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The Young Messiah

This morning on my drive to work I heard an advertisement for a new Christian movie.  Its title is "The Young Messiah." I have not read any reviews on this movie.  I have not seen the trailers for this movie.  All I know about the movie is what was said on a short radio spot on my Christian radio station this morning.  Some of you who read this will immediately condemn what I am about to say because you will argue that I can't judge a movie I know so little about.  Unfortunately that is not going to stop me from saying what needs to be said.

RUN!  DO NOT PAY GOOD MONEY TO SEE THIS MOVIE!

The radio spot tells me that this movie will fill in the gap between the birth of Jesus and the beginning of His ministry.  Let me make some observations:

  1. There is only one incident in the Bible about this time in Jesus life.  Unless this whole movie is about the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve, then it will be full of material that is not in the Gospels about Jesus.  In fact, even if the film is only about the trip to Jerusalem, this movie will be full of material not found in the Bible because such a short incident in the life of Jesus would not fill a 90 minute film without a lot of unbiblical additions.
  2. There is some material in the apocryphal gospels that purports to tell stories about Jesus childhood.  These stories were not accepted by the early church as canonical.  They tend to be very mythological in nature.  Using these stories elevates unbiblical sources to the level of Scripture.
  3. If the apocryphal material is used, a Jesus that is contrary to the Gospel record will be presented.  The apocryphal gospel of Thomas has a childhood Jesus who kills another child because he ran into Jesus.  He then strikes the child's parents with blindness because they complain to Joseph about Jesus.  Now it is highly unlikely that The Young Messiah will use that particular incident, but all of the apocryphal gospels create a Jesus contrary to the Bible.
  4. God doesn't want us to know about this period in Jesus' life.  It is natural for us to wonder what happened in the so-called silent years.  It is a curiosity.  However, God did not see fit to record in Holy Scripture this period of Jesus' life.  To make up a narrative for this portion of Jesus' earthly existence is to make up out of nothing a narrative about the most important person who ever lived.  If God, Himself, did not see the need to reveal this to us, then there must be no need for us to know.
I am sure that the makers of this movie will bend over backwards to tell us that they have been true to Scripture.  I am sure they will sell the movie as a wonderful family movie that will deepen each Christian's faith.  I am even sure that Christians will watch the film and tell others how it made them feel wonderful about their Saviour.  I am also sure that the whole thing will be a lie, because no one but God knows what happened in Jesus' childhood - and He isn't telling.

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