Writers' theologies and creative liberties
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — A.D. The Bible Continues
newguy85 — 10 years ago(April 20, 2015 08:42 AM)
The trial: Pilate did not wash his hands of Jesus blood because they wanted a black and white bad guy
The resurrection: the events of the resurrection made the disciples all appear to be scared even after visiting the tomb, also the two disciples interaction with Jesus on the road to Emmaus is not shown, which is essentially when they realize all scripture was being fulfilled
Jesus' time with the disciples: the time between his resurrection and ascension was 40 days, but the events in the show made it look like a few days, and this time was not spent reminiscing about the good ol' days as the show depicts- Jesus was teaching them about the Kingdom of God. The first time Jesus appeared before the disciples, he breathed the Holy Spirit into them, the show neglects this. Thomas also didn't see Jesus until eight days after he says "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.", he also says "My Lord and my God" when he does see him, which the writers chose to leave out.
Pentecost and the choosing of another apostle: There were at least 120 people in the running to be a new apostle, the show doesn't show that more than 11 and the 4 women were aware of Jesus' resurrection, but the 120 mean that they were probably part of the 500 who saw the resurrected Jesus from 1 Corinthians 15:6, they chose a new apostle, Matthias. The show depicts them reciting The Lord's Prayer like a chant to entice the Holy Spirit to come, which is a ridiculous portrayal. The 120 were present when the Holy Spirit came and 3,000 were converted.
On a side note, when Peter speaks about the Holy Spirit to his daughter, they both say "it" but the Holy Spirit is a person.
So what does it say about the writers' theologies? They don't want to say Jesus is God and they don't want to say the Holy Spirit is a person. They've shown their beliefs to be more Jehovah's witness than Reformed. They deny Jesus' divinity and neglect the Holy Spirit's role as part of the Trinity.
They are also more concerned with having a "Game of Thrones" comparison by showing a tense political battle than staying true to the source material. -
lewisfindley — 10 years ago(April 20, 2015 11:16 AM)
Christians should not enter politicsgee why not every other sort of atheist antitrust pig dog sodomite from the true church ..Rome
Has entered done well toobut that's just my indignant attitude as a protestant fundamentalist heretic troll.
As a NEO reformed,
I never met a JW yet bowed to the pope
I met plenty of pentecatholics ( pentecostal Catholics)
Go bow to your Francis , J W , bow to your whomever , I will bow to Christ -
KatharineFanatic — 10 years ago(April 21, 2015 06:59 AM)
The trial: they did show Pilate washing his hands of Jesus, but they left out the "let it be on your own heads" line.
The road: didn't need it, because it's obvious to all the disciples that scripture is being fulfilled (John often brings this up).
Sped up timeline eh, doesn't matter.
Pentecost I agree, brilliantly done with the fire, but they should have kept in them speaking in foreign languages and converting people by the thousands. I get why they glossed over choosing a new disciple (the story really is about Peter and John, at this point) but leaving out Peter's epic speech was lame.
Um where does it say in scripture that the Holy Spirit is a person? It's referred to as He, in that it is the divine and an essence of God, but I've never heard it referred to as a person before. (How can a person indwell believers?)
They have said Jesus is God / the Son of God / the fulfiller of Prophecy many times in the first three episodes and implied that the Holy Spirit is a spiritual essence and by extension and logic, part of the trinity; not sure where you're concluding that they're not. -
newguy85 — 10 years ago(April 21, 2015 08:18 AM)
I don't recall them saying Jesus is God, I do remember them saying Son of God, but it's important that he is recognized by the disciples as God.
I think the road did matter because it showed that they weren't in lock down mode like the writers are steering the story.
Pentecost should have been a bigger moment with the 120 disciples and not just the 11, his speech would have been an epic scene, but they chose to continue the squashing the rebel story line instead of the true events in the bible.
It's important that the Holy Spirit is a person to complete the doctrine of the Trinity. His personage is displayed in Acts 5:3 when Peter says, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God. An essence can't be lied to.
In John, the Spirit is called He and Him, and has the action of teaching those whom he indwells, "15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,[f] to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[g] in you."
During Jesus' journey into the wilderness it is the Spirit who leads him. A person leading another person, not an essence.
The Spirit also participated in the creation of the world in Genesis 1.
The Father's personhood is never questioned though He is never directly called a person in the scripture.
implied that the Holy Spirit is a spiritual essence and by extension and logic, part of the trinity; not sure where you're concluding that they're not.
The Trinity is three persons, each person is wholly God, and there is only one God. -
KatharineFanatic — 10 years ago(April 22, 2015 05:28 AM)
Do you think God has a physical body?
I don't. I think "person" is not literal, but figurative. Thus why we see the Holy Spirit manifested so often through fire throughout scripture. I would say that it is a being, but not a tangible being unless it needs a tangible body for a specific purpose. -
newguy85 — 10 years ago(April 23, 2015 02:13 PM)
I think that God's essence is spirit, Grudem explains it this way, "[He] exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence."
I do believe that person is literal and personhood can be attributed to all three members of the trinity. What personhood means exactly is a philosophical question, but I am comfortable defining personhood from the Greek prosopon which is the term used for actor's masks on a stage which conveyed all of their character and emotions.
That being said, my view of the Holy Spirit having personhood is attributed by His attributes, character and actions:
John 14:26: the Spirit teaches
John 15:26: the Spirit bears witness to us about Christ
Romans 8:16: the Spirit bears witness to us that we are children of God
Romans 8:26-27: the Spirit prays and intercedes for us
1 Corinthians 2:10-11: the Spirit searches the mind of God
Acts 16:6-7: the Spirit forbids the apostles to speak
Acts 8:29: the Spirit speaks to Philip
Acts 13:2: the Spirit speaks to the apostles
Acts 15:28: adding no further burdens to the believers seemed good to the apostles and the Spirit
Ephesians 4:30: the Spirit can be grieved
Additionally the Spirit is mentioned separately from the power of God, so they can't be the same "thing":
Luke 4:14: Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit
Acts 10:38: God the Father anointed Jesus the Son with the Holy Spirit and with power
Romans 15:13: the Holy Spirit has His own power (similar to Luke 4:14)
1 Corinthians 2:4: "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" -
AngryNegroMan — 10 years ago(April 28, 2015 09:55 PM)
If you read the Bible all of the Gospel Resurrection accounts + acts resurrection all contradict eachother. Mark actually has a VERY BRIEF resurrection in which the women see the open tomb and run away telling no one and we never even read of jesus appearing afterward in Mark
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newguy85 — 10 years ago(May 01, 2015 08:35 AM)
They don't necessarily contradict each other. They have details left out or added based off the author's experience. The main point that Jesus resurrected from the dead was consistent throughout each Gospel.
If the details were carbon copies from four different author's, one might question if they colluded to "get their stories strait". -
newguy85 — 10 years ago(May 11, 2015 08:58 AM)
I am a couple of episodes back. The episode before the stoning of Stephen. I've lost the desire really to compare it to the book of Acts because it's so far off, but I still have some issues that seem to be too big to ignore.
- The fellowship of believers seems to still happen in hiding even though in Acts 2 they attended the temple daily with one another and Peter and the apostles preached in Solomon's Portico. My guess is that the writers thought hiding made more sense in their story than what actually happened. My issue with showing the believers in hiding is that it shows little faith in the sovereignty of God to protect the apostles and believers of the early church. He didn't make them timid and cautious, He made them bold, and thousands were being saved as they heard the gospel.
- The other issue at this point is how little preaching the apostles are shown doing and interaction with the people what so ever, where are the epic sermons and monologues?
- A third issue which is a bit nitpicky is that the believers were not told to give all of their belongings to the church- the people who gave all did so out of conviction of their own hearts; Ananias and Sapphira were not killed by God for not giving all of the proceeds from the sell of their property, they did not "bet against God" as Peter said in the show, they were killed because they lied that what they were giving was everything from the sell of the property.