Religious Leaders in Jesus' day versus today

They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
John 7:52

"no Prophet has arisen out of Galilee: Actually, the prophets Jonah, Hosea, Nahum, and perhaps Elijah, Elisha, and Amos were from Galillee or close to it." Nelson Study Bible; note on the same verse.

We were struck watching Son of God at the scriptural ignorance of the Pharisees.  It's one thing to get so proud that your heart isn't right with the Lord.  It's another thing for alleged religious teachers to miss things that are clearly described in the Old Testament.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus chides the Pharisees: "Have you not heard?!?", "Is it not written?!?", "Have you not read?!?"  In each instance, obvious Old Testament prophecies were occurring in front of them.  They were clueless.

Today's pastors, by contrast, sometimes seem like they can't talk about anything else.  When analyzing events in the middle east, Benjamin Netanyahu can't sneeze without 10,000 pastors screaming "End Times!!!"  The difference is fascinating.

Make no mistake, we believe Old Testament Prophecy is essential to understand today's Middle East.  Our personal salvation came from an End Times sermon.  Still, reading prophecy into everything gets taken to unhealthy extremes.

The difference in understanding Old Testament prophecy is a strange distinction between today's pastors and the Pharisees of Jesus' time; we're not sure what to make of it.

Movie Review: Son of God

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

"[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God....For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord....that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 3:23...6:23...10:9

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes[a] an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Revelation 21:4...27

This afternoon we saw Son of God, the big screen adaptation of 2013's runaway hit The Bible.  We loved the 2013 series and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  While the Pharisees among us will quibble, Son of God is an indispensable guide for those whose understanding of the Gospel and history of Jesus Christ is either incomplete or non-existent.

Son of God, as the title suggests, does a fantastic job illustrating the deity of Christ.  The first hour of the film presents Jesus' miracles.  The healing of the paralyzed man, feeding the 5000, and walking on the Sea of Gaililee particularly shined.

The remainder details Jesus' final week, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.  Unfortunately, Pontius Pilate gets waaay more face-time than he deserves.  The Crucifixion is poignant without descending into Mel Gibson style torture porn.  The Resurrection gets as much glory as fallen, imperfect humans can give it.  Cahnman's Musings, quite literally, shouted "Hallelujah" in the middle of the movie theater!

One area where the film excels is its presentation of the Pharisees.  It's hard to describe in words, but the film captures how the weak faith of the Pharisees led to their compromise with the civil authorities.  Caiphas feared Rome more than he trusted God or understood scripture.  

The Virgin Birth and John the Baptist's ministry were two areas where we would have focused much more attention. To us, those aspects have always been key to proving the veracity of the entire gospel.  Unfortunately, the producers chose to focus elsewhere.  It's a shame.  The Christmas story is far more important to understanding Jesus Christ than a bunch of borderline homoerotic shots of Pontius Pilate flexing his manly muscles.

As a gospel presentation vehicle, Son of God does the job.  It illustrates the universality of sin, the universality of Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice, and the fact all you need to do to get into heaven is accept the gift.  The scripture from Romans quoted above should answer most questions.

Son of God is a welcome development in our increasingly out of control culture.  It will be incredibly helpful to those who don't know Jesus, genuinely desire to do so, but don't know where to begin.  If that's you, Cahnman's Musings highly encourages you to attend the next available showing....