8 Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Your works.
9 All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name.
10 For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.
In our spiritual formation, we start with God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. Seated at His right hand is Jesus, His Son, who is risen from the dead and has raised us up with Him. He has given us His word to provide insight into His nature and instruction to His people. We are called to follow the Lord Most High and allow the Scriptures to be our absolute authority regarding who God is and how we relate to Him. Humanity's ideas about God should always be driven by the Word, not a God who is conjured up in the frail wisdom of mankind.
The Bible gives us tremendous insight into the nature of God, and we recognize that we have been created by Him, in His image, rather than Him being "created" in the futility of human wisdom. Isaiah 40 says:
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Hold on to your remotes! Hollywood seems to be set to serve up some material that deals with faith-related topics. While we cannot expect film producers that don't live in that world to get it right regarding matters related to the Bible, you can only hope that they might get in the ballpark, at least not to the extent of offending Christians and maybe offer some insight into the importance of faith.
Here's what's on the menu:
The Hollywood Reporter states that the CBS has "handed out a pilot order to comedy Living Biblically, based on the book The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. It reports that, "The project centers on a modern-day man who, at a crossroads in his life, decides to live life according to the Bible." It is being written by Patrick Walsh, associated with 2 Broke Girls and will be executive produced by Johnny Galecki of The Big Bang Theory.
So, how about the source material? Noted pastor and book reviewer Tim Challies said:
The Hollywood Reporter notes that networks are re-evaluating their programming during this season of pilots, and that, "Dramas and comedies that appeal to the heartland...have been among this season's hottest trends" It points out:
Well, the danger with portraying religion in entertainment is that it is expressed in the eyes of the writers, producers, and directors. And, too often, I think you can see that God is made in the image of man instead of recognizing that we are in the image of God. The filmmakers' view of God drives the process, and the god that they come up with may be very different than the God of the Bible.
That's not to say exposure to religious content can't give Christians opportunities for reflection and perhaps even for conversation with other about faith matters, but we can't always expect entertainment types to get the basics right. Now if your name is Kendrick, Erwin, Devon Franklin, or Mark Burnett and Roma Downey - another story...they have a proven track record of handling faith with care. Others, I would say, not so much.
So, when consuming faith-related entertainment products, proceed with care. And, there's something else that I want to point out. I chide film and TV producers for making God in their own image. We have to guard against doing the same thing in our own lives. It is critical that we allow the Scriptures to shape our view of God. And, in our decision-making, we can be challenged to follow the direction of the Spirit and be obedient to Him, rather than coming up with our own plan of action and asking God to bless it. In our spiritual growth, we start with Him and His Word, then allow Him to direct our thinking and ultimately how we act.
+++++
The Bible gives us tremendous insight into the nature of God, and we recognize that we have been created by Him, in His image, rather than Him being "created" in the futility of human wisdom. Isaiah 40 says:
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Hold on to your remotes! Hollywood seems to be set to serve up some material that deals with faith-related topics. While we cannot expect film producers that don't live in that world to get it right regarding matters related to the Bible, you can only hope that they might get in the ballpark, at least not to the extent of offending Christians and maybe offer some insight into the importance of faith.
Here's what's on the menu:
The Hollywood Reporter states that the CBS has "handed out a pilot order to comedy Living Biblically, based on the book The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. It reports that, "The project centers on a modern-day man who, at a crossroads in his life, decides to live life according to the Bible." It is being written by Patrick Walsh, associated with 2 Broke Girls and will be executive produced by Johnny Galecki of The Big Bang Theory.
So, how about the source material? Noted pastor and book reviewer Tim Challies said:
Jacobs is at his best in this book when seeking the heart of the biblical commandments, when rather than just blindly following the commands he is seeking the reason God gave them and attempting to obey not the letter but the spirit. He is at his worst when he is being deliberately Pharisaical, seeking to adhere to the letter rather than the spirit.Challies observes:
In the end of it all, Jacobs seems to be little better off than when he began. He remains agnostic but somehow feels he can and should pray (to whom? to what end?). He has discovered some cultural Jewish roots but does not seem to have found any true faith. He has discovered the value of the sacred, but continues to forsake God.So, if the sitcom makes it to the network lineup, you might have to measure the "Biblical" content with the Bible itself. In the "year of" category of books, a better choice might be former guest on The Meeting House, Sara Horn, and My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife: A One-Year Experiment...and Its Liberating Results. The founder of Wives of Faith, which reaches out to military wives, has also written My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife: A One-Year Experiment…and Its Surprising Results.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that networks are re-evaluating their programming during this season of pilots, and that, "Dramas and comedies that appeal to the heartland...have been among this season's hottest trends" It points out:
Of those pickups, military dramas (and comedies) have been hot as well as religious programming. ABC has drama The Gospel of Kevin, which follows a down-on-his-luck guy who is tasked by God with a mission to save the world, and NBC has drama For God and Country, which explores personal sacrifices of the members of the military.Meanwhile, over at Fox, it looks like Queen Latifah is developing her own Bible-related series, a drama called, The Scroll. The Hollywood Reporter states that:
From Holly Carter's faith-based Releve Entertainment production company, The Scroll will reimagine some of the Bible's most popular stories in the present day, through a group of friends and colleagues who are modern-day versions of some of the Bible's most notable characters. If it is picked up to series, The Scroll would become the first-ever contemporary drama series based on the best-selling book of all time.NBC has tried its hand at a religiously-themed comedy this season with The Good Place with Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, in which the main character is sent to the "good place" in the afterlife by mistake. Plugged In's review says:
While The Good Place isn't designed to challenge anyone's faith—it's really just too silly for that—it certainly runs counter to what most Christians believe about heaven. This "Good Place" is for do-gooders, as measured by secular, progressive standards of goodness, circa 2016.As Plugged In points out, Danson's character states: "each of the world's religions only figured out five percent of the big picture." Seems the only requirement to get in is to be good.
Well, the danger with portraying religion in entertainment is that it is expressed in the eyes of the writers, producers, and directors. And, too often, I think you can see that God is made in the image of man instead of recognizing that we are in the image of God. The filmmakers' view of God drives the process, and the god that they come up with may be very different than the God of the Bible.
That's not to say exposure to religious content can't give Christians opportunities for reflection and perhaps even for conversation with other about faith matters, but we can't always expect entertainment types to get the basics right. Now if your name is Kendrick, Erwin, Devon Franklin, or Mark Burnett and Roma Downey - another story...they have a proven track record of handling faith with care. Others, I would say, not so much.
So, when consuming faith-related entertainment products, proceed with care. And, there's something else that I want to point out. I chide film and TV producers for making God in their own image. We have to guard against doing the same thing in our own lives. It is critical that we allow the Scriptures to shape our view of God. And, in our decision-making, we can be challenged to follow the direction of the Spirit and be obedient to Him, rather than coming up with our own plan of action and asking God to bless it. In our spiritual growth, we start with Him and His Word, then allow Him to direct our thinking and ultimately how we act.
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