- Episode 9 "Passion"
- Episode 10 "Courage"
Part 5
In this last two hours of The Bible, the viewer finds once
again a mixture of accuracy with flagrant disregard for the sacred text that
they are supposed to be showing. In
fact, the presentation seems to vacillate between the two. What actually happened was that Judas told
the chief priests and the elders to take back their money. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent
blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.” Then he threw down the money in the temple. In the miniseries, however, he throws it at
Malchus, who has just brought Jesus down the steps and made a quick
announcement to the crowd that Jesus has been found guilty and is worthy of
death. Judas says, “Take back your
money.” Then he goes out and hangs
himself. None of the gospel writers hint
that Malchus made such an announcement or that Judas threw money at him. Pilate’s wife warns him three times
against condemning Jesus. Mary watches
Jesus being scourged while the priests are busy stacking the crowd to be sure
that Barabbas is released instead of Jesus.
Jesus before Pilate was accurate—even to the governor saying, “What is
truth?” Pilate washed his hands as he
reluctantly turns Jesus over to be crucified, and Jesus begins His journey to
Golgotha. At one point where He
stumbles, His mother Mary reaches Him, and He tells her not to be afraid—that
all things are possible with God. After
this error, they accurately portrayed Pilate refusing to change the title that
would be placed above Jesus ‘ head. It
said, “King of the Jews,” and would not be changed to: “He said He was the King
of the Jews.”
The Crucifixion
As Jesus is climbing the hill of Golgotha, a lamb and two
turtledoves are being offered by the high priest. Meanwhile Pilate comments to his wife, “He’ll
be forgotten in a week.” Mary reaches up
and touches His foot while Jesus is on the cross, an action which arose from
someone’s imagination. The most accurate
part of the crucifixion is that Jesus says the seven things He is recorded as
saying in the Scriptures (although two of them were out of order). After this portrayal, the consideration of
truth deteriorated quickly. From this
point on, the miniseries becomes more and more disappointing. Although there are dark clouds that roll by
at the time of Jesus’ death, no darkness covers the land for the last three
hours of His time on the cross. The
lampstand in the temple overturns, and an earthquake causes the veil of the
temple to come crashing down, but it is supposed to tear from the bottom to the
top. The centurion presses the spear
into Jesus’ right side, but no water and blood comes forth. The spear, when removed does have red upon
it.
The stage is set; the centurion looks up at the cross, and
the viewer is waiting for those wonderful words that the actual centurion
spoke: “Truly this was the Son of God.”
But only silence greets one’s ears.
What would it have taken—three seconds—for him to have uttered those
powerful words? Why were they omitted
when they just as easily could have been included?
Nicodemus and someone unidentified (presumably Joseph of
Arimathea) take Jesus out to the tomb, but they have no hundred pounds of myrrh
and aloes with them. Meanwhile Mary is
sent back to Galilee—even though John just promised to be her son a day or two
earlier. She is not among those in the
upper room. None of the other women are
with Mary Magdalene, and when she gets to the tomb, no Roman soldiers are in
sight. She sees the rock split (as
opposed to angels rolling it away) and enters the tomb (John 20:1; Matt.
28:2). She goes in and sees His clothes,
but no angel is inside the tomb. Then
Jesus speaks to her and tells her to go tell the other disciples, which she
does. They tell her that it is not
possible and that she saw someone else.
Peter and John go with her and see the empty tomb. Peter returns and recalls the Last Supper. Thomas laments, “No, this isn’t real.”
The Ascension
The miniseries does have Jesus inviting Thomas to touch
His wounds, and the hole in one of His hands is interesting. When Jesus ascends into heaven, He first
tells them that the Holy Spirit will come upon them. Then He commissions them:
“Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to all creation….” Then, silence—again. They left off the part about, “He who
believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be
condemned.” Jesus concludes by saying,
“Peace be with you”; then He ascends.
Pentecost The disciples
become excited to see Stephen arriving in Jerusalem, but nothing of his
background is stated. He is present, as
is Mary Magdalene, on this crucial day as the mighty rushing wind begins as
they are reciting the Lord’s prayer (which is doubtful); however, no cloven
tongues as of fire sit upon them. They
all praise God in different languages (which is better than some lame attempt
to make them ecstatic utterances). But
no accusation of drunkenness follows, and Peter does not preach the first
gospel sermon. The Bible has been
leading up to this day for centuries, and the proclamation of the gospel is critical,
but the producers just ignored it. No
gospel message is included. Not one of
the 3,000 souls is baptized (Acts 2:41).
Peter heals the lame man from Acts 3 on the same day, and
Stephen is also stoned. Those
responsible for The Bible were more unkind than the Jews. They, at least, let Stephen preach before
they stoned him. He presented no message
here. Although he does see the heaven
open and the Lord on the right hand of God, he is not portrayed saying, “Lord,
lay not this sin to their charge.”
Paul of Tarsus
No, you read it correctly.
Although the Bible never calls the persecutor of the church Paul of Tarsus,
the miniseries introduces him this way.
If anyone is looking for a designation of this 10-hour miniseries, the
Paul of Tarsus version of the Bible would encapsulate its errors. No one ever referred to Paul that way; furthermore,
he was not called Paul, period, until after his conversion and the beginning of
his first missionary journey (Acts 13:9).
He certainly did not go by Paul at the stoning of Stephen. One wonders who the producers could have
possibly consulted with on these matters—surely, no one who knows the Bible
well.
Paul of Tarsus gets Malchus to join him in persecuting
Christians, and they invade a place where Christians are meeting. They torture a disciple who tells them that
Christians have fled to Damascus. So
Paul gets on his phantom horse that he
has been riding ever since Good News for Modern Man was published, showing Saul
falling off a stick figure pony. He saw
Jesus and then became blinded. The men
with him do not see anyone.
In Damascus, Jesus commissions Ananias to go to “Paul of
Tarsus,” who is blind and very nervous.
When Ananias approaches, he wants to know who is there. Ananias restores his sight and says, “I,
Ananias, baptize you, Paul, in the name of Christ” and he pours a pitcher of
water over his head. Exactly what
Biblical or historical fact is this nonsense based on? Was there no one working on this project that
read Acts 8, where Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and came up
out of it again? It’s hard to get a
pitcher of water out of that! “Paul’s”
conversion is only the next chapter!
They had done such a wonderful work of showing John in the
Jordan River baptizing Jesus by immersion.
What happened? Did someone tell
them, “You will alienate many in Protestant denominations if you leave it at
that”? Did someone advise them to show
some other method of baptism so as to be more inclusive? They had baptism right initially; this switch
from the accurate portrayal of the act was obviously a sell-out aimed at
pleasing those who refuse to do it properly; it was a clear compromise of what the Bible
teaches. Later at the house of
Cornelius, they dip everyone’s head into a well. The only surprising thing at this point is
that no one sprinkled water on the penitent.
James, Paul, and John
Someone must have rolled the dice and said it was time to change the
order of historical events. James the
brother of John is put to death (which occurs in Acts 12). The apostles realize they have to finally
leave Jerusalem. Someone asks John where
he thinks he will go, and he answers: “North, to Ephesus.” Does any Bible student think that if John was
asked this question that he actually answered these words? Didn’t think so. Besides, Ephesus is north and considerably
west of Jerusalem. Furthermore, Paul was
the first apostle to actually travel there (Acts 19).
At this point Paul came to Jerusalem and tried to join
with the disciples. One of Paul’s
detractors said, “I have friends in Damascus; you paid them a visit,” which is
untrue. Saul the persecutor never
visited Christians in Damascus because he was struck blind first. Rejected by brethren, he began quoting 1
Corinthians 13:4-7, a great text, which he wrote several years later. The previous critic changed his mind and
embraced Paul. Anyone guessing that
Paul’s benefactor was Barnabas knows the Bible better than The Bible’s
producers. They have Luke responding
positively to Paul.
Shortly thereafter, Peter is arrested and taken to Cornelius,
who, rather than do him harm, wanted to hear the gospel. Everyone bowed to him, and Peter did say he
is a man like they are. Of course, Peter
was not brought to Cornelius by Romans, and this event (recorded in Acts 10)
happened before James was slain (Acts 12).
Peter did not dip Cornelius’ head in water to baptize him. The Holy Spirit coming upon Cornelius and his
household to prove that the Gentiles were acceptable to God did not occur—especially
since there were no Jews with Peter anyway in this version.
Conclusion
The ten hours comes to a close by moving down the road
twenty years and mentioning that, according to tradition, Peter was crucified
upside down in Rome. Paul is arrested for preaching to prisoners. Actually,
that is inverted, also. Paul preached to prisoners after he was jailed (Acts
16, et al.). Paul is not shown being arrested in Jerusalem and taken to Rome. Nothing
is said about that at all. The narrator informs the audience that John was
poisoned in Rome. What? But then he adds that the Romans were unsuccessful in
their attempt and banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote
Revelation. Nothing is ever said about him being in Ephesus, as predicted
earlier. He sees Jesus, but it is not the vision from Revelation 1. He talks
about there being no more pain and death, affirms that He will make all things
new, and promises that He is coming soon. His final words are, “May the grace
of the Lord be with all God’s people,” to which John adds, “Amen.” Our conclusion
is that this “Paul of Tarsus” version, except for about 30 minutes out of ten
hours, is not worth seeing and will only confuse the viewer. It is riddled with
inaccuracies and misinformation. The Nativity and The Passion of the Christ are
far better and more inspirational. As far as the Old Testament, Cecil B.
DeMille’s The Ten Commandments remains the best, though it contains several
errors as well.
Gary W. Summers
*altered format from original publishing to correspond to aired episodes