Discovery Channel's Who Was Jesus series

  • Thread starter Thread starter Annemariels
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Annemariels

Guest
Does anyone know if this series is accurate through the eyes of Catholicism?
 
A good rule of thumb to apply to any show you see on the Discovery or History Channels that has the Christian (especially the Catholic) religion as it’s topic is that it is going to be inaccurate, sensationalistic, and condescending. They especially like to show an increased number of these programs around Christmas and Easter, all the better to destroy the faith of the gullible and un-informed. Better to avoid them like the plague they are.
 
Fidelis said:
A good rule of thumb to apply to any show you see on the Discovery or History Channels that has the Christian (especially the Catholic) religion as it’s topic is that it is going to be inaccurate, sensationalistic, and condescending. They especially like to show an increased number of these programs around Christmas and Easter, all the better to destroy the faith of the gullible and un-informed. Better to avoid them like the plague they are.
Click to expand...
:eek:???

I’ve always found those to be well researched and very balanced
 
I have been watching this series tonight. I have found it full of inaccuracies!
It is intereting from a historical and archelogical view of the age, but not at all from a biblical interpretation.
  1. Mary in hard labor…Catholic belief is that Jesus was born “as light from a window”
  2. Jesus had brothers and sisters
  3. Jesus was a follower of John the Baptist and only after John was beheaded that Jesus took on John’s followers and began preaching.
  4. They re-created from archeological artifacts a picture of a man of that time frame…and called it the picture of Jesus.
    It focused on the political and sociological …of which I am not an expert, so I don’t know how accurate it is.
    It talked about the stable and date of the nativity as not accurate…we know that …it was probably a cave…and the exact.date doesn’t matter.
    Through these political, socioligical and archeological data they make large leaps to interpreting Jesus and his life. They put a lot of emphasis on economic jealousy and imput it to Jesus and his followers.
    There were some inaccurate bible quotes…can’t remember them at the moment, they just hit me when they said them.
Just some thoughts off the top of my head as I watch it.
Those much more knowledgeable than I probably have seen much more and can explain it better.
 
  1. Jesus was a follower of John the Baptist and only after John was beheaded that Jesus took on John’s followers and began preaching.
  2. They re-created from archeological artifacts a picture of a man of that time frame…and called it the picture of Jesus.
Click to expand...
Brutalizing the evidence is a favorite pass time of dilettante scholars eager to make their name off the “quest for the historical Jesus.” This is a great book.
 
Lutheranteach said:
:eek:???

I’ve always found those to be well researched and very balanced
Click to expand...
You must be watching some other.
Nobody should watch programs about Christianity on these channels and expect to receive good information.
History Channel in particular is not a great lover of Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular.
 
thistle said:
You must be watching some other.
Nobody should watch programs about Christianity on these channels and expect to receive good information.
History Channel in particular is not a great lover of Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular.
Click to expand...
Do you think this just because these programs do not agree with the Church?
 
Has anyone seen programs like these on Natural Geographic? I think they are the most anti-Christian and particularly anti- Catholic I have seen.
 
prettylarge said:
Do you think this just because these programs do not agree with the Church?
Click to expand...
And is that not a valid reason? The most reliable and only official authority on Jesus is his Church (barring himself, sort of, but then he is its head). I’ve seen threads here before complaining about various claims made by such programs, such as Jesus=Mithras. I guess it’s all right to watch such programs as long as you keep a clear head.
Mary in hard labor…Catholic belief is that Jesus was born “as light from a window”
Click to expand...
:confused: I was never taught she had not experienced this. Perhaps it’s a tradition with a small t?

On a related note, I once saw a documentary along the same lines when I was young. For some reason it was recorded on cassette tape. It had “historical Jesus” in the title. I guess it was pretty ecumenical because it featured both the Turin shroud and the book of Mormon.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by prettylarge
Click to expand...
Do you think this just because these programs do not agree with the Church?
Click to expand...
And is that not a valid reason? The most reliable and only official authority on Jesus is his Church (barring himself, sort of, but then he is its head). I’ve seen threads here before complaining about various claims made by such programs, such as Jesus=Mithras. I guess it’s all right to watch such programs as long as you keep a clear head.
Click to expand...
I agree that the Church is more reliable and the only official authority on Jesus. My main quarrel with the program ( and others like it) is that it presents its findings as the definitive answer, not the speculation that it is.
Quote:
Mary in hard labor…Catholic belief is that Jesus was born “as light from a window”
Click to expand...
I was never taught she had not experienced this. Perhaps it’s a tradition with a small t?
Click to expand...

Not sure if it is T or t…tradition. I would have to look up the theologian who first explained Christ’s birth this way. However, Catholic dogma or doctrine ( I get the 2 mixed up) is of Mary’ perpetual virginity. Therefore to keep her virginity through child birth it could not have been a vaginal birth.
 
Fidelis said:
A good rule of thumb to apply to any show you see on the Discovery or History Channels that has the Christian (especially the Catholic) religion as it’s topic is that it is going to be inaccurate, sensationalistic, and condescending. They especially like to show an increased number of these programs around Christmas and Easter, all the better to destroy the faith of the gullible and un-informed. Better to avoid them like the plague they are.
Click to expand...
I started watching the show last night on Discovery and actually got bored of it lol.

Seriously, though, I don’t think one needs to be fearful or avoid the show or to presume that Discovery Channel is on some mission intentionally to destroy anyone’s faith. After all, God gave us all a free will, and we’re all personally responsible for what we choose to believe or not believe. I’m all for educating oneself and keeping an open mind, but when it comes to education, one should not rely on only one solitary source such as a secular TV show or Wikipedia for that matter. It’s much better to get into the Bible or get books/videos written by Catholics on the subject.
 
ladycascadia said:
I started watching the show last night on Discovery and actually got bored of it lol.

Seriously, though, I don’t think one needs to be fearful or avoid the show or to presume that Discovery Channel is on some mission intentionally to destroy anyone’s faith. After all, God gave us all a free will, and we’re all personally responsible for what we choose to believe or not believe. I’m all for educating oneself and keeping an open mind, but when it comes to education, one should not rely on only one solitary source such as a secular TV show or Wikipedia for that matter. It’s much better to get into the Bible or get books/videos written by Catholics on the subject.
Click to expand...
That is a very open-minded and intelligent approach for you personally to take. However, for the many gullible and uneducated out there who believe anything on TV is true because it’s on TV (and especially if it’s shrouded in the veneer of “scholarship”) such shows are a hidden mixture of facts, errors, lies and spiritual poison.

I don’t think these shows are explicitly out ther to destroy anyone’s faith (Satan doesn’t care what the original intention is and will gladly use it to his own ends), but I do think their intention is to entertain by shocking/sensationalizing and so make money, rather to truly inform and educate.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top