Forgive me for posting this disturbing screenshot meant to dig at a concerned Christian at the expense of Jesus, but it was the catalyst for yet another discussion about creator Dallas Jenkins and his television series, The Chosen.

Facebook screenshot of Jenkins’ trolling of a concerned Christian. This vile and irreverent reference is Jenkins’ spiteful rejoinder to the faithful, reminding us that he is in control of the creation of the “Jesus” holding sway in the popular imagination—and that he’ll do exactly as he pleases with Jesus.

The following is slightly stream-of-consciousness, so forgive me for that. We can talk specifically about the troubling content of the show in the comments, but first I wanted to present some overarching principles to set the foundation for any further discussion. I’m tired, and it’s gonna ramble, but stay with me….

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There's a reason we are careful with Christology and why there are "rules" we don't transgress.

When we step outside divine revelation and our 20 centuries of Catholic patrimony, particularly regarding the Person of Christ, we get disaster. We get heresy. We get blasphemy. It’s the same reason we are not permitted to take biblical interpretation past the bounds of the Deposit of Faith and the teaching of the Catholic Church that gave us that Bible. If we know anything at all as Christians, we know that we do not mess around with Jesus. He is not our plaything. He is not a puppet on a string. We are not permitted to remake Him in our own image.

Unfortunately, remaking Jesus in his own image is exactly what Dallas Jenkins has done in The Chosen, and countless good Catholics who are committed to the show are trying to make excuses for why this is okay. It is not okay.

Jenkins has created a lovable goofball Jesus figure who is fun and so "relatable." He's "just like us"—and that is the appeal. Everyone feels so loved! But we should note that Jenkins has created a Jesus-personality that is quite like himself and the bros in the cast and crew. This jolly Jesus (who has his own joke reels!) is not the Jesus of Christendom and Scripture (Jenkins admits as much), but rather a counterfeit that appeals to the modern masses... and that's the point.

The show is hugely popular with Christians, and the secular world is okay with this "Jesus," too, because he is inoffensive and not intimidating (women are the target audience, and it shows). He's the kind of “Jesus” who is quite happy with homosexual/transgeder flags, t-shirts, and pins on the set. (And if you object as a concerned Christian, you will be told to stop watching the show, you bigot. Publicly. True story.)

As the series continues into new seasons, and as Jenkins is increasingly affirmed by his riches and accolades, I predict that we will see more bold arrogance like the screenshot above. Snide, vulgar, rude. Sniping at a critic by stripping Jesus of His dignity... but, again, that’s the point.

Dallas Jenkins is the son of a prolific anti-Catholic writer, Jerry B. Jenkins (best known for the Left Behind series). The younger Jenkins grew up with and continues to be comfortable with anti-Catholicism, as evidenced by The Chosen’s three big social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) happily posting the following to their millions of followers. Yes indeed, the “good news” is that viewers don’t need their religion or their church to be saved. Now, what religion or Church could they be referring to?

Despite the distressed responses from many of their Catholic followers and fans, the folks at The Chosen doubled down and reposted the same thing on another platform weeks later. When someone tells you who they are, believe them. But I digress….

People, including countless good Catholics, love Jenkins’ "Jesus." Jenkins knows where to take this, he is good at drawing viewers in emotionally (note how often the fans speak of how they cry and weep), and the money and accolades keep coming to him. He has remade Jesus in his own image. This deconstructed “Jesus” fits in well with the spirit of the age, using contemporary words, mannerisms, and jokes (heck, this reimagined Jesus is a “Catskill comedian” with whom you could grab a beer!). He is finally “so human!” (as if we have not already obscured His divinity in favor of His humanity for the past 50 years??).

Jenkins doesn’t stay within theological lines, but strives to make his new Jesus into whatever will move people emotionally. And it has worked spectacularly. If you can make your own god, and if even God’s people love you for it, you will keep going. Jenkins is Creator, and his drawing board—upon which he admits he’s writing fiction—is wide open. He has no limits or rules for who his Jesus can be.

And that is the crux of it all: There are no hard theological rules for Protestants (and no Christian rules for the Mormons who have been funding the show). Similarly, there were no hard and fast rules for any of the myriad destructive and soul-destroying heresies that swept through the Church over the centuries and carried away the faithful. Most of the early heresies against which the Church and the saints fought so hard and at great cost were Christological heresies.

My faithful Catholic friends, we know better than to let our guard down and be “moved” and even captured by a counterfeit Christ!

On the day of His death, Christ stood before Pilate and told him that the reason He was born, the very reason He came into the world, was “to testify to the Truth.” Truth matters.

We are not permitted to operate outside the parameters of what the Church has given in Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. We dare not touch the theology of Christ that the Church has protected, preserved, and handed down. We must not manipulate, invert, or corrupt Christology, or we will lose Christ Himself. The Church gives us the Man of Sorrows, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and the Omega, Christ the King. The saints of the ages intimately knew the solemn and dignified God-Man on a mission to die for our sins so we could rise with Him on the last day. They didn’t know the contemporary, fun-guy Jesus. Divine Revelation does not present us with happy-clappy Jesus who could easily be playing frisbee, drinking a beer, having burping contests and belly laughs with his friends while razzing them with a sarcastic quip and eye-roll before he performs a quick miracle.

The defense, of course, is “well, Jesus could have done this or that….” But as you see, the appeal is to imagination and emotion, not doctrinal truth and revelation. Even with Christian meditation or Lectio Divina, which allows reverent imaginings, there is no allowance for the reimagining or deconstruction of the Person of Jesus!

We must form our children in correct Christology as if their lives and souls depended on it (they do). We must teach them not to deviate from it—not for anyone or for any reason. We must limit our imagination (a powerful faculty!) to what has been handed down; there is plenty enough room in what has been provided by the Church! This is deadly serious stuff, because, if we do not cling slavishly to the Truth, Jesus warns us that “even the elect will be deceived” (Matt. 24:24).

Here is some basic catechesis that most of our generations missed (including me): The Second Person of the Holy Trinity did not become incarnate so that he could be "relatable” to us, make us laugh and feel good, and frolic with his buddies in the ocean. God became Man because only a God-Man could bridge the gap and heal the rift between God and Man. For thousands of years after the Fall of Adam, the people of God tried to reconcile with God by offering Him sacrifice. But their millions of blood sacrifices of goats and lambs and bulls and doves were imperfect, thus ineffective. Jesus’ Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross was the perfect offering, the likes of which no other man could present to the Father. As true man, Jesus is able to act on behalf of all mankind. As true God, His Sacrifice is utterly perfect, therefore completely acceptable to the Father. Jesus, as both Priest and Victim, offered Himself, out of pure love, in atonement for our sins. His Sacrifice of love was so powerful, so beautiful, so complete, that it unleashed a torrent of grace upon the earth, redeemed all of creation, and reopened the gates of Heaven. Jesus the God-Man reconciled Heaven and earth, God and man.

Now of course, as true man, Jesus also can have compassion on His creatures! He understands us in our humanity, and He truly suffered more than any other human has suffered. Hebrews 4:15 beautifully states: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” We can contemplate that being “like us in all things but sin” actually means He is not “just like us” after all (see that “but” there?). He is different from us, but He wants us to be like Him. As St. Athanasius famously said: "God became man, so that man might become God." He is not here to be that guy with whom you can drink a beer and crack jokes. He is here to be the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. And His three years of public ministry were deadly serious.

A last thought about what Jenkins has done to Jesus.

Jesus Christ has, in some ways, put Himself at our mercy. He did that first when He humbled Himself to become man. He became a tiny, vulnerable baby in the care of His own creatures. At the end of His earthy life, he allowed His creatures to persecute, mock, torture, and murder Him. He made Himself vulnerable to their wicked acts, and He underwent all the evil we gave Him. We humiliated Him, debased Him, stripped Him of His dignity.

Today, He still puts Himself at the mercy of His creatures. He comes to us in humility, hidden under the appearance of a small, white Host. We can trample Him, spit on Him, defile and desecrate Him. We can be indifferent to Him and ignore Him. He has placed Himself, literally, in our hands. He is utterly exposed and vulnerable, and we betray His trust at our peril.

And it is such with Jenkins’ dangerous game. Jenkins has the “power” to do whatever He wants with his “Jesus” character, knowing full well that millions will receive the counterfeit as the real Christ. Jenkins has taken Jesus and tamed him, deconstructed him, and re-formed him—and he has done so with no concern for the "rules" of Christology. But why should he have any concern? He's got a wildly popular "Jesus" loved by millions, and a fat paycheck to affirm this direction. He has no rules, and the heresy of “once saved, always saved” protects him (he believes) from any eternal consequences. He does what he wants with Jesus, and people weep with emotion and applaud.

Jenkins feels free to speak flippantly and crudely of Jesus, and to place false images of the saints in the imaginations of tens of millions, but his quip about “Jesus” struggling to pee is vile, and he is losing his grip and doubling down:

Look, let’s think: Do you know who else worked to strip Jesus of His dignity? What comes to my mind are the soldiers who laughed at Christ, who stripped Him (naked! and dignity is the reason we cover Him with a cloth!), humiliated Him, and tried to leave Him without his mystery and dignity. Make excuses all you want, season after season. I will defend my Lord's dignity. I am happy to lose any and all followers and friends. None of it matters as we continue to offend our sweet Savior.

Again I ask: What is the line past which faithful Catholics will not go to defend this series? Is there one?

I beg Catholics who stubbornly defend this show to run the other way. It will only devolve from here.

Now, feel free to let me have it. I’m happy to discuss anything at all in the comments.
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PS: I forgot to mention this. Jenkins isn’t just hyper-emphasizing the “oh-so-human” view of Our Lord; he is also baffled by the idea that a pivotal manifestation of Christ’s glorious divinity could “serve our story”:

(Thanks to Leila Lawler her thoughtful post!)

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One more postscript: I finally realized why the false "Jesus" in The Chosen repels me. He's the same guy from my 1970s and 1980s CCD classes. He was the catalyst for so many to flee Catholicism and empty the pews. Gosh, that gee-whiz Jesus loved us all so much! He just wanted us to be happy and “follow our hearts”. He was so inoffensive and groovy that I went on to live many years of mortal sin, just knowing that nice Jesus understood me.

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My follow-up article in Crisis Magazine, here.