The History Channel has unveiled its new series, Bible Secrets Revealed, which will premiere Monday November 11 at 10PM.
This intriguing title would have one hoping to tune in to find biblical secrets that had previously alluded them in their studies. Perhaps these secrets would reveal how one can begin to understand God in a more meaningful way; or what certain Bible passages mean that have confounded scholars for generations. However, the short teaser trailer released by the History Channel doesn’t reveal as many secrets as it does doubts of biblical veracity.
The trailer, which can be viewed here, features several soundbites from a few of the people interviewed for the series, and gives us a glimpse into what the basis for the show is. Below is a transcript of these quotes:
“We have four gospels, written by four different authors, and none of these authors met Jesus” – Candida Moss
“The Bible may be divinely inspired, but there are human fingerprints all over it.” – Bart Ehrman
“We know these books are not historically accurate, because they have discrepancies in them” – Bart Ehrman
“The childhood nativity stories are fictions” – Interviewee not identified
“The idea that Jesus must have been born of a virgin, is essentially a mistranslation” – Francesca Stravrakopoulou
Given this short but pointed excerpt, we are left with the impression that the series is less about secrets of the Bible than it is about how the Bible is full of delusions, untruths, and false teaching. Bob Cargill, a self-described archaeologist and biblical scholar, tells the readers of his blog, Excavator, to “Please tune in to this documentary, which seeks to address difficult biblical scriptures and teachings in a responsible, academic, yet entertaining manner”. This is quite a glowing endorsement from a biblical scholar who proudly displays large image links to the American Humanist Association, and Project Reason which states on their website:
“…religious dogmatism still reigns unchallenged in almost every society on earth—dividing humanity from itself, inflaming conflict, preventing wise public policy, and diverting scarce resources. One of the primary goals of Project Reason is to change this increasingly unhealthy status quo”. – http://www.project-reason.org/about/
It seems that Mr. Cargill’s embracing of humanism and groups at enmity with religious doctrine doesn’t contradict his support of the new History Channel series that seeks to deceptively disprove biblical truth.
Elsewhere, the blogosphere is ablaze with anticipation of the new series as well. James Tabor, in his blog, TaborBlog, which claims “‘All things biblical’ from the Hebrew Bible to Early Christianity in the Roman World and Beyond”, states that he had the pleasure of assisting in the development of the series by agreeing to a three-hour interview for it. Tabor says, “I think this promises to be a good series and I recommend it to my readers”. Mark Goodacre, Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University, anticipates the upcoming series on his blog, NT Blog, as well.
We believe that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, literal, Word of the Living God. If one is to believe any of the Word, he is to accept it all. We know this by the first chapter and first verse of the book of John which states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. This demonstrates the Bible is the eternal Word of God.
It is discouraging that these self-ascribed scholars and theologians, that concern themselves with teaching others in such matters, have nothing but positive reviews of a show that claims outright that the Bible is fallacious.