Book of Daniel - A Couple of Thoughts
Just a couple of thoughts about this week’s premier of NBC’s Book of Daniel.
Here’s a snippet of an article with a quote from Jack Kenny, the producer:
Kenny insists he didn’t mean for his show to be about religion.
“I have no faith-based agenda,” he told The Globe. “I do think Jesus is always talking to us. I think God is all around us. ... I was always raised to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but I never knew what that meant.”
I didn’t find the show all that offensive, and I’ll watch it for as long as it runs - which I predict will not be long because of all the hype (and because, I have to agree with the critics, I don’t think I’ve come across a clergy family quite so dysfunctional - dysfunctional, yes, but: Father Daniel is addicted to pain killers, as well as clergy fetch; Mama Daniel is an alcoholic, who has it all under control (sure she does); a daughter who, in the two episodes, is dealing drugs; a young adult gay son - who I thought was about the only “normal” member of the family; and an adopted young adult Chinese son who has a smart mouth and is having an affair with the fifteen-year-old daughter of the rectory’s president - did I leave anything out? Oh, yeah, Father Daniel’s sister-in-law appears to be deeply involved with the absconding of the church’s $2 million building fund.).
On the other hand, I did (overall) like the portrayal of Jesus as one who is present and walking with Father Daniel through all his struggles, including trying to keep him from abusing the painkillers.
Does the show “slam” Christians and clergy? Probably, but no worse than I’ve seen local and national Christians slam the faith (think Richard Scrushy of HealthSouth, Ken Lay of Enron and Bernard Ebbers of WorldCom - all professed “Born Again Christians”). I think the problem with the show is that it’s shows us more real in more respects than we’d care to admit. Sometimes I feel like we’re Oz’s “man behind the curtain” - we’ve been exposed and we don’t care for it because we want the world to think that we’re squeaky clean, either holy and righteous or “not perfect, but forgiven” (as an excuse for unethical or immoral behavior).
Nobody in two of our network’s house churches watched it except my wife and I, so perhaps it won’t be an issue. But if it does come up, especially with an unchurched person, I’ll neither slam the show nor defend the faith. Instead, I plan on bowing my head and humbly admitting that we fall short - lots of times - but that, like the show demonstrates, when we do, when I do, there’s something about having Jesus in the person walking alongside to help pick us up, to encourage us, and to remind us “Life is hard. That’s why the reward at the end is so great” -the best quote of the show.
Here’s a snippet of an article with a quote from Jack Kenny, the producer:
Kenny insists he didn’t mean for his show to be about religion.
“I have no faith-based agenda,” he told The Globe. “I do think Jesus is always talking to us. I think God is all around us. ... I was always raised to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but I never knew what that meant.”
I didn’t find the show all that offensive, and I’ll watch it for as long as it runs - which I predict will not be long because of all the hype (and because, I have to agree with the critics, I don’t think I’ve come across a clergy family quite so dysfunctional - dysfunctional, yes, but: Father Daniel is addicted to pain killers, as well as clergy fetch; Mama Daniel is an alcoholic, who has it all under control (sure she does); a daughter who, in the two episodes, is dealing drugs; a young adult gay son - who I thought was about the only “normal” member of the family; and an adopted young adult Chinese son who has a smart mouth and is having an affair with the fifteen-year-old daughter of the rectory’s president - did I leave anything out? Oh, yeah, Father Daniel’s sister-in-law appears to be deeply involved with the absconding of the church’s $2 million building fund.).
On the other hand, I did (overall) like the portrayal of Jesus as one who is present and walking with Father Daniel through all his struggles, including trying to keep him from abusing the painkillers.
Does the show “slam” Christians and clergy? Probably, but no worse than I’ve seen local and national Christians slam the faith (think Richard Scrushy of HealthSouth, Ken Lay of Enron and Bernard Ebbers of WorldCom - all professed “Born Again Christians”). I think the problem with the show is that it’s shows us more real in more respects than we’d care to admit. Sometimes I feel like we’re Oz’s “man behind the curtain” - we’ve been exposed and we don’t care for it because we want the world to think that we’re squeaky clean, either holy and righteous or “not perfect, but forgiven” (as an excuse for unethical or immoral behavior).
Nobody in two of our network’s house churches watched it except my wife and I, so perhaps it won’t be an issue. But if it does come up, especially with an unchurched person, I’ll neither slam the show nor defend the faith. Instead, I plan on bowing my head and humbly admitting that we fall short - lots of times - but that, like the show demonstrates, when we do, when I do, there’s something about having Jesus in the person walking alongside to help pick us up, to encourage us, and to remind us “Life is hard. That’s why the reward at the end is so great” -the best quote of the show.
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