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Posted on 04/04/2004 4:37:30 PM PDT by missyme
Do me a favor," Peter Jennings requests. "Say a prayer for me, will you?"
He's asking for divine intervention on behalf of Jesus and Paul – The Word and the Witness, ABC's three-hour pilgrimage into the origins of Christianity. It premieres Monday night opposite the NCAA men's basketball final on CBS and the finale of NBC's Average Joe: Adam Returns. Or as a typical "reality" show contestant might utter, "Oh. My. God."
Buttressed by a wealth of biblical scholars and Mr. Jennings' longstanding interest in the subject, Jesus and Paul is the sequel to the anchor's June 2000 The Search for Jesus. Filmed more than two years ago, it had been gathering dust along with the network's long-delayed Judas movie. But you know the rest of the story: Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
The runaway success of the movie first empowered Judas, which did well enough to rank as downtrodden ABC's second most-watched scripted show, behind only NYPD Blue, during the week of March 8-14.
Jesus and Paul is infinitely more edifying but likely a tougher sell. It's a fairly steep curve and pretty deep stuff compared with an episode of Extreme Makeover. But these three hours also are revelatory, incisive and divisive in ways that religious debates always are.
"This is a very complicated subject, and you can't just throw it on," Mr. Jennings says in a telephone interview. " 'Oh, hi, here's Mary Magdalene and here's Pilate.' These things take a huge amount of research. There's a great difference of opinion in the general Christian community about how literally you should take the Gospels. To be immodest about it, our little team has really worked hard at this."
Mr. Jennings has seen The Passion but doesn't want to say how it personally affected him for fear of compromising the objective telling of Jesus and Paul.
"I would tell you what's absolutely fascinating about The Passion , though. You can't help but notice the extent of the violence in the movie. But you also can't underestimate how many people have been moved by it. For them, it is Jesus' sacrifice and suffering in their name made manifest. And, hey, that's what this is all about."
The ABC program's lightning rod is Paul, however. And that's not just because we're told he was transformed from Christian persecutor Saul to proselytizer Paul after being struck by lightning on the road to Damascus.
Although he never met Jesus, was Paul far more important than the Apostles in taking Christianity to the next level? Without Paul, would Jesus' Crucifixion have resonated to the here and now? Jesus and Paul pretty much makes Paul a rock of modern-day Christianity, although Mr. Jennings is leery of reducing the Apostles to Lilliputians.
"I think it's absolutely fair to say that Paul is truly the greatest salesman of what Jesus believed in," he says. "There must have been something extraordinary that happened that enabled this movement to survive. And that something was Jesus – and it was Paul and his blinding realization that Jesus was the son of God. Without Paul we probably would not have the Christianity as we know it and practice it today."
Mr. Jennings hopes that younger viewers may want to get this message, too. Jesus and Paul, therefore, is notable for its eclectic use of music, much of it a sharp detour from the typical church choir route. Selections include Bob Marley's "Iron Lion Zion," R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," Wilco's "Christ for President," Arrested Development's "Fishin' for Religion" and Joan Osborne's "One of Us," which also is the theme music for CBS's Joan of Arcadia series.
"Of course, it's going to be jarring to some people," Mr. Jennings says. "I'm telling you, we fought like cats and dogs about this. My usual rule is if I can't understand the lyrics, we don't use it. But Christian rock, pop and even rap are a huge bloody industry today. Huge!
"I had exactly the same reaction to some of this stuff as you did. But if we don't appeal to some of these young Christians, then we wouldn't be relevant. I have a couple of people in my office, the music drove them crazy. But the kids love it."
He can only hope and pray that Jesus and Paul's contemporary hymns will somehow be heard over the brassy college fight songs on CBS Monday night.
Jesus and Paul –
The Word and
7 p.m. Monday, ABC (Channel 8). Anchored by Peter Jennings. Produced by Jeanmarie Condon, Ralph Avellino, Tom Yellin. 3 hrs.
Jennings seems to come closer to 'getting it' than any of the other liberal whiners.
So9
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The Lord uses who He see's fit. Who are we to question? I can only guess that Paul (and I might add that I love his writings) was the one who the Lord knew would portray His Word with vigilance. The Apostle Paul, though a mere servant, was one who was the real deal with a real passion.(who wouldn't be after seeing what he saw?) One who God could trust. His heart was there, and not just for selfish ambition.
Paul is a salesman? A "Jesus salesman?" "A salesman of what Jesus believed in?" Paul does not "sell" what Jesus believed in, Paul preaches Christ and Him crucified. Also Paul, when he was still Saul, did not get struck by lightning. He got struck down by Jesus Himself (or by His glory) and who then spoke directly to Saul giving him instructions as to what He was going to suffer next.
"There must have been something extraordinary that happened that enabled this movement to survive. And that something was Jesus – and it was Paul and his blinding realization that Jesus was the son of God. Without Paul we probably would not have the Christianity as we know it and practice it today."
And so, Peter's ministry counts for nothing and neither does the rest of the Apostles? Philip, James, Andrew, Luke, John Mark, Thomas, Stephen, Barnabas, Apollos, Timothy, et.al.?
I think this is all foolishness to them. NBC re-ran that hit piect this evening on Jesus being a political figure rather than the atoning sacrifice and Saviour of the world. NBC's mostly liberal Biblical scholars are all those Jesus Seminar crowd that do not believee that Jesus is the Son of God.
The first show was "buttressed" by only the most extreme and liberal "biblical scholars" from the Jesus Forum which meets periodically to remove portions of Scripture which offend their PC sensitivities. Every time they meet, they find more of Jesus' words which they insist He did not say.
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