I was one of those Bible scholars who were eagerly awaiting the release of The Bible miniseries. The trailers were awesome and I was so excited to see how the History Channel was finally giving the Bible the place it deserves. Sadly, as soon as I started watching the first episode all my excitement was gone.
The fall of Adam and Eve was covered in 1 minute - 2 perhaps...I really never got quite clear why they were punished by God (I am just talking like a person who does not know the Bible would talk). The fall of Adam is the most important event in the Old Testament. Why? Because it marked the end of man’s communion with God, and it has the first and most important Messianic prophecy: Genesis 3:15 which states:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
The sense I got from this abrupt beginning was that the miniseries was not made to inform people about the Bible, or to explain the Christian message, but rather to entertain and sell. Sadly, in the next few minutes of the episode I would confirm beyond doubt my suspicion. The story quickly moves on to Abraham. We never get to see how God chose this man, and how God spoke to him. The god presented in the miniseries is very impersonal and distant.
Furthermore, I never got to see how God really blessed Abraham and Abraham's obedience time after time, trial after trial. Rather, what I saw was a fussy god who would even demand the life of his beloved son, Isaac, with no reason (since sin is barely shown, a sacrificial death is not reasonable). Definitely, if I were a non-believer watching the series I would never choose that to be my God. This idea was reinforced even more with the pitiful depiction of the destruction of Sodom.
First of all, in that famous Bible narration in which Abraham receives the visit from God Himself, we see a total lack of reverence for this holy moment. God came accompanied by two “angels” dressed as Roman soldiers covered with red coats showing them not as holy angels but like warriors. But the real disappointment came when the “angels” went to Sodom.
In a very nasty intent of whitewash the fact that the Bible shows that Sodom was destroyed because of their homosexual practices among other things, this was taken out of the episode. The very relevant part of Sodom men asking Lot to give them the angels to have sex with them was completely eradicated from this History Channel episode. Trying to cover-up the homosexuality in this story, they threw mud on God because, once again, He sends judgement on a city, and destroys it completely with no apparent reason.
They were wicked, yes. It was said in the dialogue of Abraham’s conversation with God...but how were they wicked? What did they do to deserve such punishment? When the angels arrive to the city we see a couple (man-woman) kissing passionately publicly, we see an atmosphere of a wild party, but we never get to see the real story. We never get to see the level of wickedness described in the Bible:
“Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.” (Genesis 19)
The episode goes on with a completely surprising, ridicule and nauseating distortion of what the angels did in Sodom in order to protect Lot and his family (leave the Sodomites blind). When they are trying to leave the city, one of the two Roman-dressed “angels” took out swords and made an outstanding demonstration of Martial Arts that would have made Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Miyagi very proud. Seriously, the fighting scene was so ridicule (and long - longer than the story of Adam's fall) that for a moment I thought I was watching the Power Rangers.To make things worse, this Miyagi like “angel” was Asian which reinforces the stereotype and make the miniseries look even worse.
In this tremendous display of martial arts, the angel killed with his sword those who were opposing Lot’s escape from Sodom before its destruction. Once again, adding violence where the Bible does not show it gives viewers a completely false impression of the real story. And once again, the actions of God and His angels seem to be irrational and baseless.Then the story jumped to Moses which took almost 1 of the 2 hour episode. This story was kind of ok, but again, God was almost out of the equation all along.
The episode was completely shallow, a sense of emptiness invaded me while watching it. Almost all the people I talked to about this issue agree in this point. The mini series shows the Bible story in a caricaturesque way that is really bothering. Yesterday I could see how far Christians are willing to go in USA in order to make the Bible sound or look “cool” and modern. Seeing how the mesage was softened just to make it more agreeable is a symptom of a decadent Christianity. We have made The Bible a series no different from The Tudors or The Sopranos which is very sad.
In sum: The distortion of the actions of God's angels are blasphemous (especially when most people know that they just obey God's commands); showing them fighting like a Power Ranger is outrageous (especially when this is a distortion of the Biblical story). Sin is nowhere in this mini series. The cover up of certain key concepts such as disobedience to God and homosexuality (in the story of Lot) were completely disgraceful. As there is no mention of sin, there is no good explanation for God’s judgements on earth. And if there is no sin, the story of Jesus will be completely futile since without it there is no need of a savior.
But after a little bit of research I understood why this mini series is so shallow and why it takes away the viewers' eyes off sin and wickedness...I can’t expect nothing more from the religious leaders behind this remake of The Bible. Most of them are celebrities who can not preach about sin because if they do, they will lose a lot of millions (dollars) each moth, so they have to tell people what they want to hear, not the truth - the truth does not sell. After confirming this I understood why this remake is just entertainment and not an invitation to reflection so we can recognize how much we need Christ.
It does not even tell us a coherent story-which at least should be the goal of the History Channel. The first episode was a collection of apparently unrelated events, and we know very well that this is the opposite to the Bible. The Bible has a very clear storyline: creation of men - dissobedience and fall - unsuccessful attempts to restore comunion with God through the Law - the coming of the Second Adam and the restoration of God's relationship with humanity through Jesus Christ.
This is the story of the Bible and it has a very coherent chain of events that are not only scattered in this series but also distorted. A Sacred Book should be respected if it is going to be made a film. No one in America would dare to put the Koran into film, distort it and show it on a major TV station. Why, then, are film producers so free to do it with the Bible?
Why are some holy books respected and when it comes to the Bible everyone is free to do with it whatever they please? Americans were the same who were demanding respect for the Islamic religion and its sacred book when someone dared to make a stupid film that no one supported. Why the hipocrisy and the double standard with the Bible?
It is my prayer that even with these blatant omissions and distortions, God will reach those who are watching The Bible in the History Channel. I really hope that the many shortcomings of this series will invite its viewers to open their Bibles and compare, and this way get to know the truth so they can be free. I pray that each Sunday till the end of the mini series God will send His Holy Spirit to lead people to all truth and justice in Jesus Christ our Savior while watching. Amen.
