The Bible Is Hollywood's Favorite Book

Why the Bible Is Hollywood's Favorite Book

 

 

Posted: by

Robert J. Morgan

04/10/2013 

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Movie makers are getting religion faster than drunks at a tent revival. The success of "The Bible" on the History Channel is paving the way for an impressive array of upcoming films lining up like chariots for their spin through the theaters. Moses is coming to life in two movie adaptations. Steven Spielberg will reportedly produce one of them, and Christian Bale will star in the other.

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Russell Crowe's "Noah" will flood theaters next year. Brad Pitt reportedly has the staring role in "Pontius Pilate" unless he washes his hands of it. Ben Kingsley will become King Herod in "Mary, Mother of Christ." Taylor Lautner will kill Goliath with a small stone on the big screen, presumably at twilight.

Sony is developing a horror flick about Cain and Abel, with Will Smith in the director's chair. Nicolas Cage is headed for tribulation in "Left Behind," a movie about the Second Coming of Christ. Randy LaHaye's "Resurrection" is due out next year, along with another film, "The Resurrection of the Christ." Also coming next year from Sony is "Heaven is for Real." Between releases you can test your biblical literacy with "The American Bible Challenge," the biggest hit in the history of The Game Show Network.

Suddenly the Bible is Hollywood's favorite book. Running low on superheroes and serial killers, Tinseltown has discovered what Cecil B. DeMille knew long ago -- there's no book like the Bible and no stories like those within its pages.

Well frankly, my dear, you'd be better off skipping the movies and reading the Book. There's a reason the Bible is history's bestseller. Its stories are honest, its truths are real, its words are personal, and its message is eternal. I'm not against biblical epics on the silver screen -- I've seen my share of them, starting with "The Ten Commandments" when I was a child -- but I prefer the printed version.

 

Consider the Bible's remarkable unity. Though written over a period of 1,400 years by more than 40 authors from all walks of life, in three languages and on three continents, covering hundreds of controversial subjects, the Bible's consistency of teaching is sublime.

In its first three chapters we learn of the creation of heaven and earth; a populated paradise filled with gold, and with a river running through it; unbroken fellowship between the Creator and His creation; a foe who spoils the place; ensuing death and tears; and the promise of a Redeemer to make things right.

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In the last three chapters of the Bible, we have the creation of a new heaven and earth; a populated paradise filled with gold, with a river running through it; unbroken fellowship between the Creator and His creation; a defeated foe; the banishing of death and tears; and the triumph of a Redeemer who made things right.

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Between these first and last pages is an unbroken story of grace featuring the greatest person in history -- Jesus Christ -- who is described as thoroughly in the Old Testament as He is in the New. The 66 books of the Bible fit marvelously together as one cohesive story, with an appropriate beginning, a logical ending, a consistent theme, and a central character around which every part revolves.

 

Throughout the Bible this character is pictured as the Lamb of God. In Genesis 3, a slain animal provided covering for Adam and Eve. In Genesis 4, Abel commemorated the sacrifice by offering a lamb to the Lord. In Genesis 22, we're told God would provide a lamb as a sacrifice for sin. In Exodus, the blood of the Passover lamb shielded the Israelites from death. In Leviticus, this lamb was described as spotless and blameless. Isaiah pictured the coming Messiah as a lamb to be slain. John the Baptist introduced Christ to the masses, saying: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Simon Peter said we are redeemed by "the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." And in the book of Revelation the heavenly host sings, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive glory."

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Years ago in my book, "Beyond Reasonable Doubt," I suggested an experiment. On my shelves is a set of the Harvard Classics, comprising some of the greatest books ever written. Suppose I took 10 of them, written by different writers living at different times. Say I excerpted pages from them on one or two subjects and spliced the extracts together. Do you think I'd have a unified volume with plot and plan, scheme and theme, unity and design -- all in full agreement?

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No, I'd have an anthology at best, a conglomeration at worst. Yet when you read the Bible, it's as though a master author were behind every page bringing unity to the whole and creating a story that is as ageless as the spinning globe and as deep as the human heart. Well, there is such an Author, for all Scripture was given by inspiration of God.

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My friend Johannes Schröder told me about his grandfather, Helmut Schröder, who was imprisoned for his faith in a Siberian camp in the days of the Soviet Union. There Helmut met a young murderer, whose mother sent him packages from time to time. Each delivery contained a page torn from a book written in German. Since the fellow couldn't read German, he was tempted to use the pages to roll cigarettes; but he simply couldn't desecrate anything coming from his mother's hand, so the pages were set aside. He didn't know his mother was tearing apart her German Bible and smuggling them to him.

The murderer kept the pages safe until he met Helmut, who reassembled them and translated their meaning. The power of that Book transformed the lives of the young prisoner and his fellow inmates. It changed them into new people, forgiven, hopeful, and eager to share the message with others. This precious prison Bible now belongs to the Schröder family, and they reverence it as God's Word that brought light to a very dark place.

 

That's the kind of story Hollywood can never equal. The greatest special effects in history aren't the ones on the big screen, but the ones wrought in the human heart whenever and wherever the Bible is read, from here to eternity.

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