Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJzqy7-H_34#t=211

 Is Biblical history really history? Ridley Scott’s fictionalized Exodus: Gods and Kings may not have had the box office legs it backers had hoped but those interested in the true story of the Book of Exodus may want to make their way to one of the over 650 theaters hosting tomorrow’s (1/19) one night-only documentary premiere event on the subject. The Fathom Events presentation Patterns of Evidence: Exodus program starts at 6:30 PM (local time) with a half-hour pre-show. The investigative film begins at 7:00 PM. A panel discussion, emceed by Gretchen Carlson of Fox News, follows. The panelists will include talk show host Dennis Prager, author Eric Metaxas (Miracles), Fr. Jonathan Morris (Sirius XM’s Catholic Channel) and Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz (who also happens to be evangelist Billy Graham’s daughter). To find a theater near you that’s showing the movie and to purchase tickets (including group tickets) click here.

The film is directed and produced by Tim Mahoney who spent twelve years of his life getting the project to screen. I recently spoke with him about his commitment to the project.

JWK: Can you tell me about your background and what motivated you to make a documentary about the Exodus?

But here’s the good news. What happened was that after a period of time I persevered with this and I found out that another Egyptologist had looked at this material that had been dug up and he had a completely different interpretation — and this is where the film takes off in the sense of my journey. We started to realize that, when archeologists look for things, they look for them in certain time periods in history. What this other Egyptologist was saying was that if you dig deeper, at a deeper level, that you will find the story of the Israelites coming. There is a city underneath the city of Ramesses which is called Avaris and that is the city that has caused a lot of interest and excitement because it’s a city that was full of Semitic people.

So, what’s that saying is that the Egyptians allowed these people to come and that’s what The Bible says had happened — that Joseph’s family was allowed to come in. And then it says that they grew to such a large number that the Egyptians were fearful that if someone came against them that these people would join (the attackers) against them in war — and so they enslaved them.

And then, guess what. The archeology shows that these people (in Avaris) were prosperous (but all of a sudden) they went into hardship and started to die at an early age and there were actually more females than males. And we know the story of The Bible that talks about the culling of a male child. I’m talking about when the Egyptians — in the story of the Exodus — decided to have all the male children killed. So, what they were suggesting here is that it looks as if there’s more females than males in the grave evidence.

JWK:  So, where did that lead you and the film?

TM: I started to realize that there were two stories going on. There’s the mainstream story which is the story that says there is no evidence — at this particular time. And there’s this alternative story where archeologists and Egyptologists are telling me “Wait a minute! There’s something more going on here.” If you look at a different time in history you can find the story of the Exodus. And that’s how we then proceeded to continue to track down these parallel events, matching the Biblical (story) with the archeological (evidence). That’s what this film does. It exposes the information. I’m still allowing you to hear the mainstream position and then I show you through the storytelling of the Biblical story and then the archeology where another pattern of evidence arises — and that is the main structure of the film. We look at six major events in the Biblical story — the arrival, the multiplication,  the enslavement, the judgement in Egypt, the Exodus out of Egypt and the conquest of the Promised Land.

JWK: What has the reaction been from skeptics to this alternative scenario that supports the Biblical story?

TM: (In) the mainstream there’s been a strong sense that (the Exodus) had to happen at this one particular time and when (the evidence for that) didn’t show up, then it became discounted — and once it became discounted they didn’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s considered to be foolishness to consider anything else. You’re considered to be a little bit off if you try to do that. So, there not really open to dialogue — and what I was saying was “Why not?” I’m interested.