The Bible

Not being a Christian myself, but having read some biblical literature and having an interest in documentaries on Bible, I've always felt that to be able to see these stories in action is perhaps the best way to commit them to memory, and I believe the series excels in that. This is especially monumental for the younger generation who does not often give as much importance to religion as did our forefathers. The accuracy of any representation of Bible will be and has been questioned for authenticity and for not being true to the scriptures, but I think these claims need to be looked in the light of the fact that the 4 gospels in the New Testament bear so many differences among them too.. So what is true might merely by "our version" of truth. And we need to understand the spirit of the Bible, and realize that neither does it claim to serve as an answer nor as the actual representations of what must have happened. It just tries to bring a visual representation of the Holy Bible aimed at bringing people possible who are not as much aware of the scriptures as others and serve as a quick crash course on the Biblical times, if you must.. I am not a Christian, and by watching the series know more about Christianity than I even did .. I'm sure there are others like me, and if it helps people realize the true story or the greatness of God, I''d say any form should be welcome..

I got this gift as a Christmas present in 2013. It took me nearly half a year to get into. I had heard some middling reviews and wasn't overly impressed by the "Son of God" theater spin-off. When I finally gave it go, however, I discovered that each episode kept building and left me wanting more.

"The Bible" is pretty much split into two halves: The first half tells a number of Old Testament stories (Abraham, David, Daniel, Samson, etc.), while the second half transitions into the New Testament, telling of the ministry of Jesus Christ and his subsequent crucifixion/resurrection.

The first couple of episodes of this series are "just okay". I felt they made too big of a point to showcase the brutal violence of the Old Testament era. As such, I kind of dragged myself into those early episodes. They aren't terrible (I could still appreciate the stories being told), but just not entirely focused.

Once I was about 3-4 episodes in, however, the drama/stories/characters really started to pick up and I watched the final few episodes over the span of hours, not days. Whatever you do, PLEASE DO NOT compare this to "Son of God" that was patched-together and released into theaters to capitalize on the success of this show. "Son of God" isn't bad...just bland. "The Bible", on the other hand, is filled with emotion, especially during the "passion" scenes involving Jesus. It was that emotion that kept me watching.

In terms of accurateness, I had no problems with "The Bible". I'm not a huge biblical scholar, but I did attend Sunday School and thus know my basic bible stories (!). Besides a few tiny little nit- picks here and there, I found nothing major to criticize here.

Finally, "The Bible" can also serve as a great history of the Jewish religion. Creator/producer Mark Burnett does a great job of telling a coherent, structural history of the Jews, complete with narration to "fill in the gaps".

Overall, then, I feel "The Bible" to be one of the best Biblical works of film ever produced. Once you get through the first couple of episodes that focus a bit too much on the violence, you'll find yourself getting sucked into the history and emotion of the stories being told.

This is one of those series that get hit from both sides.

It radicalizes and polarizes both sides on the political spectrum, and the religious spectrum and draws hatred from the fanatics on both sides.

If you read the reviews:

The far right uber-religious are crying about how Biblically inaccurate this is...and that means that they missed the "mini-series" part of production. Really, how are you going to make it accurate to the Bible and watchable for the general public?

I used to work in history and that was a HUGE pet peeve of mine. "Saving Private Ryan would have been good but this, this, and this were inaccurate and..." WHO CARES????!!!!!!!

Do you honestly want an entire two-hour episode of David sitting down writing Psalms? That's really not going to be entertaining. The same goes with long winded rehearsals of who begot whom, which are also guaranteed to put the public to sleep.

If you want a literal interpretation of the book...buy and read the book. Otherwise you will have a faithful depiction at best, but never a truly accurate one.

You can't even translate Harry Potter 100% accurately into a film and those novels are a lot less, well, Biblical. So, chill, take a seat, and be entertained.

The series might be made to educate, but it's education for entertainment as implied by the word "dramatization."

And moving across the alley you have far left fanatics yelling that both the book and this series should be banned. Yelling that they are harmful, that they are dangerous....

...and I guess they are forgetting that people said the exact same things about "Howl" when it was published, and if you live in America and have that view, you should be seriously ashamed of yourself.

There is something inherently wrong about censoring thought and speech. Chill, this is an AMERICAN production and over here, if you want to worship the stick you found in the parking lot last Tuesday...and then make a movie about it, that's your Constitutionally protected right as stated in the 1st Amendment.

If you have an issue with that, move someplace that censors thought, religion, and speech. The rest of us are perfectly happy that we won't get thrown in jail for not sharing the same views as whomever is in power at the moment.

So...if you think about it, if you really think about it, the Bible did a FANTASTIC job in dramatizing the Bible if it's getting it from both sides. The far left is not happy with it and the far right is not happy with it...and that generally means I'm going to be pretty happy with it.

And I was, as someone that spent most of his adult life working around history...well...is there a word that best explains salivating in nerd fueled bliss?

It was awesome. Like The Da Vinci Code (book not movie) the little chapters were just long enough to draw you in and short enough not to get dull. But, the historian in me absolutely loved how well it showed the the stories and people were inter-connected...and that is really an aspect of the Bible that you do NOT get when you go to church.

So you have a bunch of short interconnected stories that sort of turns the Bible into a "Pulp Fiction" styled miniseries and just sits really well for entertainment purposes.

For real entertainment purposes, spending more time on Judges, where you get the bulk of the nation building and the only real stories that you liked when your parents forced you at gunpoint to go to CCD as a child, would have been preferable.

Yeah Moses and Noah are OK, but really you want to hear more about Samson and the high adventure stories...the ones that you liked as a little kid because it read kind of like Robert E. Howard...But I guess focusing only on those stories wouldn't make The Bible as epic in scope as the miniseries became.

And, I feel because of that need to be more epic you had what so many other people complained about...

SAMURAI NINJA WARRIOR VR TROOPER ANGELS

And unlike the political and religious zealot complaints...the Samurai Angels were really a valid complaint. That just hurt to see.

I WOULD have given it 10 stars because it was super entertaining...but Ninja Warrior Angels. You can't suspend your disbelief enough not to do a spit-take when you see them.

They were so bad.

But fortunately they were also short lived.

So...don't turn it off when you see them. It's a good dramatization to sit back and watch, and the strongest part is honestly the length of the little chapters. It makes it perfect for viewing.

As a Christian who was born and raised in China, I find it fairly difficult to hold fast to my faith when the majority of people here still take Christianity as superstition or a series of fairy tales. So I was more than thrilled to have this opportunity to revisit these thought- provoking stories that could help to strengthen my faith in God.

The narrative style and visual effect on the first couple of episodes was stunning enough to draw me into the age of Genesis and Exodus.Both of the actors did an amazing job in conveying the steadfastness and faithfulness of Abraham and Moses. To top it off, from episode 6 onward, the depiction of Jesus Christ is the best I've ever seen compared to other titles with the similar theme. I was also glad to notice that the script includes some of the most memorable and inspiring verses like Psalms 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd") and Matthew 5:3-10 (The Sermon on the Mount).

The drawback of this TV production is that it has neglected many great events in the Old Testament. For instance, the detail of some of the ancient prophets like Samuel, Nathan, and Jeremiah and one of my favorite stories --Jonah's disobedience to God's command. (In fact it left out the entire book of Jonah). I understand that due to its limited length and budget, it is impossible to include every detail, yet to look at the show in a bigger picture, I still feel that it's lacking something important. It most probably could be the omission of the Holy Spirit which makes every heart submit to the Lord and leads our way, proclaims the truth, and restores our lives. In other words, I think this production only explains 2/3 of the Trinity.

But in general, this is a very truthful rendering of the Bible and I would strongly recommend it to people who are still searching for God and those who wish to get an outline of important events in the Holy Bible.

Being about the Bible, I don't want to spoil the end. (Joke.) But, I must say this was very well done aside from a few inaccuracies. This is to be expected seeing as it is a mini-series rather than a gigantic series.

Now, the only complaint I would have is the actual crucification of Jesus. Many believe it was a cross (though it was a stake if you do the research into it) and since it is a minor matter and to be expected that should be no matter here. But, the nail in the hand instead of wrist is still happening even knowing the truth behind it.

Aside from that little fact, the show was great. I do hope it opens up people to reading the Bible and to their God. The show portrayed things in a very good way, aside from a few things with Jesus and after Jesus.

If you have not read the Bible read Luke then read Acts. Though, you can always start with this show for a start. I do recommend it as a start before reading or to those who know the Bible.

I will say, as a Jehovah's Witness I really expected to be even more disappointed with the portrayal of Jesus, I didn't expect God's name to be used since it may offend some or confuse even more but a few lines not from the Bible got me but that in itself did is not a problem, only implying Jesus as God without Biblical support. But, overall, I liked it.