The Bible, Pt. 1

The Bible is a big book. It's the best selling book of all time, but my guess would be a lot of people haven't read it. Still, it's hard to imagine fitting the thousands of pages of wisdom, stories, and theology into a 10-hour mini series for the History Channel. Yet, that was the task producers Mark Burnett ("Survivor," "The Amazing Race") and Roma Downey ("Touched By An Angel") took on.

The result of their work premiered on Sunday and will run in two-hour blocks until the end of the month — ironically Easter Sunday, March 31. And it was... interesting.

I have seen some people make jokes about the fact that Noah was Scottish, the mixed ethnicity of the actors playing the parts, and about some of the performances. Let's be honest, this isn't an Academy Award winning production, it's a labor of love. Some of those things are cheesy, but they aren't really worth criticizing.

Others have commented about the omissions. I had a chance, thanks to the fact I now live in the shadow of Focus on the Family, to attend a special briefing for Christian ministry leaders in December. Downey and Burnett were there, shared some footage, and talked about the process. They were very open about the fact that in a 10-hour production — and that's excluding commercials — there were some tough choices that had to be made.

I was bummed that Joseph didn't make it into the series, and it was weird to only have about five minutes devoted to Adam and Eve, the Garden, and all of Creation, but that's what happens sometimes. I mean, Cecil B. DeMille took nearly four hours to tell the story of Moses, and this whole thing has only 10 hours to tell the story of the Bible.

My more pressing concerns were in some of the ways the story was told. There is condensing stories, then there is changing the context to make it more palatable or more exciting. A big problem for me was the whole Sodom sequence.

Genesis chapter 19, the story of Sodom and Gommorah, is a tough one to read. But it is meant to illustrate a point. While it was included in "The Bible," I was sort of frustrated that the production seemed to dance around the more unseemly aspects of the story. I couldn't tell why, specifically, that was done, except that maybe it was political pressure in the process.

The Bible is quite clear about the sin situation that led to the destruction of Sodom, but "The Bible" merely said the city was plagued by sin. That was sort of misleading.

I was also puzzelled by the way the violent sequences were done. It almost felt like the producers were trying to ramp up the action and entertainment value. Particularly jarring was the way the Angels dealt with the citizens of Sodom while getting Lot and his family to safety. It was like watching a Jet Li action film at times, or perhaps the sequel to "Gladiator," as the Angels busted out weapons and cut the people to ribbons.

It's true that the Bible is an R-rated book. There are many portions that aren't for the faint of heart. Still, I'm not certain that is what needs to be emphasized in this production. But when you're competing with an original mini series on Vikings, I guess you want to draw an audience.

It's not that "The Bible" was bad, just curious. And I'm curious to see where it goes — and what it includes — as it moves forward. We'll find out on Sunday night.