Why People Say The Chosen Isn’t Biblical

A thoughtful, Scripture-anchored conversation about Christian storytelling, artistic imagination, and how faith-filled films can reach hearts beyond church walls. 

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Christian films and shows spark passionate conversations, and sometimes painful ones. Artists trying to honor Scripture while telling compelling stories often find themselves under fire, not from culture, but from fellow believers. In this episode, Justin tackles one of the most misunderstood tensions in faith-driven media: the difference between expanding a biblical narrative for clarity and contradicting Scripture altogether.

If you care about faithful storytelling, Christian creativity, and reaching culture with truth and beauty, this episode is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more people discover the show. Then check the show notes for tour dates, Creative Legacy Conference details, and ways to partner with Firelight Creative Productions as we raise funds for our next film, Deborah.

ABOUT JUSTIN RIZZO

If you’re new here, my name is Justin Rizzo.

I'm a worship leader, songwriter, and filmmaker based in the Midwest, USA. I'm the founder of the Worship Leader Academy which has helped hundreds of worship leaders grow and develop through online community and one-on-one coaching.

How I got here…

7 yrs old: Love for music began with the recorder.
9 yrs old: Started drum lessons.  
12 yrs old: Parents taught how to lead worship.
13 yrs old: Led an original song at church.
13 yrs old: Vowed I'd never do it again. 
16 yrs old: Began to really love leading worship.
18 yrs old: Became a full-time worship leader.
19 yrs old: Broke my vow and began writing again.
20 yrs old: Recorded my first record.
23 yrs old: Leading began to feel like a burden.
24 yrs old: Blogged about worship leading.
25 yrs old: Started therapy and found healing.
26 yrs old: Called to produce musicals and films.
27 yrs old: Wrote and produced my first musical  
29 yrs old: Started my own production company.

Today: I live full-time as a worship leader and creative. I've written and produced three award- winning musical films, had millions stream my music, and travel the world leading worship and speaking at events.

Transcript

Tour And Conference Announcements

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome in to another episode. Got a topic that I want to talk about today that is uh a little bit heavier than normal, but I'm gonna share a couple thoughts that I jotted down from my heart, and uh we'll get to that here in a second. But first, I'm about to be heading out onto the road uh for some worship nights, and so you can check my uh Instagram, my social media to see if we're coming to a city near you. We'd love to have you come worship with us. And then, second quick announcement before I dive in here is that my creative legacy conference is happening in just a couple of weeks here in Kansas City. It's March 19th through 21st. It is a conference for creatives, so that is any form of creativity, uh dancers, writers, uh actors, producers, artists, worship leaders, whatever, uh, and then also uh entrepreneurs, which are also very, very creative, but they, you know, more on the business side of things. And if you're if you're unaware, the fifth word of the Bible is created in the beginning, God created. So if you love Jesus, if you're in him, if he's in you, then you are a creative. I field questions and emails and DMs every single year when I host this conference. This is gonna be our fourth year, I think, from people saying, Well, I do this, is that, you know, is that creative? Can I come? And I'm like, oh my gosh, like, you know, yes, please come. Like you're you're a um a chef. Like there's so much creativity in the realm of food, right? Like, please come, please receive. And really, my my heart in doing this is to um strengthen the inner life of these creatives, of entrepreneurs, strengthen the inner life to then see the external life, the the things that we're creating, things that we're doing, the businesses that we're building, strengthen the internal to then see the external things uh thrive. And I know for me, when I'm when I'm building something and giving myself, you know, there's a um a hustle that's out there, there's a um a uh fortitude or strength. I'm I'm struggling with to find the best word that is needed to keep going as an entrepreneur, as a creative, you know, to think you're gonna wake up every day just overjoyed to go to work and be a mechanic, overjoyed to, you know, start a business and and you know, be an electrician or whatever, or to write songs and go to the studio and cut a record. I mean, it's just you're not always gonna wake up, you know, feeling that inspiration. And so when we come together uh at events like this, something happens, guys, when you're in a room. We're gonna have uh TED style talks, times of worship, uh, times of small group connecting, uh, have times of QA, and it's just a three-day gathering. It starts Thursday night, March 19th, and ends Saturday night, March 21st. It's just gonna be a great time. So if you're creative, an entrepreneur, strengthen the internal to see the external calling that you have um just uh be sustained. Uh creative legacy.org, it's in the show notes. Go um grab tickets there. Uh, we're about to hit a price increase, and so you can go grab a um a discounted ticket if that is of interest to you to joining us here in Kansas City. All right, so again, not my favorite topic to talk about. I even debated, okay, do I want to like talk about this, you know, in my in this this form? So I talk about this a lot when I'm on the road, uh, but you know, doing something live is is a bit different than doing something like this. It's cemented in time, it's on YouTube, it's on all the places, but it's and it's this this topic of of Christian art being critiqued. Okay, and I always start by by saying this kind of tongue in cheek statement. So just stick with me here. You know, I'll I'll I'll share um because well, I'll back up. If you're not aware, yes, I do songwriting and worship leading, but if you listen to my podcast, you you've heard me say this like a broken record. I'm also a filmmaker, I make movies and write musicals, and I'm very much in that creative storytelling space. And so I kind of operate in both of those fields. And so I'm you know, I'm sharing with those on the road when I travel about, you know, hey, we have um, you know, you can go stream these on my YouTube channel, go follow my production company, yada yada. And I always I always make this caveat. I say, um, there's a big, not warning label, but I say that warning label on the beginning of each one of my movies that says, this is, I'm not sure exactly what it says, but you know, loosely based on scripture, we have taken liberties in telling this biblical story, right? And um in my brain, that should be enough. You know, that should be like, hey, don't expect it to be like word for word, expect expect us to take you know liberties in the storytelling. And um, so I've said that, and then tons of you know, Christian TV shows, like the chosen would be one. Uh, you know, really we get into like what it's the biblically based type of things. There's been so many through the years, but the chosen is is the biggest one. So I always always use that as the example. And I always say this again, tongue in cheek. Don't you just hate on Dallas Jenkins Instagram and on the chosen TV series Instagram, how many you know, witches and warlocks are on there just in the comments, like you know, spewing hate uh to Dallas and to the chosen team. Like, don't you just hate those witches and warlocks? Now, side note, maybe there are witches and warlocks who comment on there. I wouldn't, you know, I'm sure there are. But you know, people in the crowd are usually like, well, I can't think of one exact reference, but yeah, that's probably happened. And I say, well, before you say, Yeah, I know that one witch who did that, you know. I'm actually talking about um Christians, they're not witches and warlocks, but mostly what I see on Dallas Jenkins on the chosen Instagrams is Christians hopping on there to say, praying that you get shut down. I mean, I thought about even like screenshotting some comments and posting them. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not, I wanna, you know, have some boundaries here. Uh, you're gonna get shut down, you're extra biblical. You know, the Lord himself said if anyone who you know adds or takes away from this is gonna, you know, yada, yada, yada. And Christians just feast on, again, I'm using the chosen as one example, but we've seen ourselves in our own production company with our movies, even with these, you know, big disclaimers, right? And so I always share when I'm when I'm out preaching or speaking on the road, uh, doing worship nights, and I'll share a little a little bit at the end about our production company. I always, you know, say this like, man, what are we doing as Christians? Like, and I'm gonna look at some Bible verses today that will re-emphasize what we're doing. And I get that without social media, I probably wouldn't ever be making this podcast episode, right? Um, talking about this topic because it would just be a different world of because of social media, where you know, Johnny, whatever, from wherever he lives in northwest Idaho, in a cabin in the mountains that no one ever sees or talks to, can just be like, you know, spewing stuff for the good, but also spewing stuff for the bad. And it's like, why, why is this guy doing this, right? And I always use this as an example. I'm gonna kind of blanket the church here. Uh, just to be clear, I love the church. Pastors are awesome. My dad was a pastor growing up, like been in full-time ministry for 45 years. I'm in full-time ministry. You know, it's like I get it, okay? I'm not a hater. If this is your first time listening, or if someone sent you this, you're like, this guy gets it, or he's horrible. Uh, either one that you're watching this for, uh, I say this when I'm when I'm traveling and speaking, I say, you know, um, those are the those what a lot of Christians do that. They hate on the chosen, whatever. Extra biblical, whatever. Yet in most of their churches, most churches, I'll speak for here in America, where I live, most churches in America, it's so common to hear in a 30 to 40 minute sermon on a Sunday morning, one Bible verse spoken at the beginning. Now, again, there are great teachers out there. Like I know some phenomenal teachers. I'm I'm doing a massive 30,000-foot view, I'm lumping everyone together, but I know there's good ones, okay? Don't hate me in the comments. I know there's good ones out there, okay? I know a lot of them. I receive from a lot of them. But a lot of people, one Bible verse at the beginning of their talk, and then it's they'll apply that Bible verse mostly out of context of what it was actually saying for the book of Isaiah. And horrible exegesis, horrible, you know, they're not teaching at all. They take one out-of-context Bible verse and apply it for the next 25 to 30 minutes in kind of a self-help motivational speech to help you love God better, right? And they'll a lot of times, even in those sermons, they will share stories like, you know, uh, my daughter, you know, she's on JV at the team, but we had a varsity kid who was six, or she had to play varsity at the volleyball game. And man, that girl from the, you know, the town just over the hill, they came over, and it was this big six-foot-one girl, and she spiked that ball, you know, and it hit my daughter in the nose, and there was blood everywhere. You know, this is 15 minutes after he shared an out-of-context Bible verse. He's now applying that to his daughter getting a bloody nose. And I ran out in the court with a towel, and you know, da-da-da. And it was how the love of God just wrapped around us when we're bleeding. You know, whatever. It's a horrible example, but you get what I'm saying. Most people will be like, oh my gosh, that's so amazing. Like Pastor Bill's daughter got a bloody nose. Like, man, she looked that's why she has tape on her nose here at church. Like, oh my God, I love that. And you go home at the table and you'll talk about that story, which isn't in the Bible, which isn't like even remotely based on the Bible verse that he said, possibly, right? So you get what I'm saying. I'm making this a very dramatic thing to get my point across, is that we demonize people who do faith-based Christian arts entertainment uh for not being biblical or for being extra-biblical when so many times in our churches, I mean, can you imagine if your pastor literally opened up to the book of Isaiah and just started reading chapter by chapter by chapter, word for word, because you like it word for word, and we know that you're a pure Christian, and that's what the children should only do word for word. You wouldn't go to that church, you wouldn't tithe to that church, I promise you, because the pastor's not doing nothing. He's just like sitting there, you know, reading his Bible verse by verse. And so um, I just want to give a kind of like a call to us as people who follow the Lord. I'm gonna give some Bible verses here that will hopefully help emphasize this to say, um, I believe that the chosen and things like it will have and will influence people that a preacher's voice will never get to, that a person would never step inside of a church building, yet they're watching these, you know, phenomenally done. Um, oh, and I think uh the powers went out here in my house. So we're gonna keep going. Um happened earlier today. I think they're doing some work down the way, but we're gonna press in here. The lighting actually looks kind of better. If you're listening to this, you're like, what just happened? Um, and so uh, you know, letting people uh, you know, actually get into the story uh that they would never set foot in your church, but and there's the power back on, okay. Um and so we just we just have to be careful, and this is my call to us. I know I get I understand that I is one. You can go watch my movies right now online and and shred them, you know, doctrinally and say, well, this is in the Bible or whatever. I mean, you know, and to that I would say, like, like my most recent movie called Eden's Twilight, it's based on the moments following Adam and Eve's exile from the Garden of Eden. Like the door slams shut behind them. And Adam and Eve have to figure out where do they go? What do they do? Who do they trust, right? And and it's not clear even biblically, like, were there people outside of the garden? Like, how did how did all this stuff you know come to be? And so um, this is a call to us, and I want to share just a couple Bible verses here to encourage us as believers to um, yes, of course, be discerning and use discernment. I'm not saying throw your brain away. We we need to judge, it is biblical to judge, okay? This isn't me saying, like, stop judging. I understand this is it's biblical to judge, uh, but we have to be careful in the way in which we do it. And again, I also recognize that social media has majorly just blown this up way, way out of proportion, where again the guy in the Idaho Mountains has no voice if it wasn't for you know his social media account. So Christians are called to discern, absolutely, but not everything requires a public warning, okay? Um, Ezekiel chapter 33, so you son of man, I've made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them a warning from me. The watchman warning is about rebellion or unrepentant sin, not your artistic interpretation of the text, okay? Uh second thing, extra biblical, okay. Adding if it says Jesus walked from, you know, wherever, uh Bethlehem to Capernaum or whatever it is, um, adding in a evening sleep on the side of the road, they build a fire and they make food, and that's a scene with Jesus on the side of the road, it's like, well, that's that's not in the Bible. Extra-biblical is not the same as unbiblical. Um, it's where a lot of, I believe, uh Christians get it wrong in their critique of things like the chosen. Um, extra-biblical means it's not explicitly stated in scripture. But man, the walk it took like three days, you know, to walk from here to here in Israel. So I'd imagine they stopped to eat food. I'd imagine they stopped and made a fire because they're not just you know supernaturally transporting from here to there. Whereas unbiblical means it's contrary to scripture. Okay, so inserting a scene of them sitting around the fireplace, uh the fire pit eating food is not contrary to scripture. Okay, so that's an important distinction. They're not the same thing. Um, and I believe you know the chosen openly states this, you know, on the regular. Uh, this is a you know dramatized portrayal, uh, and it's not scripture itself. Um, third point scripture warns us how to correct, not just hey, go correct. It doesn't just say hey, go correct everyone. It's and it says how you are supposed to correct. Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 24 and 25. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently, enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. If your warning to a Christian filmmaker um creates this like fear or you're going to hell or suspicion that you're going to hell because you're adding to scripture, um, I don't believe that's bringing clarity or peace to anyone or helping anyone. Um, and uh next point here in Romans chapter 14, verse 3 and 4, let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. This is talking about food, so slightly different context here. Who are you to judge another's servant? Um, that's basically don't over police someone's conscience. Okay, this is a bit out of my scope of what I'm talking about, but the it applies. If you walk into a restaurant and there's someone sitting at the bar, not at a table, because I know at the bar is like, oh my gosh, they're definitely drinking if they're at the bar, where they could definitely drink in their booth, you know, secluded in the back room as well. But at the bar, it's like, oh my gosh, like we're you know, immediately just like, you know, uh passing judgment on people. And it says in the book of Romans, you know, let's not uh let the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. Who are you to judge another's servant? Um, some people think that different shows are fine. I'm not giving a this is not a podcast to give a um doctrinal statement on alcohol, not a podcast to give a doctrinal statement on what shows you can watch, or you know, whatever. I'm talking about Christian shows because I literally know Christians. Whatever troubling to see how Christians can just immediately just demonize a whole thing when you say, Oh my gosh, you just do you see how much good that is doing for the gospel going forth in a way that that you will never have a voice, I may never have a voice to go that far. Can we not celebrate and pray for and say, oh man, okay, I'm not sure what this fully means. I'm gonna pray that I believe, you know, from what I know of Dallas, when I know of the show, the whole of the chosen series, I keep mentioning the chosen, but it's it's one that probably all of us know, um, that we can pray for the chosen to remain in the straight and narrow. We can pray for Dallas Jenkins to remain in the straight and narrow, to say, Lord, let you know, let many people, even as Paul says, like, hey, this is not the way that I would have done it. Like, what, but whether the gospel happens this way or the gospel goes forth this way, I celebrate because the gospel is preached. Now, again, please don't hear what I'm not saying here. Don't, I'm not saying that like if it's uh, you know, uh uh sinful, you know, sexually immoral or you know, like things that are overtly sinful in the Bible, then that's a different conversation. That's a different conversation. I'm not telling you to go watch a show that has like blatant sin or blatant immorality. It's like, well, it's it's okay, the gospel's going forth, man. Just shove it under the rug, no big deal. Like, I'm not, that's not what I'm saying, okay? I'm talking about overtly faith-based, incredibly clean, doing more for the gospel on earth today than probably anything else. TV shows, films, movies that are going forth, we as Christians, we need to change our narrative, I believe. We need to watch ourselves and check our hearts, if you will, and say, okay, instead of judging, instead of throwing this thing out completely or demonizing it on someone's social media account, I'm gonna give them money. I'm gonna become a partner or I'm going to pray for them. I mean, the the number one way, and if you've been a Christian for a long time, you know this, the number one way to deal with offense or bitterness in your heart towards someone is to give them money. It's to buy them lunch. It's to uh best if you can secretly give them money, like acting in the opposite spirit, you'll find joy begin to come to your heart. And then filmmakers like Dallas Jenkins, uh, filmmakers like myself, and what we're doing in the realm of movies and musicals will not be, you know, attacked by Christians. Instead, we'll be supported and empowered. And please pray. Um, that's one of the best things you can possibly do for myself or for um different ones who are out here, because it is a um, I want to say lonely, but lonely doesn't just lonely doesn't encapsulate it well enough. It is a um an arrow flying world out here. When you're because again, I say this all the time, Hollywood, arts entertainment today is not just entertainment, it is worldview formation. And I can tell you, I was just talking to someone, you know, recently who really operates in the space in LA and different kinds of stuff like that. Like the attack that comes on their house, the attacks that comes on their family, on their ministry, on their church, like it is it is no joke. And when you begin to not just um, you know, uh, again, there's beauty in the cup of cold water. There's beauty in being kind and loving to your neighbor. But when you're out there raising funds to produce something at this level to see a potentially, you know, millions upon millions of lives change and affect worldview formation. Um, I believe that there are angels and demons, okay? It's pretty basic and simple in my Bible. I'm not sure what which Bible you're reading. There are angels and demons. When we pray, angels move, and I believe demons move. They're pushed back, angels come. There's a war in the spirit, okay? And we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, Christ inside of us. So we don't fight against flesh and blood, right? There's principalities and powers in heavenly places, right? Um, angels and demons is another way of saying that, trying to be careful by words here, that um when you pray, you're affecting change. And in the same way, when you're in that space seeking to affect change by creating arts and entertainment that are geared towards Christ, that are geared towards the truth of the gospel, the enemy is not happy at all. And arrows begin to fly. So, this is my my short plea. This is a short episode for Christians. Let's get behind Christian creatives. And I invite you, if you're watching this, get behind my production company, Firelight Creative Productions. It's in the show notes, firelightcp.com. Join our partnership team. We're we're currently raising funds right now for a brand new Deborah movie. And again, my Case in point, there are two chapters in the whole of Scripture about Deborah. We know very, very little about the life of Deborah. And so what we've crafted, this story around her life, we have sought to be, you know, true to scripture. Like we don't want to, you know, be uh unbiblical, but we are being incredibly extra biblical because there's not a lot in the Bible about this woman's life. But she had a she has a phenomenal story and a phenomenal um uh the way the Lord used her as a prophet, a female prophet and judge in the nation of Israel. Um join us, pray for us, give us, give us money, help fund this thing, become an investor or you can donate, get behind Christian Arts Entertainment, and let's stop demonizing them and instead turning around and praying for them. All right, thank you guys so much for watching. Uh, we'll see you in the next episode.