This Is Disturbing - Buyer Beware!!!!
A Response To "The Chosen's" Blended-Harmonised Gospel...
Whatever your views of The Chosen as a Christian tv show are, the producers of the show recently released their own version of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is intensely disturbing. They combined elements from all four gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) into a single ‘blended, harmonised’ account as they are calling it.
In the recent past, Bible translations like the Passion and the Message (amongst others) have tried to make the biblical verses more palatable and easier for the ‘masses’ to read and consume.
Now, please hear me when I say this - THIS IS DANGEROUS TERRITORY!!!
Not because I am a KJV only person (which I think is equally dangerous) - but rather, because these watered down versions of the Bible are adding to the already problematic state of affairs in the modern church. Namely, the high levels of biblical illiteracy in congregations.
Now, we have The Chosen’s attempt at making the Bible palatable to the masses. The put it into 40, daily readings - and to their credit they do say not to solely rely on this and abandon a person’s reading of scripture - but what they say and what others will do are two different things entirely.
The issue is not that people (like The Chosen creators) are trying to make the Bible easier for others to understand - which is a noble cause, as it is a position that seeks to bring people the truth - the real issue is that by making these sorts of translations/versions of the Bible those leaders within the Christian community are showing that they do not trust, nor believe that the ‘Word of God’ is sufficient, nor that the Holy Spirit is able to convict people’s hearts and souls.
The other significant issue is that they are blending the four gospel accounts and are calling it ‘harmonised’ - the problem with this perspective is that denies the fact that the gospel accounts are already harmonised. The four gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are four accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ told from four different perspectives which all add depth, knowledge and understanding of the nature and character of Jesus to the believer. They are NOT four different incongruous accounts that overtly contradict each other, and call into question Jesus’ character, mission and divinity. And they certainly don’t need to be amended or harmonised.
By combining the four in a hodge-podge, stitched together manner, they will ultimately cause confusion in those reading the new ‘gospel’ narrative as they take a sentence or two from one gospel account quickly followed by a statement from another, or even the introduction of a third account’s verses within a single story or parable.
And I pray (but do not hold the hope) that pastors, preachers and teachers of the word do not use it to preach from (as they do from the Passion and Message translations) - and to draw deep spiritual conclusions from. It is bad enough that some teachers of the word have used The Chosen series to preach from in the first place.
The Bible has much to say about changing the Word of God to suit human desires and perspectives…here are a few…
Revelation 22:18-19 “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Some people may rightly point out that these verses specifically relate to the book of Revelation written by John the disciple.
However, by extension it also relates to the entirety of the Bible - here is how. The book of Revelation is all about the ‘revelation’ of Jesus Christ - it even says that in Revelation 1:1-2 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.”
Jesus Christ is known as the ‘Word of God’ - John 1:1-2 reminds us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
And we know that the entire Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit (who is part of the Holy Trinity) - in the format and structure it was written in.
So now we can apply this scripture to the entire Bible.
This serves a s a direct warning to those who deliberately and knowingly change the words (or structure) of the biblical text in a significant manner.
Then we can turn to the Old Testament, when God was providing the written and oral ‘Word of God’ to the Hebrew people to see what God said about the changing of the word. In Deuteronomy 4:2 we find the following statement - “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”
This is a direct instruction from God HIMSELF…
This is not some denominational perspective, or some rabbinical pronouncement - it is the very voice of God speaking, telling us to revere the holy scriptures and not to change them, for they are HIS words and HIS law, and HIS instructions - not our own flawed humanistic perspectives.
Added to the scriptures above we can now turn to Proverbs 30:6 which informs us - “Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” - if a person (or group of people, or corporation etc) chooses, like wilfully chooses to change the holy scriptures (especially for their own benefit) then they will suffer the discipline and wrath of God. This should be a clear cut warning to anyone who wants to distort, water-down or diminish the biblical text.
I pray that the initial good work the makers of The Chosen tv series have achieved is not laid to waste and made void by a move into borderline heretical actions in changing the word of God in an attempt to be seen as being relevant, and culturally appropriate.
I also pray that people, especially those seeking God, and those young (or immature) in their faith are not influenced by this ‘translation’ or version of the gospel.
We live in a time when it is the responsibility of Christians to study their Bible and to know it intimately, so that they are not blown about by the winds of changing doctrines or culturally based versions of the scriptures.
Note: For an outline and resources on “How to Study the Bible” please follow this link —> How To Study The Bible