As a Christian for a few years now, I have learned that you need to be VERY discerning with regards who who and what you listen to for questions and answers about the faith. (I did not know this at first.) Of course, I use the Bible first and foremost, but even if you are studying it, it’s helpful to have good, believing, divinely inspired people who can help you learn from it and about it, as well as knowing what their short comings are. (We all have them.) I have a precious few that I consider reliable (if at times faulted), including John MacArthur, Ravi Zacharias, C.S. Lewis, the Got Questions website.
My husband, however, is agnostic and is questioning everything. This is actually great news. It took me over 10 years of questioning to figure things out (although I don’t recommend you be as stubborn as me), but in the end, I found my way to faith through the heart, not through logic.
As if in answer to these questions, this time of the year, random non-Christian networks step into the fray to market off the Easter season. This year, CNN is doing a multi-part series called “Finding Jesus: Faith Fact Forgery,” which my husband was curious about. He wanted to watch it together and I’m glad we have, because it’s been a hotbed of disrespect and downright blasphemy for the believer. In truth, I think the only benefit to watching this show is to protect those on a seeking path and to understand what we’re up against in the media at this time of year.
So far, we have watched two episodes and my first complaint is that while this show is titled “Finding Jesus” what it’s really about is “finding relics that could have been in Jesus’ life.” They have covered the shroud of Turin (if you know that history, you too might be surprised) and an alleged finger bone of John the Baptist. In the Turin episode, the main researcher spent – get this – 40 YEARS studying it, convinced it is the burial shroud that covered Jesus. Future episodes include an ancient codex that pertains to Judas, a burial box that allegedly reveals clues about Jesus’ brother James (didn’t I already see a documentary about that years back?), something that may be a piece of Jesus’ cross and ancient text about Mary Magdalene, which is probably about The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, popular in gnosticism. (Learn why its considered heretical.) My problem with relics is that they can present an idol that distracts from the Face of God. It’s my personal opinion that the reason we have no definitive relics from Christ’s life is that God didn’t want them around for us to worship.
During the show, we are shown “reenactments” of scenes from Jesus’ life & times, alternating with scenes of researchers trying to establish the veracity of the relics. Some of these scenes were not that bad. For example, they actually didn’t hold back from showing the brutality of the crucifixion, rivaling even “The Passion.”
The problem for me was how the show belittles God, like wrapping up the Turin episode by calling Jesus an important figure, or that John the Baptist provided a role model for Jesus. (Wait, what???) There was also scriptural cutting that could skewed the story, like when they reenact Jesus being tempted by Satan (Luke 4:1-15). In it the devil tempts Jesus after a 40 day fast with:
“If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus responds by modeling what Christians are supposed to do in times of temptation- stand firm in scripture:
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
The only problem is that CNN put the period after “alone,” leaving out the crucial point of living by the Word of God. In fact, there are lots of questionable and suspect choices that the makers of this “documentary” have selected to make me believe they are actively watering down scripture.
I also could go on about things I perceive as inaccuracies- how they looked (I mean, hello, John the Baptist, what a looker…doubtful), having Jesus cry out during his torture, John completely falling apart in prison, etc., but there was ONE part that really stood out.
When one of the women scholars said that baptism of Jesus put Him, Jesus, in a subordinate role to John the Baptist, my head was prevented from exploding from my husband’s remark, “Well, even I know that’s completely wrong.”
Across the seas, believers, from children to the elderly, are actively being displaced, tortured and beheaded or their faith by a group that believes it can eradicate local Christianity, but here in America, we seek out the Desire of our Heart by turning on cable and listening to lies, half truths and misdirection from a company in search of seasonal market share. Christian faith is not tied to objects or people, it is not a curiosity to be held up and demolish, nor an interesting way to waste an hour of downtime.
Christian faith is, pure and simple, a relationship of love and trust with the Creator who made not only you, but the whole universe. He does not need to be “proven,” “quantified” or “touched” within a relic. He needs you to know that He loves you so much that when and if you ever DO finally see it, the shine from that light will blast away everything you ever falsely held dear and give you a hope that, with every fiber of your being, you KNOW you are completely unworthy of, time and time again. The way to get to know that faith is not by passing curiosity but by a real heart-felt effort to seek to fill that God-hole inside yourself with Truth and then to make up your mind one way or the other.
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matt. 7:7-9. NKJV)
This verse is not about stuff, or goods, or money, or signs, or personal revelations, or power, though many have used it that way. It’s about truly finding Him and entering that door when He opens it. Once that happens, you are His, all His and no one else’s, and no one can take that away from you. Not CNN. Not forged relics. Not family, friends or enemies. Because:
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Paul speaking, in Romans 8:38-39)
If you are nonbeliever with curiosity about Jesus, there are much better sources of information than watching this poorly put together show. “Finding Jesus” is led by religious scholars, most of whom seemed to have no true Christian faith but more of an academic, historical interest in a Jesus and a faith that lives up to their own purposes.
If you’re curious, I recommend Lee Strobel’s books highly, especially if you have a logical mind. Or just watch fiction, because this event is a disservice, in my opinion, to faith in Christ.
Chris Carter says
Wow. This is fascinating and upsetting too. I didn’t know about this series, and I love that you were able to watch it with your husband, so you could ensure accuracy while he was taking all the information in!
It’s such a shame, isn’t it? The way our society views Jesus and turns exploring His Holiness with Headlines and misconstrued manner in which it takes on it’s own momentum moving further away from Truth?
I LOVE your idea about why there aren’t relics of Jesus, so we can’t idolize objects, but worship Him. LOVE that, Gina!
And over seas… the persecution is devastatingly horrific. It sickens me. Haunts me.
Gina says
Thank you Chris! I think if we were meant to have relics, God would have made it so. It is a shame that so few people see the danger.
Amy says
I almost always make a deliberate choice not to read articles from major news sources that deal with Christianity for the same reasons. It’s really tempting. There have been some interesting headlines that have really caught my eye, but I always end up disappointed by the way they portray Jesus, or by the way Christians are portrayed. So I’ve learned to just not click on those headlines.
Gina says
I avoid them as well, although sometimes in my Bible study someone will share a headline and we discuss how to refute it biblically. That’s been good practice for apologetics!
Christina says
Thank you for sharing and I’m so happy that you have found The Answer after ten years! Praying for your husband to find The Answer soon, it is the most wonderful thing that can happen to a person. My husband and I have our testimonies on shofaroutreach.com if you’re interested. He thought Jesus was a good person and teacher but then had a revelation.
Gina says
Thank you so much Christina, I appreciate your prayers! It’s hard to watch how hard my husband has to struggle without the Lord. I hope it happens for him soon.
Cheri Gamble says
Thanks for sharing this. I saw the advertisement for the program and was pretty skeptical from the start. Sad that so many people will take it as the truth just because it was on CNN.
Gina says
Yes, that’s the problem! We perceive CNN as having authority and objectivity (I don’t but many do), and trust their word on these topics, sadly.
Sherri S says
I think it’s important as Christians that we ARE aware of what’s being promoted in the mass media. That’s what our neighbors and unbelieving friends are watching and we need to be ready to discuss things in a loving manner when they have questions. The best thing I’ve found to say to an unbeliever when they say that Jesus was “important, respectable and a great moral teacher” is this: “He called Himself God. He was either correct, or a liar or a lunatic. Would you respect a liar and a lunatic as a great moral teacher? Of course not! Do we respect cult leaders now who say they are God? NO! They are crazy! You either agree with Jesus, that He is God’s son and equal with God or you say He was insane and should not be paid any attention to.” That usually has them thinking and seeking at least. Thanks for the thought provoking post!!
Gina says
It is important but it’s hard to watch so much of it everywhere. (Every couple of weeks I go off on a tangent about how blaspemous “Bones” is). Sherri, that’s wonderful response! Some years back, a pastor lent me “More Than a Carpenter” and though I was in my 30s, raised by Christian parents and had 12 years of Catholic school, I had NO idea this was biblically true! In fact, I’d say I’d been taught that “Jesus never called Himself God.” Reading that and the supporting Scripture completely made it clear that you had to pick one or the other. Thank you for reading!
J. Hereford says
This is an excellent piece – exactly the information I was looking for on this series. Thank you for taking the time to make the substance of this series available to others after viewing it.
I usually skip this type show because invariably I find them disrespectful and maddening – especially the so-called “experts” and scholars. Today there are several well-known, biblically grounded ministers they might at least include, but I have never seen that happen.
I appreciate your heart and your discernment!
Gina says
You’re right – they never include those scholars, which shows they have a position to defend! You’re welcome.
Maria Hass says
I wouldn’t watch CNN even if I were paid. Their anti-Semitism makes any Middle-East reporting unreliable. They will also refuse to acknowledge the “Christian” element in all the people that ISIS is murdering! They will say, “21 Men from a region of Libya were killed by militant extremists” before they will say, “21 Christians were Martyred by Muslim Terrorist group ISIS”. They drive me nuts!
I find it difficult to watch ANYTHING “Biblical” on television for the very reasons that frustrate you. Even “The Bible” series and AD frustrate me because they don’t do Scripture justice a lot of times and it makes me angrier than it actually edifies me! I would almost rather they left the Bible alone if they weren’t going to share it’s truths accurately.
But thank you for the review, it’ll give me the heads up when it comes up in conversation. I’m thankful you had the wisdom to watch it with your husband, and that you know the truth. It’s the truth that sets us free! Praying your husband comes to understand Jesus as Lord from the depths of his heart as well as his mind. God is faithful, and a lot of the convincing can be left in His hands 🙂
Gina says
Oh The Bible series is terrible! Talk about watered-down. As for CNN, let’s remember this is the station that followed the “Balloon Boy” story (and nothing else) for 3 whole days. Yikes. That’s when they lost total credibility with me. Thanks for the prayers! Hope this post helps you witness.