Vicar Philip

I'm a little disappointed in the Discovery Channel. I only caught part of their documentary "<a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/tuneins/jesus.html" target="_blank">Jesus: The Complete Story</a>" last night, but I'm wondering why this channel, which offers such quality programming as "The New Detectives," seems to lower their scientific standards by airing this?

Furthermore, as I checked out the Discovery Channel website, I found a collection of <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/jesus/qa/qa.html#lineage" target="_blank">questions</a> posed to Dr. James Charlesworth, a "biblical scholar" of the Princeton Theological Seminary. He seemed to rely heavily on the writings of Josephus.

Hasn't the falsification of Josephus' writings been covered exhaustively here at IIDB? Seems to me they have, and if so, I find it almost laughable that this "scholar" bases nearly his entire belief and proof of Jesus on Josephus.

Anyone else catch the show, and maybe get more out of it than I did?

Secular Pinoy

Might be of more interest in the BC&A forum.

Well, the Discovery Channel has always had a soft spot for shows that credulous people like. Just look at the number of pro-paranormal programs that air everyday. If given a choice, they would rather satisfy the beliefs of the general and potential viewers than strive for truth and accuracy.

Hawkingfan

Shame on the Discovery Channel. Unfortunately, this trend is not unique to that channel. There seems to be a fad now of supernatural bunk appearing on these types of stations. The Learning Channel, History Channel, and Travel Channel are just as guilty. I'd never let my children watch that garbage. Not without a proper representation of opposing views. If you ask me, they do it for ratings. But what they are doing is very dangerous. Especially with shows that cover things like supernatural "healing" and alternative medical procedures without reporting on how many deaths it causes.

Living Dead Chipmunk

How many deaths does it cause?

Viti

They ran the same piece of shit at Easter...I thought I was going to see some good science etc. There's a thread about it somewhere...damn I was disappointed. Heck, I even thought it was a different show last night...but no, just rerunning the same one arrrgghhh

The Admiral

I quit reading Readers Digest for those same reasons years ago. What little I have seen of the Discovery Channel has not tempted me to watch more.

The Admiral

Marduk

Later this week, Wed. I think, the History Channel will air "Who Wrote the Bible?" This one has a more skeptical approach from what I remember.
The Discover Channel does have it's share of good shows as well, Blue Planet and all the various "When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth" series were very good.

Viti

Last night I watched "In Search of Christmas" on the History Channel. It was outstanding and much more objective than the DC's "Complete Story" nonsense.

I agree, there are some good shows on Discovery...Blue Planet was amazing...I sat and marathon watched all of the episodes.

[ December 24, 2002: Message edited by: LadyShea ]</p>

Hawkingfan

One is enough.

Gregg

Look at the SciFi channel airing John Edward's show and that ridiculous "investigative program" on the Roswell crash with Bryant Gumbel.

I also saw a show on PBS called "The Roman Empire in the First Century" which was very good until they got to Jesus. Then they started interviewing a couple of non-objective scholars from seminaries, and their deep-voiced narrator started talking about how Jesus' "radical teachings" "rocked the foundations of the Empire." How odd, then, that only Josephus wrote about him, that he wrote so little, and that what he did "write" (I don't really think he wrote anything about Jesus at all) was positive, when he vilified every other Jewish agititor for bringing Rome's wrath down on Palestine.

Gregg