The new "Ben-Hur" movie touches on the life of Jesus Christ and how He spread love and kindness during a time when hatred and bitterness prevailed. Executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey say one specific Bible verse helped shape the movie, and it's 1 Timothy 6:12.
The verse reads: "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."
Burnett explains to the Gospel Herald that God's message of love is sorely needed these days, so projects like "Ben-Hur" are a wonderful opportunity to reach out to the secular community.
"How can you get the message of Jesus and Christianity to reach more people? Entertainment is an enormous opportunity," he says "Look at 'Touched By an Angel' — 10 years, almost 300 episodes, 20 million people a week hearing the message that 'God loves you.'"
"'The Bible' series, a hundred, a million viewers. People couldn't believe it. They said, 'Who's gonna watch the Bible on primetime TV?' And now 'Ben-Hur.' Here is an action, epic adventure. Yes, it's very entertaining, it's a huge movie. And it should be. But woven through it is the story of Jesus. And the story of why revenge does not work. And what a great way. The convergence of faith and entertainment can be really powerful," Burnett says.
Meanwhile, his wife Downey says they haven't embarked on a project, whether big or small, that didn't require lots of prayer. Faith is an integral part of their lives, and it's what they tried to showcase in "Ben-Hur" as well.
"'Ben Hur' does that, it's filled with light... We're believers, so we understand just how powerful prayer can be, and when two or more are gathered in His name, extraordinary things can happen," she says.
"Ben-Hur" was released on Aug. 19, 2016.
