My wife and I started watching the television series House of David. The producers show a disclaimer before each episode. It says that the writers attempted to remain true to the Bible record of David’s life although they admit to having taken literary license to enhance the drama. This is to be expected whenever we moderns turn the bare bones of the biblical record into a fuller portrayal of life in Bible times. This tactic was present in King of Kings, The Ten Commandments, The Passion of the Christ, The Chosen, and every popular Bible-based drama. These presentations and many more like them have their place in helping us see Bible characters as real people.
I mention King of Kings because it was that movie
that made ten-year-old me realize that the Bible was about men and women who actually
lived long ago, and they were not just paper cut-outs on a Sunday school flannelgraph.
It wasn’t long after seeing that movie that I gave my life to Christ. Many
years later, it was that same realization that motivated me to write a
bible-based novel about Noah’s life. (Wings
of Mentridar) There is very little in Scripture about Noah’s life,
especially prior to God’s call to build the Ark. I researched ancient
Mesopotamian culture and overlaid what we have in the Genesis record to imagine
the daily life of Noah. Then I went way out on a limb and tried to imagine what
it would have been like if God enlisted the aid of His angels to get the ark
built and everyone safely on board. What I wrote was fantasy, but I tried to
write only what I thought could be supported by biblical truth.
Presentations like House of David and The Chosen
are doing something similar. A friend of mine once said he couldn’t watch shows
like that because they weren’t “biblical.” I understand what he means. We
certainly should not build any theology on the musings of Hollywood. The value
of historical fiction, even when it verges into fantasy, is that it may help us
get a grip on what it means to live for God in the real world. The imaginative
portrayal of the struggles of David or Jesus’ disciples can encourage us to
live like we really believe God exists.
I must say that some of the liberties taken by the writers
of biblical fiction are troubling. In House of David, for example, the
writers chose to portray David as an illegitimate child of Jesse. There is a
hint in the biblical record that Jesse may have taken a second wife who brought
two daughters from another man into his household. However, nowhere does Scripture
suggest that David was not the biological son of Jesse. This is important to me
because the prophets and the writers of the New Testament say that David was
Jesse’s son and Jesus’ legal ancestor. I know there are some curious wiggles in
the line of the Messiah (Rahab, Ruth, Perez), but I don’t see the point in
inventing a cause to doubt David’s legitimacy.
I can put up with minor inconsistencies like that as long as
they don’t contradict what we know from Scripture. The Christian faith is a
propositional faith, meaning that there are facts, propositions, that form the
basis of our belief. It is a fact that David is a historical character. It is a
fact that Jesus descended from David’s line. It is also a fact that David was
far from perfect; remember Bathsheba and all the trouble that followed. Watching
dramatic presentations of historical figures should remind us of their humanity
– their reality. Taken correctly, the stories of biblical people can bolster
our faith.
House of David, like many similar productions, can build
faith. This is valuable because too many Christians live in a fictional house
of cards instead of a real house of faith. A.W. Tozer laments that, “It can
hardly be denied that the average Christian thinks of God as being at a safe
distance, looking the other way!”[1]
If we think like that, thinking God is “in Heaven,” and we are somewhere out of
His sight, we are too likely to behave inappropriately. The truth is that God
is not at a distance; He lives in us if we are in Christ. The
Bible calls a believer’s body a tabernacle, a temple – the house of God. If
a fictional drama can help me grasp that reality, I’m all for it.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete