I'm Extremely Offended by the Bible Miniseries

I am extremely offended by the Bible miniseries. Not because I hate the Bible, but because I love the Bible, and I love TRUTH. It absolutely boils my blood to see the Word of God run through a sieve which lets all of the good theology fall through the holes and keeps just enough truth to make people think it's being true to the Book, when it is in reality perverting the message of God's Word.



This is not a post to point out every single discrepancy with the program. To do so could take days, and the season hasn't even ended yet! However, if you're looking for something like that, I would point you to Chris Rosebrough's Fighting for the Faith podcast. He has several episodes on the subject that are VERY well done.

 Instead, I'd like to talk about the overall theme of the show. It seems to me that the whole point of a Bible miniseries should be to preach the Gospel, and would be, if it were created by people who truly loved and were knowledgeable about the Bible. However, this series is created by the guy who made Survivor and his wife, who was on Touched by an Angel, another theologically inept television show. This in itself is not an indictment, because believers can exist in Hollywood. What IS telling, however, is that they claimed to consult many theologians in the writing of this show. The top three cited are: Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, and T.D. Jakes. The fact that any of these men are put under the heading of theologian is questionable. I think "inspirational speaker" is more appropriate. I don't think any of them would even know the Gospel if it slapped them in the face.

 There seems to be two common threads through the miniseries so far. The first seems to be the Covenant that God made to Abram. Most of the "main" characters have some reference to it in their dialogue, each saying things like "Now we can press on to fulfill the covenant that God made with Abraham". The point of the whole Bible is that we humans are incapable of keeping God's laws and fulfilling our ends of covenants. The miniseries is severely lacking in anything resembling sin and repentance. The miniseries also keeps talking about man repairing its relationship with God, but says it in a way that implies that it is even possible. It's not.

As it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
“Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Romans 3:10-18

No one is able to repair the relationship with God and man. THAT is precisely why Jesus was necessary. Jesus lived a life without sin so that He could take all of our sins upon Him as He died, becoming the perfect sacrifice needed to appease God's wrath against our sin and save us from God's judgment. THAT is the theme of the Bible.

I think that what discourages me even more than seeing the mockery that this Miniseries has made of God's Word is seeing so many Christians jump on the bandwagon. Why is it that anything or anyone labeled Christian is taken at face value to be so? American Christians are so bad about this, jumping on the latest "Christian" fad without looking deeper to see if there is any substance to it. Why? Truth is rarely popular, so why assume that something popular is automatically good? All things should be tested against Scripture to see its worth.

Is discernment no longer being taught in churches? Are churches caring too much about the number of people being "saved" that they do not care to see if they are true conversions? If the conversions are true, then are churches fulfilling their duty of making disciples?

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

I know this is a long and windy rant, but here's my point: Take NOTHING at face value, but test ALL things against Scripture.

 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. (2 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

Digital Diarrhea

So....I'm obviously horrible at this. It's been since February. WHAAAAAT? I always have such good ideas in my head of what I could write about....but after a nice long day at work, I always end up talking myself out of it.

Well I guess big news since I last posted is that I'm going to be having another little boy! His name shall be Graham (middle name still in debate). I'm due on December 3, but little man seems to be hinting toward the fact that he wants to come early. Going the full 40 stinks, so I'm not completely opposed to the idea, but considering that I'm only 30 weeks now, I'm going to need him to stay in there and cook a little longer. I'm going to see my doctor again on Friday, and see what her opinion is. I have a bad feeling that I may be put on bed rest, but we'll see.

So what else is new? Well the people on Facebook still annoy the poop out of me. It's politics season right now, which means it's time for everyone to complain about how much they hate seeing people post about politics. I actually enjoy politics, so I'm more annoyed by the people complaining about it. Oh, and the liberals. I've gotten rid of most of them though. :) Who says it's wonderful that people have different opinions? I think it's awful, and everyone should be like me.

That's all I have the patience for right now. BYE.

Blahg Post

How do people come up with things to blog about? I guess they have interesting things happen to them. I work. A lot. I have the normal 8-5 job but then I also do several things on the side. I've been pretty blessed to have been given opportunities to make extra money on the side. Except, I have to claim it as self-employment income on my taxes, and I have no expenses to set against it. So it ALLLL got taxed. Yeah, that wasn't fun.

And I just procrastinated for a good half hour because I don't know what to write about. :)

I guess I can talk about myself. As someone said tonight, "All bloggers are narcissists."

I am 26. I'm about to have my 3-year anniversary on Valentine's Day. My husband and I chose that day to be ironic, because neither of us are sentimental or mushy. However, we've begun to realize it was a bad idea...because now restaurants will ALWAYS be crowded if we want to go out, and it will be more difficult to get a babysitter. Oh well. You live, you learn. I have a two year old son named Leo, and he is absolutely amazing. I know all mothers say this, but he really is the best kid, and the cutest! :)

See? Told ya!

Let's see...I'm an accountant for an e-commerce company. I got both my undergrad and Master's Degree in accounting from Liberty University. I want to get my CPA License but I'm trying to figure out the most economical way to do so. I love to sing. I sing in the worship band at my church. I'm not much of a lead singer, but I've learned to do pretty solid background harmonies.

I'm an extreme introvert and very socially awkward. As far as Myers-Briggs goes, I'm an INTJ...and I have yet to meet another INTJ. I look forward to the day that I do. I thrive on productivity and efficiency. I'm a little bit like a robot.

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. Horrible blog post, I know, but YOU try to type with a 2-year old in your lap!

The Obligatory Introductory Post

I haven't blogged since my Xanga years in college, and I'm not quite sure how to get back in the groove of things. One thing is for sure, and that is that I need an outlet. Facebook is too shallow. I get tired of seeing all my acquaintances re-posting the same shallow videos, articles, and ideas, without any concern for its truth or consistency.

First would be that Jefferson Bethke video, "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus". I will admit, I did not watch it. Perhaps I will get around to it one day, but the title annoys me too much. Since college, I have heard over and over again, "It's not about religion, it's about a relationship." Technically, this is true. Jesus states in John 14:6:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (NASB).

Jesus is the only way through which one can be saved, and I have no argument with that. I think that the phrase "It's not about religion, it's about a relationship" is mostly aimed toward legalism, which is why the phrase, on the surface level, appears harmless. I think that this phrase first started to annoy me when I was in college. I was attending a church in my college town that was all fluff. They LOVED this phrase. Every week that I showed up for church, I was surrounded by people who lived very non-Christian lives, but showed up to get their weekly feel-good on. A spiritual enema of sorts. THESE were the people who made me abhor that phrase. They used to repeat it as their mantra, using it to justify their actions throughout the week. They could let a few rules slide, because after all, they were saved, and that's what matters. It became a battle cry for the sinning lifestyle.

Obviously, the people I am talking about were unrepentant, and therefore, most likely unregenerate, and I know that not everyone who likes using that phrase falls into that category. I just think that we need to be careful what bandwagons we jump onto. The truth is, Christianity is a religion. You cannot get to heaven by following laws, but once one becomes a follower of Christ, one's heart is transformed, and begins to love the law of God. And yes, God has laws. I know it's not "cool" to have laws, but I am tired of people trying to make Christianity cool. In Matthew 10:22, Jesus states that

You will be hated by all because of My name (NASB).

We do not need to make Christianity look "cool". When we attempt to do this, we only make it look inconsistent. There is nothing that WE, as humans, can do to change a sinner's heart. The work is solely God's. People WILL reject the Gospel. The truth is hated, and no one, on their own, longs to know it. It requires the regenerating work of God to make us new and to bring us to Him.

Anyway, that was a long rabbit trail. The other thing that really bothered me was that stupid McDonald's chicken nugget article. If you have been living under a rock and didn't happen to see it circulate through Facebook, it was basically an article with a really gross-looking picture that depicted the process of mechanically separating meat. It then goes on to exaggerate what that process entails. Then, it claims that McDonald's chicken nuggets are made from this meat. I watched scores of people re-post it with a lot of "EWWWWW"s and "OMG"s, and not ONE of them bothered to fact-check. I am naturally skeptical of anything, especially if it has a liberal agenda, so I looked it up, and WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! It's not true. It is a real process, but it has not been used by McDonald's since 2003 or so.

Moral of the story: don't believe everything you read on the internet. And question EVERYTHING. Do NOT jump on a bandwagon unless you know where it's going.