On June 1, 2013, Dr. Russell Moore will become President of the influential Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC). Whether or not you are Southern Baptists, Moore will have huge influence on the Christian worldview and expression of Christianity for many years to come. More…
Jared Wellman
“Change the world,” a caucasian Jesus answers, in a slightly British accent.
This is how Part Three of The History Channel’s The Bible ends. But The History Channel seems to have a different perception of what “changing the world” means than Jesus. This is revealed not by what is included in Part Four of the series, but in what is left out. And what’s worse, The Bible did not leave important scenes from the Bible out; it left important moments out of the important scenes, essentially reformatting the original context of the events. More…
Dr. Randy White
If you will allow with a gracious heart, I would like to share a critique from a mid-career, 25-year Pastor, who is somewhat disgusted with the direction of the modern pastoral ministry. I’ll save the most important for last, but I have a few issues which I think have more importance that one may think at first glance. I believe the modern contemporary pastors are shamefully inadequate in the high task to which they have been called. I find it increasingly difficult to find a pastor who can talk about doctrine or theology, even on a basic level. They are sociological experts, they understand group dynamics, they are leadership pros, and they have a good stage presence. They can talk endlessly about golf or March Madness. Some are even experts in the stock market or politics. They can tell me there are 12 Apostles, but cannot tell me why. Here are a few – grievances I have with the modern ministry. More…
Dr. Randy White
Yesterday my wife, a first grade teacher in our church’s Classical Academy, showed me a new kid’s video that tells the story of the Bible. The particular video was “The Meaning of Easter with Phil Vischer.” Phil is the creator of Veggie Tales, and the series is a Veggie Tales-like animation of Bible. The video is entertaining and even educational. But, as my wife warned me, I was squirming just a minute into the video clip. The Easter video is the only one I can comment on, but the theology underneath the story-line is bad from the git-go! (see video below) More…
Jared C. Wellman
Part Three of The Bible covers six-hundred years of history in two hours. The stories were fairly well done, but it is not unreasonable at this point to suggest that the producers are more interested in recreating the cinematics from the movie 300 than they are with biblical accuracy.
There are essentially three story lines detailed in Part Three. These include Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon (Zedekiah and Jeremiah), Israel’s life while in captivity to Babylon (Daniel), and the introduction to the life of Jesus. While I could spend time talking about each story, I want to focus on the birth of Jesus because tradition has warped many of the biblical details about this event. The tradition was manifested in many ways in Part Three of The Bible.
TRADITION ONE: MARY ENTERED BETHLEHEM IN LABOR
This tradition is portrayed vividly in Part Three of The Bible, but it is easily debunked in the actual Bible. Luke 2:4 records Joseph bringing his family into Bethlehem for the census and Luke 2:6 reveals that they were actually there for a while before Mary gave birth.
While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. More…