Christians on social media have expressed their anger over a teaser for the upcoming season of “The Chosen. In a scene posted to X, Jesus speaks to Judas Iscariot, the Disciple who betrayed Christ to Jewish Leaders. Critics took issue with the scene which they describe as ‘unbiblical.’ Some users defended the show for taking creative liberties.
Last week, showrunner Dallas Jenkins, previewed a scene for the next season of ‘The Chosen’ a drama that follows the life and work of Christ. The scene, which centered on an interaction between Jesus and Judas proved an angry response from devout Christians. “You have a choice to make, Judas,” Christ says and Iscariot asks Jesus to “reclaim” his “birthright.” “Who do you belong to? Who has your heart? I want it, and I’ve had it before. You followed me willingly.”
“I want to continue,” the Disciple replies. “There’s nothing more that I want than that.” Christ takes Judas’ distraught hand and says “Then I will pray for you. But for now, please leave me in peace.” Pastors criticized the scene. Many drew attention to how much this scene contrasts with scripture and worried it would distract from the original narrative.
Arizona Pastor Gabriel Hughes of Providence Reformed Baptist Church said “Contrary to ‘The Chosen,’ the Bible does not say Jesus told Judas, ‘I will pray for you on” social media. “He called Judas’ son of perdition’ (John 17:12), destined to betray the Son of God according to Scripture. Jesus did not pray for Judas to make a different choice, or we wouldn’t be saved.”
A pastor from Florida quipped “There’s the Bible and then there’s the Chosen. The two rarely if ever meet.” A viral X post from Protestia called the scene “super unbiblical.” Shane Idleman, the lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in California, said in a post that he understands “The Chosen” taking “some artistic and creative freedom,” but believes the clip is “controversial.” “I’m not sure that Jesus ever ‘had Judas’s heart’ initially or prayed for him,” the pastor wrote. “We have to be careful with creative freedom.
Dallas Jenkins, whose father created the ‘Left Behind’ series, defended his show. “I would say, probably 95 percent of the content of the show isn’t directly from Scripture,” he said. “People call it a Bible show; they’ll call it a Jesus show. And I’m OK with that, but I’ll say, ‘This is actually — I mean the Bible is for sure the primary source of truth and inspiration for the show, but there’s a ton of content that isn’t directly from Scripture,'” he said.
“We operate from this question: Is this plausible? Whatever we write, if it didn’t come from Scripture — is this plausible, culturally, historically? And does it fit within the character and intentions of Jesus and in the Gospels, even if it’s not directly from them, or even if we don’t know if it’s fact or not?” He also stressed that the show ” isn’t “pretending to be the Bible,” adding: “We’re not a replacement for Scripture; we never claimed to be. … This is a show about first-century Galilee using the Bible as our primary source.”
“It’s a dangerous proposition,” he explained. “You’re walking a fine line, especially as someone like myself who loves the Bible, and I know that people who watch it, the majority of people who watch it, are going to be wanting us to remain faithful to the scriptures as much as possible.” He repeatedly stressed that his show is complementary to the bible, not a substitute for scripture.
“The good news is, people who watch the show aren’t saying, ‘I’ve seen the show, I don’t need to read the Bible,'” Jenkins said. “They’re saying, ‘I want to read the Bible more than ever before.’ That gives us leeway to explore backstories and to put ourselves in these stories and connect ourselves to the people of first century Galilee, which will ultimately connect us to Jesus.”