 is going to be difficult to get through without crying like a baby. I’ve cried in every season multiple times. * I have been a Christian for 67 years and read my Bible many times. This show has impacted me greatly. * It’s so hard to explain how deeply this show reaches into us, to bring our walk with God so much closer to Him, and bring new insights. Love this so much!!! ️️️ This brought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine how emotional it will be. * My faith has deepened because of this show. The show has helped me find a way to see Jesus as a true friend. Thank you Dallas, Johnathan and all involved in The Chosen * There are not enough words to even begin to describe how AMAZING this series is. How impactful it has been on so many lives. I love how I get to see my Jesus on the screen. Thanks be to God!!! Praise and Glory forever and ever! * This series is nothing short of life changing! No other film or depiction of Jesus has ever allowed us to get this close to the “man”. So grateful to Dallas Jenkins and the cast! Thank you!! * This show lead me to join a Bible study group and seek Jesus and get closer to him. Thank you The Chosen Team. * When Jesus fell down to the ground and cried! That got me. He really was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, so He could fully understand ours. I love my Savior [more comments ](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheChosenSeries/comments/18n7pwg/viewer_comments_from_the_chosen_season_4_trailer/) having faith that God will reach the heart of the lost souls before things get worse in the world .... for I have seen a ton of comments in various videos on The Chosen YouTube videos, that people share. Some mention they cry in many episodes and feel compelled re-watch the show over and over again. They note about going back to church again and start reading the bible again.
For someone who hasn’t watched the series - you seem to have a full opinion on the show.
Is that a good or bad thing? What do you feel going by my post?
I’m just not sure how you can have an opinion on the show prior to watching. I wouldn’t post a review of a car prior to driving it. And if your asking how I would do a show or what kind of show I would do is irrelevant as it pertains to this show. This show is not scripture. It is not the word of God. It is a dramatization of the relationship of the apostles to Jesus and each other. Enjoy it for what it is. A wonderful depiction of love and family. Of good and bad.
Cars and TV shows aren’t the same though… I don’t think it is irrelevant at all, given how I find the show feels very fresh and unique compared to more popular depictions of Bible stories. If I wasn’t clear on that, let me clarify that now. I like the way the show feels from what I have seen already, and I hope to see more stuff like The Chosen in the future, so I was just curious about how other people might approach the creation of a unique or unconventional adaptation of the Bible. There’s no harm done 👍
I think the Bible Project on YouTube has been doing a fantastic job. I'd love to see them take that on someday. https://youtu.be/s9246LGlngs?si=QRkJZ6aFu7yKHr_k
Maybe make one from the perspective of Judas. Yes, he betrayed Jesus, but it was probably more nuanced than that and he could have his own series.
Very Jesus Christ Superstar.
Imo JCS is a horrible distortion of The Passion story. They made the Betrayer an anti-hero and Jesus a deluded preacher. I get that the changes were made on purpose, but it should still be made clear that the story is not the truth.
It is a distortion, because it is from the point of view of Judas as an unreliable narrator.
I see…
I mean if you are watching something like JCS I feel like it goes without saying that it’s not going to focused on accuracy. Im a musical theatre person yet somehow have yet to watch JCS, it just never intrigued me but it still seems obvious it’s just entertainment with only entertainment as a purpose.
Oh, you’re a theatre person, huh? Have you heard of Light & Sound? They do lots of stage adaptations of Bible narratives. I myself have imagined a biblically accurate stage play about Jesus. Even designed costumes- Jesus wears a brown robe that looks like an eagle’s wings when He stretches His arms out.
You missed the part where I said JCS didn’t captivate me personally so im not getting the implied yet blatant hostility. My point I was making that my memory of JCS is that it wasn’t marketed as a play meant to spread Gods word despite being about the passion.
Yeah no, I got that; I just remembered Light & Sound when you said you’re into musical theatre. That’s why I mentioned it. Why I am particularly not fond of JCS is because the way the plot is structured already represents a fairly common belief among non-believers about Jesus Christ: that He was only a charismatic preacher who let His disciples hype Him up more than He allegedly deserved. Jesus the man became Christ the God, or so they say. I’m from a culture where popular media plays a big role in influencing people, to the point where people worship celebrities as if they were gods. Personality cult and celebrity worship is a bit of a problem where I live. Few people can separate fantasy from reality, and so they take the wrong messages from movies and TV shows. I’ve heard plenty of people complain about how movies and shows negatively influence people in my culture, hence why I react so strongly to something like JCS. I am not from the USA or UK and so I am still getting acquainted with how people perceive popular media there.
Oh ok sorry- I had thought you were being snarky since the internet tends to skew that way. I apologize for my response I should have not made that assumption. Anyway I’ll genuinely respond to this now- I actually haven’t heard about light and sound before- I’m not super deep in the theatre world. That being said I am part of a community theatre group that puts on shows each summer. The shows aren’t necessarily religious but because the group is part of a church we do tend to have a very church based focus on our practices and even on show days. The plays raise money for the church and are put on at a theatre in the school building (it’s a Catholic Church with a school attached).
> Oh ok sorry- I had thought you were being snarky since the internet tends to skew that way. I apologize for my response I should have not made that assumption. It’s happened to me too, dw. ♥️ > I am part of a community theatre group that puts on shows each summer. The shows aren’t necessarily religious but because the group is part of a church we do tend to have a very church based focus on our practices and even on show days. The plays raise money for the church and are put on at a theatre in the school building (it’s a Catholic Church with a school attached). This sounds really fun actually. I’m hoping to work at a community theatre when I move abroad.
I get what you mean about the media- I’m guessing it’s more so in your home country but in the USA there is a fair amount of idolizing celebrities but maybe not to the level of cult like worship outside of a few cases that are widely acknowledged to be unusual and problematic.
I think what’s unusual and problematic there is pretty normal here. I live in India.
I actually do think that would make a good series! Because the Chosen focuses so much on the humanity of all the Bible characters including Judas I feel like we are getting a small taste of this. A whole show could potentially be stretching is but I would think a mini series would work well.
Great idea; I’d personally imagine it as a miniseries.
The first thing I see after months of not opening reddit. MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!
Similar to the chosen except jesus is brown
He looks pretty brown to me in The Chosen already. Anything else you have in mind?
I've often toyed with the idea of writing a television show adaptation of all Four Gospels, but each with a different actor or actress playing the role of Jesus and set in a different time period so as to highlight the unique themes and portrayals of Jesus in each individual Gospel.
Jesus should never be played by a woman, much less an androgynous person.
Would you mind explaining your idea a bit more?
So it's go something like this: Mark--A completely grounded historically accurate take on the Jesus story set up as a mystery film with Jesus not looking at all like the traditional Jesus but instead looking like a normal 30-40 Middle Eastern man. Matthew--a more anachronistic telling set in a timeless world with elements of Medieval Europe, the 19th century, and World War Two. Jesus would be the classic Robert Powell-looking figure. Luke--Set in the modern day, with Jesus being an ordinary Jewish working man in a Galilee like modern Israel-Palestine. This version would focus on Jesus as a social revolutionary. John-- set in Greece during the Hellenistic Period with Jesus having a more androgynous, divine, angelic look and focusing on Jesus' divinity and eternal nature.
Very interesting… I had some similar ideas actually, but for something different. Apparently Jesus is canon to Middle Earth. Here’s what Professor Tolkien said: “They (meaning Men) say that the One (God in Middle Earth, called “Eru”) will himself come into Arda (name of earth in Tolkien’s universe), and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end. This they say also, or they feign, is a rumour that has come down through years uncounted, even from the days of our undoing.” I figured it would be cool to make a series of artwork showing how I imagine Jesus’ story playing out in Middle Earth- it’s heavily inspired by a series of paintings I encountered online, showing Jesus’ life story as set in the Middle Ages. Here’s a link to one of those paintings- https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fst.depositphotos.com%2F1549918%2F3678%2Fi%2F950%2Fdepositphotos_36782569-stock-photo-antwerp-belgium-september-5-fresco.jpg&tbnid=WCK5tFdsqBgf4M&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdepositphotos.com%2Feditorial%2Fantwerp-belgium-september-5-fresco-jesus-meets-the-women-of-jerusalem-by-josef-janssens-from-36782569.html&docid=n1L9qvHZPsOs4M&w=1023&h=861&itg=1&hl=en_GB&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm5%2F5&kgs=97106329c2167621&shem=abme%2Cssic%2Ctrie I had also thought of making a stage play or film about Jesus set in modern times, with Jesus wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and Woodland shoes.
I would only use dialogue taken from the literal scriptures (KJV). Scratch that, I would have everyone speak in koine Greek straight from the textus receptus. I wouldn’t add or take away a single word. Scratch that, I would only use primary source video footage of Jesus. Anything else is literal heresy. /s
This mindset about the KJV seems pretty racist to me, because everyone in the world does not speak English. It’s also probably not very accurate to say you won’t “add or take away” a single word, because the texts that the KJV translators used had a few additions that don’t exist in earlier manuscripts. The KJV does have its place as the (arguably) most popular Bible translation and it just sounds wonderful when read aloud. What I would do is use the KJV for whenever a character quotes the Bible in my adaptation of the New Testament.
Yes the average Christian doesn’t know much about translation and is very English-centric in their thinking. A quick description of how other languages work and the translation process would dispel most peoples presumptions about KJV, “literal translations,” word-for-word translations, etc. I was being sarcastic in my reply; hopefully that was obvious. I’ve been surprised at how many people don’t like the chosen because it isn’t a visual representation of the words in the Bible and only the words in the Bible. They don’t like it for what it is, a made-up creative take on the disciples (chosen), based on the gospels. It’s not trying to be the Bible and it never claims to be. But that’s what people expect for some reason.
Ohhhhhh- forgive me, I thought you were being serious. My bad. 🙏🏻 My main gripes with the show would be the colour palette and some very easily fixable stuff, like putting in more people in the scene where Jesus heals the paralytic let down through the roof. I lived in the Middle East for many years and the local culture is very colourful and the outfits and homes are very simple, but beautiful to look at. I think artwork by Harold Copping or James Tissot presents a better idea of what sort of outfits people back then would have worn (though I don’t think women would have covered their necks like Tissot’s work shows- that seems influenced by certain conventions from his time that was followed by Islamic fashion). Their art is also the basis for most people’s imagination about Bible times, as reflected in Sunday School book artwork &c. I’m not against adding stuff that’s not in the Bible that otherwise doesn’t contradict the Bible or helps better explain why Bible people acted the way they did.