1. Cole Powell says:

    Hi, I’m a fairly recent Lorehaven subscriber. Although I haven’t yet finished Season 1 of The Chosen, I find this article a reasonable, well-articulated perspective on the issue of Biblical fiction in general. Thanks for posting!

  2. Kellyn Roth says:

    Really grateful for this post, Josiah! Put into words what I couldn’t put together in my brain. I also can’t join the discussion because I’m not a watcher yet, but it’s still good to have this information.

    • You are in for quite a treat. In all the criticism, baseless and otherwise, many folks are missing the fact that “The Chosen” blends healthy apologetics with creative excellence. Throughout all three seasons, you see many truths illustrated:

      (1) Jesus has not come to abolish the Law and Prophets but to fulfill them.
      (2) Jesus will heal people who have faith, but in His timing and not theirs.
      (3) Anyone can be chosen—regular people, poor, rich, Pharisees, anyone.
      (4) Hidden in plain sight by the title: not all belong to Him, only the chosen.
      (5) Jesus is fully God yet also fully Man, and so had non-sinful human vulnerabilities.
      (6) All accounts of His earthly ministry come from witnesses and can be harmonized.
      (7) Apostles who walked alongside Jesus were taking notes to become future gospels!

      • Kellyn Roth says:

        It’s not really my type of show, at all, but I’ve been convinced I must try it anyway, so it’s on my list. 🙂

      • Stephen, these are the details, IMO, that make “The Chosen” stand out as superior when compared to essentially every other show ever made about Christ. You might add a deeply thought-provoking #8. Jesus CHOSE Judas Iscariot, and at the moment of his choosing, He knew who would betray Him. Just as they portrayed Jesus giving a knowing glance at a crucifixion, they showed Him viewing Judas with that same foreknowledge. Throughout season 3, I’ve been paying special attention to Judas’ character. I know how it ends, but I’m deeply curious how they will show his path to betrayal.

    • Glad you enjoyed it, Kellyn. Thanks for reading!

  3. The #1 complaint I’ve heard about “The Chosen” regards the response of so many people who use it as an aid to worship. Clearly, idolizing a character depicted by Jonathan Roumie is every bit as sinful as idolizing St. Peter, the Virgin Mary, or a painting of Jesus on the chapel ceiling. Idolatry is idolatry, and people are as prone to break the 2nd Commandment today as ever–just with pixels instead of gold.

    For this reason, a lot of Christians have taken the hard line, with a few subpoints and addendums to the Law. “Thou shalt not depict Christ in any way, shape, or fashion. Thou shalt not put words into His mouth that have not already been written, nor shalt thou presume Him as saying anything not recorded for you in Scripture. Thou shalt not imagine.”

    But I appreciate your salient point. Preachers imagine every Sunday when they infer and extrapolate Jesus’ actual words into modern application. Jesus literally said pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin. Nowhere does Scripture modify or explain that statement. So, we have a choice: either we refuse to add anything to Jesus’ words and go blind ourselves, or we use our brains. If a preacher can proclaim from the pulpit, with the authority of Holy Spirit, “What Jesus meant is…,” then it is entirely reasonable to portray Jesus having that same explanatory conversation over dinner with His disciples.

    If someone watching “The Chosen” is a weak brother and supplants his daily Bible reading with binge watching, then that brother needs to throw his TV (and phone) in the garbage. He needs to pluck out his eye. This show is not a replacement for Scripture, as its director has stated multiple times. Viewing the show sinfully–that is, with an idolatrous heart–is sin. But Dallas Jenkins no more causes people to commit idolatry than Glock causes people to commit murder.

    • Good thoughts–I particularly appreciate your points about the stronger/weaker brother principle. It may be hard for some viewers to watch The Chosen without mixing up the real Jesus with the depiction in the show (or to idolize the depiction in the show), and there’s nothing wrong with choosing not to watch. (That’s commendable, in fact.) But for those who can watch the show without mixing up both, we do have freedom in Christ!

What say you?