The Chosen: Another “Testament” of Jesus Christ, Part 2
by Christopher S. Brownwell
In “The Chosen: Another ‘Testament’ of Jesus Christ, Part 1” I wrote about some troubling aspects surrounding the show and showed how Dallas Jenkins adds to Scripture and is unequally yoked with his Mormon friends in his attempt to create the “definitive portrayal” of Jesus and His followers. In this article I will lay out some objections to the content of the show. While the show so far has not swerved into outright heresy, the things it gets wrong ought to trouble Christians. The troubling things are subtle, but you should not think that means they are insignificant.
Diminishing Jesus
What you will find is the show subtly paints a picture of a Jesus that is too familiar, too human, too imperfect. Much like the ill-advised “He Gets Us” campaign, (you may have seen the Super Bowl ads and the billboards around town), this portrayal in The Chosen diminishes the authentic Jesus in the eyes of the viewers and makes Him too much like us. I am not saying that Dallas Jenkins or his Mormon producers have the nefarious intention of reducing Jesus. Their bad Christology (i.e. that Mormons and Christians “love the same Jesus”), however, naturally results in making Jesus out to be less than He really is. I will give you just a few examples of how the show diminishes Jesus. There are many, many more.
The Sermon on the Mount
In season 2, episode 5 Jenkins and his Mormon partners show “Jesus” doing sermon prep for his upcoming “Sermon on the Mount” where he fumbles over the wording, and concepts as if confused and unsure of himself. Insecurity and confusion are decidedly human flaws. The Chosen imputes these flaws onto the perfect Jesus.
In season 2, episode 8, Jenkins’s “authentic Jesus” is still unsure of the wording for his sermon on the mount. He solicits Matthew’s help to get the wording of the sermon just right. Matthew then convinces Jesus to change his mind about the beginning of the sermon. The Jesus of The Chosen is depicted as indecisive and unsure, as a flawed human being who needs help. The description of this episode on The Chosen app states that Jesus and Matthew prepare the content of the “big sermon.” Matthew makes some suggestions and Jesus thinks it over as if he had never before thought about what Matthew had advised. He then changes his mind about how he should open his sermon, and follows Matthew’s advice. The writers of the show take the Creator of all wisdom and make Him into just another man who needs the wisdom of men.
In that same episode, as he was making his final preparations for the sermon, the Jesus of The Chosen talks to his mother. She said “I am proud of you.” The show’s Jesus cautions her to withhold her praise until after he’s done in case he messes up in front of the big crowd. Again the writers showed Jesus as a weak-minded, insecure, doubtful man rather than the omniscient Son of God who spoke the words of His Father confidently. See John 14:49.
First, let’s just get one thing about The Chosen’s portrayal of the Sermon on the Mount out of the way. The writers turned this event into some sort of premeditated production with the disciples building a stage for Jesus to deliver his sermon, and them putting up advertisements as if announcing some sort of revivalist tent meeting. Then, after a quick adjustment to his wardrobe at the suggestion of some women, Jesus steps out from behind the curtain onto the stage to see a large crowd assembled to hear him speak.
Scripture, however, seems to indicate that this sermon was not for the crowd, but for the disciples. “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them….” Matthew 5:1-2. Although the crowds most certainly heard the “sermon,” the audience for the teaching appears to be the disciples as he sat down and taught them. The crowds followed Jesus because they wanted to see the miracles. The disciples followed Jesus to hear the words He taught.
Second, the real Jesus did not need the help of Matthew to generate the content for the Sermon on the Mount. “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” John 14:10. In Matthew 4:4, when tempted by Satan, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus spoke the words of His Father. He needed no mortal man to help Him with the wording.
Third, Scripture does not indicate Jesus ever doubted His ability to speak flawlessly in front of a crowd. In fact, He handled Himself superbly while questioning teachers in the temple when he was a boy. These teachers were amazed at His understanding of the Scripture. Luke 2:46-47. The Jesus of Scripture exudes confidence in the words that He spoke, knowing that He was speaking the words of His Father. “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” Matthew 7:28-29. The Chosen diminishes Jesus in the eyes of the viewers by portraying Him with the weaknesses, and insecurities of sinful men.
The Wedding at Cana
In season 1 episode 5 the Jesus of The Chosen is at the wedding feast of Cana. He is in a discussion with Simon Peter about helping Andrew learn how to dance. After they convince Andrew to show his moves, Peter asks Jesus if he can help Andrew. The writers of the show absentmindedly reduce the glory of the Son of God by having him jokingly quip “Some things even I cannot do.”
While Jenkins insists that this line was just a joke, it is a self-deprecating joke at the expense of the Son of God. God asks Jeremiah “Is there anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27. The angel told Mary “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 2:37. Jesus told His disciples “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27. As the omnipotent God, nothing is impossible for Jesus. But, the writers of the show added to Christ’s personality by putting a self-deprecating joke in His mouth.
The portrayal is irreverent. Before you dismiss my objection as frivolous consider this. Psalm 2:10-12 commands “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” We are to revere the Son, not make jokes at his expense. This joke about the inability of Jesus to do something does not accurately portray the Jesus of Scripture who is perfectly God and perfectly man. It does, however, line up nicely with the Mormon view of Jesus as a mere demigod who had to go through a human experience, with human limitations, and learn what it means to be human, in order to be exalted as a god.
Jesus Discourages Worship of Him
In one of the more egregious scenes of diminishing Jesus, the writers have Jesus discouraging Nicodemus from worshiping him. In season 1, episode 7 Nicodemus is
talking to Jesus secretly. Jesus invites Nicodemus to follow him. Nicodemus appears to be convinced that Jesus is something special for no one can do the things Jesus does unless God is with him. As they are getting ready to conclude their discussion, Nicodemus is overcome by joy and wonder. He begins to kneel before Jesus. Instead of accepting his worship, Jesus tells him “You don’t have to do that.” As Nicodemus reaches for Jesus hand, Jesus asks him “What are you doing?” Nicodemus quotes to Jesus that Psalm 2:12 verse mentioned above. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.” The Nicodemus of The Chosen apparently realizes Jesus is the Son of God before “Jesus” does.
Here we have a scene that had so much potential and the writers simply ruined it. Nicodemus is coming very close to the realization that Jesus is God, and he kneels before Jesus to worship him. Instead of accepting worship like the Son of God did throughout Scripture, the Jesus of The Chosen discourages Nicodemus from doing it. Make no mistake, having Jesus dismiss worship of him portrays Jesus as less than God just like Mormons would have us believe. God calls us to worship Him. God commands us to worship Him. Nowhere in Scripture does God refuse worship.
Don’t dismiss the seriousness of these examples by simply viewing them individually. These examples are just a few instances of many on the show where the glorious Son of God is made to be common for the viewer’s consumption. There are dozens and dozens of such ways the script for the show diminishes Jesus. Dallas Jenkins and Derral Eves proclaim that their portrayal is of the “authentic” Jesus, but these examples show the subtle Mormon influence bringing Jesus down in order to elevate man.
“I Have Come to Make a Way”?
In season 2, episode 1 Jesus is talking to his disciples around a fire. Some women are among them, asking questions. One woman asked him, if he is the Messiah, when he will end pain and suffering. The show’s Jesus spoke of a coming kingdom. “I make a way for people to access that kingdom.” The objection here is that Jesus of the show did not state that he is the only way to access the kingdom of heaven. Instead, he said he makes a way. The implication here is that there are other ways to access the kingdom. This objection is significant.
The real Jesus of Scripture made a claim to exclusivity. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus adamantly asserted there is no other way. The Apostle Peter told the council of priests, rulers, and elders in Jerusalem in Acts 4:11-12 “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
This line “I make a way…,” like 95% of the content of the show, is not found in Scripture. Could the writers be planning in the future to cover Christ’s assertion of exclusivity for salvation? Perhaps. Yet, that claim of exclusivity found in Scripture is still absent in the show, and the implication that there are other paths to the kingdom of God still hangs over the show. Think about viewers who have never read the Bible. They will not fill in the blanks with Jesus’s exclusivity. They will think Jesus is one of many ways to salvation.
Instead of making the Gospel plain to people who have never heard it before, Dallas Jenkins has obscured it. If Jenkins wanted to reach people with the “authentic” Jesus he would make clear that Jesus is the ONLY way. Jenkins’s Mormon friends believe in another way to salvation, a salvation by works. “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” 2 Nephi 25:23. The Jesus of Mormonism is not the way of salvation. He is just a way. Their salvation requires “all they can do.” This Mormon “gospel” is not good news at all. Jenkins has not brought them the real Gospel with his portrayal of Jesus in The Chosen.
“What Does Your Heart Tell You?”
In leading up to the portrayal on the show of one of the most well-known passages of Scripture (John 3:16), Jesus talks with Nicodemus in episode 7 of season 1. In his struggle to believe Jesus, Nicodemus asks him “Is the kingdom of God really coming?” The show’s Jesus responds “What does your heart tell you?”
This question, however, is out of character for the real Jesus. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to test truth by looking into our hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 affirms “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Proverbs 28:26 states “One who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” The real Jesus would not steer Nicodemus to look into his deceitful heart, or to his subjective, fickle emotions to find the truth of the coming of the kingdom of God. The spirit of this world, however, would. Our faith comes by hearing the Word of God, not by looking within ourselves for truth. (Romans 10:17). In John 3:11-12 Jesus directs Nicodemus to believe because of His words, not because of Nicodemus’s heart.
Mormons, however, are taught to look within themselves for truth. Moroni 10:4 in the Book of Mormon holds “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that you would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if you shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.” The Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 9:8 established the following test for whether the revelation given to Joseph Smith is true. In April 1829 Jesus supposedly said to Oliver Cowdery, a scribe for Joseph Smith, “But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.” Because of this passage, Mormons assert, contrary to God’s Word, that we all must read the Book of Mormon and ask God to convince us through some subjective, bosom-burning confirmation that it is true.
The “Jesus” of The Chosen, who points Nicodemus to a subjective test for truth, looks more akin to the Mormon Jesus than to the one from Scripture. As Christians we are to test “the spirits” (i.e. prophecies and doctrinal teachings) by the Word of God, not by asking the Holy Spirit for a sign. The Book of Mormon claims to be “another testament of Jesus.” We are to test that assertion of the Book of Mormon by comparing it to the Word of God, not by a subjective burning in our bosoms. Testing the Book of Mormon with Scripture reveals it is merely a false gospel.
Having Jesus ask Nicodemus what his heart is telling him makes Jesus sound more like the fictional Jesus of the Book of Mormon than the eternal Son found in Scripture.
Conclusion
This article is already too long. I do not have space to write about the idolatry of viewers of the show who now picture the show’s portrayal when thinking about Jesus, or how “Jesus” has a new age mystical connection to Peter’s wife in season 1, episode 8, or how the show portrays John the Baptist in season 2, episode 5, as an arrogant, impulsive radical more interested in increasing his influence than in decreasing himself for the sake of Christ, or how, without a shred of Scriptural or historical support, the Romans arrested and questioned Jesus in season 2, episode 7, or how “Jesus” sounds like he is quoting the Book of Mormon by saying “I am the law of Moses” in season 3, episode 1.
The bottom line is this: Dallas Jenkins has not presented an accurate portrayal of the “authentic Christ.” The Chosen is not the “definitive portrayal of God’s people.” God has, in fact, allowed Jenkins “to screw it up.” At best Jenkins has presented a fan-fiction account of Jesus, at worst, a blasphemous portrayal. Again, I am not saying that Christians ought not to watch the show. Watching The Chosen is an issue of Christian liberty. What I am saying is that when you are watching The Chosen, you are not getting a faithful representation of Scripture. Instead, like the fictional account of the Book of Mormon, you are getting “Another (Inauthentic) Testament of Jesus Christ.”
Crossing Swords 