Last night as my wife and I were
watching the latest episode of The Bible mini-series
on the History Channel, she said something to me that was quite profound. She
noted that even though she follows many Christians on Twitter, it was only the
Adventists that were being overly critical. Hardly any of them had anything
positive to say about the series. I noted the same thing on my timeline.
Personally, I enjoyed the second episode more than the first because there was
more action. I did have issue with the Samson scene with the jawbone only
because I thought it could have been more epic, but the scene of him in the
temple made up for that. But this raised a pressing question in both of our
minds: what is wrong with us (Adventists)? Why can’t we just enjoy things? Are
we the self-appointed “factual purity police”? I want to briefly address
Adventism as it relates to our biblical criticism and the influence we have as
Christians.
As I said earlier, I have enjoyed The Bible series so far. My only beef
with the first episode was that it was a little slow and slightly boring with
the exception of a few parts. Last night’s episode was much more entertaining
just as far as the action and drama were concerned. Are there some
inaccuracies? Yes. Are there some embellishments? Yes. Do they take dramatic
license? Yes. Are people watching it?! YES! Are Atheists and adherents of other
religions entering a social media dialogue with Christians? YES!! Is there a
possibility that people will be drawn to Christ as a result of this series!
YES!! Then what is our problem?!?!? Many critics out there feel it is their
responsibility to uphold the factual integrity of the Scripture, and that’s ok
I suppose…but when our voice is dominantly critical then I believe there’s a
problem.
I learned a lesson several years ago
while studying theology at Oakwood University. Young theology majors that are
just being exposed to proper study methods of the Bible easily get lost and
caught up in the game of pulpit criticism. Every preacher that dared to stand
behind that pulpit was under doctrinal, biblical, and factual scrutiny. I was
not exempt from this phenomenon. One week for chapel a guest speaker preached
and was well received by the student body. Many people gained a real and
genuine blessing from what he presented. When I went to lunch I sat with some
friends who were raving up and down about how blessed they were by the sermon.
I then proceeded to break down all of the errors in the sermon…all the places
where he was exegetically inaccurate and where I thought he was stretching the
text to make his point. I immediately sensed that I single-handedly brought a
cloud over the whole table. The blessing that everybody was raving about
receiving was gone. I robbed them of it. I learned after that incident that
everything doesn’t need to be critiqued. I learned that my voice did, in fact,
have influence and that I had the ability to literally rob people of a genuine
blessing they may have received from God.
If there is blatant doctrinal or
theological error then as a pastor I do have the responsibility to address it.
But some things just aren’t that big of a deal...for instance, in the first
episode, Sarah ran to meet Abraham and Isaac after she figured out what was
happening. Now the Bible says that the journey was 3 days to Mt Moriah, so
factually she wouldn’t have been able to do that. Ok, small error. Does it
matter to the spirit of the story or did it detract from the message of the
text? NO! So who cares!?!
My concern is that all of us
Adventists will be mindful of whatever influence we may have in the larger
community. This series provides us with a wonderful opportunity to engage
people in conversation about the Bible and about JESUS in particular! Let’s not
miss that opportunity because of a few factual missteps! Let us not rob
people’s blessings by our incessant criticisms! Christianity is not going to
crumble because you failed to point out that there weren’t angel ninjas in
Sodom…just enjoy that ride and PRAY that God will use this series to bring
people to Him. THAT is the point of the series.
Shalom
