A few things I'm going to touch on from her post....
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"]
The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah, a painting by John Martin (painter), died 1854, thus 100 years. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption][quote style="3"]The beginning of this series was, at least from my perspective, simply one more push toward a legalistic view of scripture that I will eventually have to work on undoing at a later date. That the perceptions people will walk away with if they are not already Biblically literate will be that God is a vengeful, wrathful, judgmental God that scares people into submission. That this is yet another venture in discussing the bad theology, the skewed characterization, the flat out wrong details, the armor-laden ninja-like angels that go into Sodom and Gomorrah... (Ok, maybe we can keep that.)[/quote]
True, most people will see God as a deity who scares people, but that is what is seen in the entirety of the Old Testament. Israel keeps messing up, God smacks them on the rump, sends them into exile for a few years (the Mighty Time Out), then allows them to return to The Promised Land. Basically, that is the Old Testament in a nutshell. A few other things sprinkled in to show that God isn't a totally sadistic parent (Ester, Psalms, and Ruth come to mind). But, all in all, they are depicting God accurately in the setting.
Oh, and I thought the ninja-like angels rocked!
[quote style="3"]I was a bit annoyed by, but let go of, the fact that Abraham and Sarah looked like they were maybe in their mid-fifties when they set out from Haran (Abraham was actually 75 when he started travelling cross-country).[/quote]
It makes sense to me. The people in the earlier chapters of the Bible were supposed to live longer, so it is reasonable to portray Abraham and Sarah a bit younger looking than what you would expect.
Oops! I was going from memory here. As pointed out by Pastor Rebecca in her comment, she is indeed correct (more on this in my follow up to her comment). --HK
[quote style="3"]Moses came off as some sort of deranged avenger, telling God to use him to free His people, an almost psychotic glint in his eye as he stared down the camera. Startled, as I heard those utterances, I yelled out, "That is SOOOO not what Moses said or how he reacted!"[/quote]
Pastor Rebecca also mentions the fact they totally got the burning bush wrong and didn't show how important the call of Moses was. I agree with her in both these cases. Just had to quote her here because I was doing the same thing. We also agree that there was too much leap-frogging going on and some of the more powerful elements of the Biblical Saga were left out. But, that's what happens when you have only about 10 hours to tell the story of the Bible from start to finish.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they treat the story of Paul. Stay tuned, I might be ripping that section apart. In the mean time, be sure to visit Pastor Rebecca's blog and read her whole article, it is well worth it.
Related articles
Oops! Yes, Abraham was living in Haran when God called him.
ReplyDeleteUr's prosperity was coming to an end during Abram's childhood. It was located on the right bank of the Euphrates River and was one of the most important cities of the Sumerians (Interesting point, here, if it is Ur of the Chaldees, this would make Abram Aramaeen, but that will never win out over tradition). The city was also a major center of Moon Goddess worship and also possessed a mighty ziggurat (possibly a link to the Tower of Babel story). Over time, silt began to build up at the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, thus depriving Ur it's importance and contributing to it's decline.
So, when Abram and his family pulled up stakes to move to Haran on the eastern bank of the Balik River, sixty miles north of the upper Euphrates, it makes sense. They were moving to more fertile grounds. And it is was there that Abram received his call from God and had his name changed to Abraham.
"The city of Haran enters into history as more than merely a place of which one might say 'Abram Slept here.' It is the site of three dramatic battles. It was an important bastion of the Assyrian Empire and when that empire fell, it was at Haran that its forces made thier last stand --- and were destroyed. To the Romans, Haran was known as Carrhae. There, in 53 BCE, a Roman army under Crassus was defeated by the Parthians, a crucial check to the expanding empire. In 296 CE, the Roamn Emperor Galerius was defeated there by the Persians in another dramatic battle." ---Asimov's Guide to the Bible, page 60.
There are all the facts that I should have looked up before I made my erroneous statement in the post. As for further response to the rest of the points made, I shall have to return later, my little one is awake and demanding attention.