Criticism of The Chosen

[Dr. Shane]

Little Light Studios has come out with a critical video of The Chosen.  This is in contrast to The Hope Channel’s series “Story Encounters” with Pastors Ty Gibson and David Asscherick – both well respected pastors in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.  Although Story Encounters views The Chosen in a positive light, Little Light Studies presents a negative twist.

I understand the hesitancy of many to endorse any theatrical portrayal of Jesus.  There is no way to accurately present a drama in which the actors are able to communicate the message of the gospel without imposing some level of interpretation.  If it is impossible to make a film about Jesus without being 100% accurate, some simply do not want to watch any video production based on the life of Christ.  I get that.  That is certainly something each believer has to consider and decide for themselves.  If you, dear reader, have a problems with any film depicting Jesus, then The Chosen will certainly be objectionable for you. I would not want to try to convince you to watch it if that is your belief.

I will go through my issues with the video released by Little Light Studios.  I will admit that they have a few legitimate concerns.  However, in my view, most of what the video contains falls into one of two categories.  The first is they take scenes in The Chosen out of context, and ignore the explanations the director, Dallas Jenkins, has offered.  The second, and perhaps most grievous, is that they engage in what is simply gossip and has no relevance to the content of The Chosen.  They attack (or expose) beliefs and behaviors of the director, the actor playing Jesus and even the music composer.  I have never taken gossip lightly.  Proverbs 26:20 says, “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.”  And,  Revelation 12:10 calls Satan the accuser of the brethren.  People that gossip stir up strife and help Satan accuse the brethren.  It is not something I take lightly.

Here are the issues I have with the Little Light video in the order as they come up while viewing it.

1.    They are concerned because the creators of The Chosen state that 95% of the TV series is not from the Bible.

~My Answer: I see this as less dangerous than if 95% was from the Bible.  If it closely followed the Bible, only Bible scholars would be able to easily pick out what is Biblical and what isn’t.  The fact that most of the details in the stories told in The Chosen are made-up backstories by script writers results in most everyone knowing that they are simply watching a show that displays the imagination of its creators.  Google search engines results have indicated that after the premier of a The Chosen episode, thousands start looking for answers to Biblical questions.  That tells us that the viewers are not believing the made-up backstories but are using search engines to find answers in the Bible.

2.    They (Little Light Studios) complain that as they started watching The Chosen, they started to hear things they didn’t agree with.

~My Answer: The same can be said of most sermons we listen to.  Any time a preacher says anything other than words directly from Scripture, He, or she, is expressing their interpretation and eventually, if you listen to enough sermons, you will certainly hear something you do not agree with.

3.    They say we need to be careful tinkering with the model of who Jesus is.

~My Answer: We do this when we call ourselves Christians.  Our testimony, our behavior, tells others who Jesus is.  We don’t need to just be concerned about Christian filmmakers, but we need to be most concerned about the person in the mirror and how that person is tinkering with the model of who Jesus is.

4.    They imply Dallas Jenkins is lying when he claims there is influence or input from any “formal” faith tradition of church.

~My Answer: The key word is “formal”.  What Dallas is saying is that no establish church denomination is telling him what is going into the script.  That does not mean that members of various denominations haven’t influenced him.  The Bible Roundtable videos, available on The Chosen app, clearly show Dallas has listened to a Catholic Priest, Messianic Rabbi and an evangelical scholar.  I have written Dallas several letters, and it maybe a coincidence, but I have reason to believe that I influenced him. So, yes, he is influenced by a variety of people belonging to several different faith traditions.  However, there is no organized church formally influencing him.  

5.    The Chosen quoted directly out of the Book of Mormon.

~My Answer: The quote in question here is Jesus stating, “I am the Law of Moses.”  That isn’t an exact quote from the Book of Mormon.  The quote from the Book of Mormon is actually, “I am the Law and the Light.”  Notice in the Mormon quote, there is no mention of Moses.  That is a significant difference.  Advents would generally agree with the isolated quote from the book of Mormon.  In Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White wrote, “The law of God is a reflection of His character.”  However, to say Jesus is the Law of Moses is a little different.

6.    They say the overarching theme of the series is that behavior doesn’t matter.

~My Answer: First, the series isn’t complete yet.  We have three seasons done of what is expected to be seven seasons.  So, we are not even halfway there.  It seems a little premature to declare what the overarching them of the series is.  Second, thus far in the series, we have seen the Jesus character calling for repentance multiple times.

7.    They say the Latter-day Saints influence the content.

~My Answer: That is probably true as it is for many other faiths.  Dallas is listening to a lot of people with varied religious backgrounds.  We know the Latter-day Saints is one of them.  So is the Catholic church, Messianic Jews and evangelicals.  Maybe even this Seventh-day Adventist.

8.    Dallas Jenkins defends LDS beliefs.

~My Answer: Dallas defends their authenticity.  Dallas believes they worship the same Jesus (although it is clear he believes they are wrong about many things they believe about Jesus).

9.    They (Little Light Studies) are concerned about the Mormon belief of who Jesus is.  They point out that Mormons believe Jesus was created and is the brother of Satan.

~My Answer: Dallas statement that the Mormons agree with him about Jesus is a reference to the Gospel stories – not the Book of Mormon.  The Mormons believe all the stories told in the Gospels are true.  They believe a lot more stories about Jesus that are told in the Book of Mormon but Dallas has not said he believes those.  The context of what Dallas is talking about are the stories told in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

10.  They say The Chosen implies that doctrine is not important.

~My Answer: The Bible Roundtable discussions show us the extent of the doctrine that Dallas thinks is important. 

11.  Jonathan Roumie is Catholic and has a Catholic app called Hallow.

~My Answer: Jonathan Roumie is the actor that plays Jesus.  He was hired to do a job.  Dallas has hired actors that are not Christians.  The actors do not write the scripts, they follow them.  Now, Jonathan and Dallas have become good friends.  Jonathan may have some influence on Dallas.  Some of the behind-the-scenes videos that have been released tend to show the opposite is more true.  Dallas seems to be mentoring Jonathan and not the other way around.  Nonetheless, Jonathan is the actor.  He is not a script writer.  We have more reason to be concerned about the religious beliefs of the script writers than the actors playing the roles.

12.  They try to make the case that Dallas’ acceptance of Catholics is an acceptable of idolatry.

~My Answer: Dallas does not bow down to graven images nor does The Chosen teach that believers should do that.

13.  They are concerned about Dallas Jenkins involvement in the ecumenical movement.

~My Answer: On this point I agree with them.  The ecumenical movement should be a concern and I think it is clear that Dallas supports it.  However, I am not willing to cry the sky is falling.  There are a lot of people that support the ecumenical movement.  Personally, I am more concerned about those with a seat on the Supreme Court than with Dallas Jenkins.  I don’t want to minimize it but the ecumenical movement is just one of many signs that we are living in the final days.

14.  They are concerned about the Jesus Revolution being part of the ecumenical movement.

~My Answer: Maybe it is but that is irrelevant to the discussion about The Chosen.  Switching the discussion to the Jesus Revolution is like a coon dog running off after a squirrel.  Can we review one media production at a time?  Dallas Jenkins was not the producer of the Jesus Revolution.  Jonathan Romie played in it but he is only an actor.  He does what he is told to do.

15.  They (Little Light) goes off chasing this Jesus Revolution squirrel.  They are very concerned about how the actor, Jonathan Romie, tried to get into character.  He visited Lonnie’s grave site and was looking for a sign. They quote Matthew 16:4 to imply that Jonathan Romie is part of a wicked and adulterous generation because he was looking for a sign.

~My Answer: First.  Who cares?  We are talking about The Chosen – not the Jesus Revolution.  Jonathan Romie is an actor, not a script writer.  That said, In Matthew 24:33 Jesus told us to look for signs of the times.  In Judges 6:17 Gideon asked God for a sign.  Trying to apply Matthew 16:4 is a despicable form of character assassination.  It is pure gossip.  It has nothing to do with the topic of discussion.

16.  They are concerned that Jonathan Roumie is a Knight Templar in Free Masonry. 

~My Answer: Of course, I am no big fan of Free Masonry.  I think it plays a role in the ecumenical movement. But who cares what Jonathan Roumie does in his off hours?  This is gossip. 

17.  They believe Freemasons and Jesuits are infiltrating and influencing The Chosen.

~My Answer:  What?  I thought the Church of the Latter-Day Saints was influencing and controlling it.  Or, at least, I thought that is what Little Light Studios was trying to say.  Again, I am not concerned about the private lives of the actors.  They are not script writers.  They say the lines, they don’t write them.

18.  They are concerned that Dallas and The Chosen Team wrote “no” when told, on a social media post, to repent of freemasonry and promotion of Lucifer.

~My Answer: They didn’t take the criticism seriously.  They were laughing it off.  That actually shows a healthy level of emotional maturity.  More people would do well to handle their critics like that.

19.  They are concerned that The Chosen is easy to understand while the Bible is not.

~My Answer: Dallas tells viewers that The Chosen doesn’t replace the Bible.  The Chosen gift shop sells devotional  books and Bible studies.  I have purchased some and used them.  They are very consistent with what evangelical churches teach.  I have not seen anything that looks Mormon or Freemason but, I haven’t read everything they publish.

20.  They are concerned that one of The Chosen crew members stated that he liked a Jesus that has flaws.

~My Answer: First, I don’t know who said that or what his role is.  Second, Dallas tries to show Jesus’ humanness.  He has stated that.  Jesus was both 100% God and 100% man.  I suspect the term “flaws” isn’t talking about sins.  It is referring to getting tired after a long day of work.  It is referring to getting hungry.  It refers to him not liking certain foods, like raisins.  It refers to him being clumsy while playing a game of catch.

21.  They are concerned that the Jesus character minimizes rules.  They highlight a conversation between the characters of Jesus and John the Baptist.

~My Answer:  In that episode, John was planning to go rebuke King Herod.  Jesus didn’t disagree on the need to obey the law.  As I saw it, Jesus point was about approach.  It is the old question: is God law wisdom or a weapon?  Do we use God’s law to beat people up?  Or, do we use God’s law to show them their need for Him?  In that scene, John the Baptist was planning to go beat up King Herod with the law of Moses.  Of course, we have no reason to believe such a conversation ever happened.  Nor do we know how John the Baptist presented the law to King Herod but given the thought of the day, John may well have used it as a weapon instead of wisdom.

22.  They are concerned that watching someone else’s interpretation of the gospel can be convincing.  It is seeing their imagination.

~My Answer: This is the second point where I agree with them.  However, I will suggest that it is similar to listening to any charismatic preacher. The way a certain interpretation of a text is presented can be very convincing.  I think it is very healthy to talk about it after the show.  That is one of the reasons I asked Stan for this forum here.  We can talk about what is presented in these episodes.  I don’t think we need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.  But discussing the episodes with other Adventist believers can be very beneficial.

23.  They expressed concern about The Chosen music composer Matthew Nelson because he is a Buddhist.

~My Answer:  He plays music.  He is not a script writer.  This is just gossip.  Should we investigate every actor and every person that has anything thing to do with the show?  Do we need to know all about their personal lives?  Why not watch the show and judge it on its content?  If we want to look beyond the content of the show, it is fair to look at merchandise The Chosen gift shop is selling and other videos (like Bible Roundtables) posted on the app or their YouTube page.  But do we really need to investigate the guy playing music? 

24.  They are concerned about Jesus telling Nicodemus to “follow your heart”.

~My Answer: This is the third point I agree with them on.  Now, in context, in the series, Nicodemus had been searching Scripture so, the character Jesus may have known the Holy Spirit was acting on Nico’s heart and thus in telling Nico to follow his heart, the character Jesus was telling him to follow the Holy Spirit.  Nonetheless, I didn’t like that.  The first time I saw it, I didn’t like it.  I am a family counselor.  I know all too well the problems following your heart can lead to. I certainly wouldn’t quit watching The Chosen because of one poor line like that.  But that is something that can be discussed in those after-show discussions with friends or here on Club Adventist.

25.  They were concerned that Jesus referred to himself as “a way” instead of “the way”.

~My Answer: technically I agree that using the definite article “the” instead of the indefinite article “a” would have been better.  But, at no point in this series have I seen the Jesus character teaching there are multiple ways of salvation.  So, I think this is just an example of someone (like Satan) just being a bit eager to look for an occasion to accuse their brother of wrong.  Satan is the accuser of the brethren.  I have never thought helping him out is a good thing.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

 

*  My wife and I regularly watch The Chosen.

*  I do not agree with everything that is presented in the film.

* I consider it to be an expellant film series and I recommend it to others as long as people know that there aspects of it that came from the  writers and not from the Bible.

*  Shane, your did  well in commenting on it.