Poster image of the excellent new movie, Risen. Readers of this blog know my passion for talking and writing about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it should come as no surprise that the Risen movie will garner attention here. I have already reviewed the novel and written a lengthy non-spoiler review for Answers in Genesis after twice viewing an advance copy.
I have now seen the movie in the theater and talked to many others who have seen it. Now that others have seen it, I want to briefly discuss some of the minor inaccuracies as well as defend the film from some false allegations. You can read my non-spoiler review here. While this may sound like a worthy objection, showing only what the Bible mentions would not necessarily make for a good film.
This is not at all an attack on Scripture. There are certain ways to tell a story on the big screen, and as great as it would be to see the Bible come to life in that way, you would still have the same problem. This objection really boils down to the person wanting to guard against the addition of extra-biblical details, but this is impossible to avoid if one is going to make a film about a biblical event. The look, sound, and dress of any character will necessarily be extra-biblical.
This has led some people to claim that no film should ever be made about the Bible, but I believe that response neglects one of the most powerful tools we have today to reach people.
In many ways, movies are the language of our culture, so why not use the medium to share the gospel? The movie shows two guards at the tomb. They were already tired from working a previous night, and one of them admits that they took turns sleeping that night. In reality, there were more than two guards. It may have been four soldiers, but more likely the word referred to a group of sixteen guards. So since at least one did not go into the city, we know there were more than two soldiers.
