What happened
A film is currently in the works that explains how Jesus spent his time between the ages of 13 and 30. Director Drew Heriot’s Aquarian Gospel, which is being billed as a fantasy action adventure, suggests that Christ was a mystic and revolutionary who traveled across India during those years. The Bible devotes only seven words to this period in Jesus’ life: “The boy grew in wisdom and stature.”
What the commentators said
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Aquarian Gospel has Christ “learning from Buddhism, challenging the Indian caste system, and possibly developing a romance with a young princess,” said Matthew Perpetua in New York Magazine’s blog Vulture. The story may be “rooted in centuries of historical speculation,” but “the plot seems a bit familiar—Jesus Begins, anyone?"
“Leave it to Hollywood to try and fill in those troublesome early years that the gospels do not speak about,” said the blog Answers for the Faith. Yes, some “writings and scrolls from the east have long made claims of visits by Jesus.” But “archeologists and scholars that looked into the claims have always pronounced them as spurious.”
A lot of Christians are going to “get hot under the collar about this” movie,” said the blog Occasional Thoughts on Christian Themes. But once again Hollywood will “unintentionally” drag “the discussion about Jesus into the public arena,” force the church to “interact with the surrounding culture,” and “get people reading the gospels.” In the end, “it will be an instrument in the hands of the living Lord to bring people into His kingdom.”
