I was encouraged this past fall as I led a 10-day Church History tour.

As we visited many of the Church historical sites, it was obvious that work had been done to encourage the missionaries to describe historical events more transparently than what I remember learning in seminary in the late 90s.

Joseph Smith’s translation process was clearly described in the context of using a seer stone in a hat.

Polygamy was not glossed over either.

The Kirtland apostasy struggle was obvious.

It seems in the last decade or so, there has been an obvious effort to teach Church history and even doctrine in a way that is more straight forward, even when it gets messy.

I wouldn’t argue that our faith community is doing a perfect job, but there is definitely more effort leading us in a positive direction.

In the past, it seemed that we were more focused on painting the gospel and historical picture with only the positive highlights with the hope that this would stimulate more certainty of truth claims, especially in our young believers with sprouting testimonies.

This has led to an over-investment on communicating the “right answer” rather than helping individuals discover how to build a relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

And even in 2023, we still can’t seem to shake this.

Let me give you an example.

I’ve come across a few discussions online about whether it is appropriate or not to share clips from the popular series The Chosen during a Sunday School class in church.

I even heard one full-time seminary teacher explaining that she has been asked not to use The Chosen material in class because it is neither “correlated” nor “doctrinally based.”

On the surface, I completely understand this approach.

However, I think it still shows the over-investment on wanting to “give the right answer” rather than help people find a relational connection point with Jesus Christ.

The creators of The Chosen have admitted that their intent with creating this television series is not to be historically accurate but rather to create an emotional experience with the life of Jesus and offer one interpretation of the Gospels in their portrayal of Christ.

It’s not about creating a truth experience as much as it is about creating an emotional or relational experience.

Yes, it’s true: the Holy Spirit does work to confirm what is true.

However, this process typically happens on an emotional level.

I worry that by stigmatizing a fantastic emotional work like The Chosen, we are sacrificing relationships with Jesus Christ for the sake of having all the “right answers.”

I wish we would encourage individuals (especially youth) to engage with content like The Chosen because it will put them on a path of wanting to learn more about their God and their Savior.

What do you think?

Should emotional experiences be limited in order to be more accurate about history or truth claims?

Sincerely,

Kurt Francom
Executive Director
Leading Saints

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