There is no sin in dramatizing biblical storylines to…

“There is no sin in dramatizing biblical storylines to spread the Gospel and create starting points for discussion. But there is a responsibility to teach watcher how to study the Bible on their own and not depend on media as their main source of bible knowledge.”

@phyliciamasonheimer

Written in response to @thechosentvseries; a series that I happen to enjoy. Making biblical art can have ramifications because so many are *called* to be critics that it can be an unyielding endeavor to actually ship something. Social media and has given us all our own little platforms; and people use them harshly and constantly.

Art can be used to fill in the gaps and place characters in situations they haven’t been before. We can change the location, the time, and almost all of the situations around a specific character and imagine how that character would react. But we have to be careful when violating the rules of the character. When we make a character react in a way that is antithetical to who the character is and their values we’ve done a disservice to that character.

For my comic nerd friends, we know that Batman doesn’t kill. He doesn’t always do what is right, but he does not kill. We know this because we read the source. There are *hundreds* of stories of Batman and we know where he comes from and why he does not kill. When we violate this (I’m looking at you “The Killing Joke”) we violate who Batman is. It’s not edgy and it’s not different because it’s not Batman.

In that same manner like Phylicia points out here; we need to understand who Jesus is to fully appreciate seeing him in situations we haven’t seen him in. Biblical art should not just consist of replaying scenarios but of understanding the character of Jesus. It’s a wonder to explore how Jesus would have interacted with children. It’s a wonder to see him actually making things with his hands. We can’t help but make art about Him. We get to slow down and enjoy a story with the God of the universe in a way that honors Him because hopefully we’ve done the work to get to know Him.

But we can’t get there though if we don’t know who He is. And we can’t find out about who his unless we study His word.