The Chosen Adventures: A Biblical Worldview Review for Families

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On today's episode of the Foundation Worldview Podcast, we're discussing The Chosen Adventures—a new series on Amazon Prime for kids created by Dallas Jenkins and others who have worked on The Chosen series. We'll explore what this series is, identify some positive and negative elements, and discuss good questions to ask your children after watching different episodes.

This is the Foundation Worldview Podcast, where we seek to answer your questions so that you can equip the children God has placed in your care to carefully evaluate every idea they encounter and understand the truth of the Christian worldview. I'm your host, Elizabeth Urbanowicz, and I'm thrilled that you've joined me today.

A Matter of Conscience

I've said before when reviewing movies and other forms of media that I'm never going to recommend you have your child watch a certain movie or series simply because this is a matter of conscience. If I strongly feel you should not allow your child to watch something, I'll be honest about that. However, the choice to engage is ultimately yours to make.

Subjectively, as I watched this series, I greatly enjoyed it. I actually watched all 14 episodes twice before doing this review, and I've recommended it to several friends and family members whose kids I thought would enjoy it.

What Is The Chosen Adventures?

I must say the series was different than what I expected. When I heard it was a Chosen adventure series for kids, I assumed it would be a retelling of the gospels similar to the adult version—just in animated form. That's not what this is. It's not an animated portrayal of the gospels or Bible stories, but rather adventures that a few children in Capernaum experience, and throughout those adventures, they interact with Jesus.

For those who have seen the adult Chosen series, The Chosen Adventures begins with an animated scene from Season 1, Episode 3 ("Jesus Loves the Little Children"). In that episode, two kids named Abby and Joshua wander into Jesus's camp where he's working on carpentry. They took that exact scene and used it to open this adventure series. The rest follows Abby as she goes on different adventures throughout Capernaum, with Joshua woven in throughout various episodes.

Several biblical characters appear in the series. Jesus is the main one, but Matthew, Andrew, John, and Mary Magdalene also make appearances. For those who've watched the adult version, the animated characters are designed to look like the actors who play those roles, and those actors actually voice the characters as well.

Currently there's one season with 14 episodes, each about 10 minutes long. Every episode focuses on a specific problem Abby is having and a clear lesson she learns. There's also a sheep and a pigeon who appear in each episode, usually featured in the B plot for comic relief. Most of their jokes are ones adults would understand—or perhaps children 10 or 11 and up—though the series is really geared toward younger kids, probably between ages five and nine.

Positive Elements

Excellent Visuals

The animation is done really well. Whether you love or hate the adult Chosen series, one thing it does exceptionally is tell the story of the gospel in an artistically beautiful way—focused on camera angles and plot elements that create visual beauty. That's one reason it's become so popular.

Similarly, the animation in The Chosen Adventures is excellent. One thing I find disheartening about many Christian series for kids is subpar animation, but that's not the case here.

The visuals are also developmentally appropriate. They're not flashing rapidly between scenes just to deliver easy dopamine hits. The episodes are short and move quickly to tell a story in a brief period, but they're not visually designed to create dopamine addiction in kids.

Biblical Storylines

The lessons in each episode are very clear and not focused on behavior modification. Instead, they teach children the biblical view of how we're called to live. Let me walk through a few episodes to show what I mean.

Episode 1: Understanding God's Design

Abby keeps asking her parents why God made wasps. She wonders, "Why would God do that to us?" since wasps sting. Eventually, when she meets Jesus for the first time, he explains that every animal has a purpose—even if you don't understand what that purpose is. Wasps can sting, but fig trees need them to grow fruit. Through this, Abby learns that even when we can't understand why God would allow a certain creature, every creature has a purpose God has given it.

In that same episode, Abby is frustrated with her parents giving her rules and not always responding to her questions. She tells Jesus, "They love me, but they don't always listen to me. Mostly they just tell me what to do," and lists everything her parents tell her to do.

This part was excellent. Jesus explains that just as our Father in heaven has given us commandments to reveal what to do and not do—rules that help us do the least harm and the most good—her parents are teaching her all the time. If she listens, they will teach her to live wisely.

In a world of kids' programming that constantly separates children from parents, places children above parents, or makes parents look stupid, what a great way to open this series—laying out that even when you don't understand it, your parents have your good in mind.

Episode 3: Trusting God Through Hard Days

Everything goes wrong in Abby's day, and she doesn't understand why God would allow these bad things. She comes home frustrated, asking, "Why would God give such a bad day?"

Her mom explains, "Oh, honey, God doesn't give us bad days, though he does allow hard things to happen to us. We don't always understand why, but we do know we can trust him, and we know he can bring good things out of bad things."

Then they pray together. Abby prays, "Even if I don't understand why I had a hard day, I trust you God, and I know you love me and want good things for me. Thank you for the good things I don't even see."

Right after this, Pigeon explains to Sheep all the things she could see from a bird's-eye view—all the bad things God actually protected Abby from by allowing her day not to go as planned.

Episode 6: Forgiveness Over Revenge

Abby's friend Yael purposely embarrasses her in front of other children in the marketplace. Abby decides revenge will make her feel better.

While angrily scrubbing one of her mom's pots, Abby handles it too roughly and it shatters. She picks up the pieces, puts them in a bag, and says, "I'm going to keep this as proof of what she did to me." All day she wears that bag of heavy pot shards weighing her down.

Eventually she tries revenge on Yael but says, "I don't feel any better." Her solution? "I just need the revenge to be bigger, then I'll be satisfied."

Jesus comes on the scene. Abby and Joshua say, "But the law of Moses says an eye for an eye. So we need to get revenge."

Jesus explains that an eye for an eye is meant for judges enforcing laws that have been broken. "I understand you want things to be fair. When someone wrongs you, you want it to be right. And you know who else loves fairness and justice? God. But what does God say in the law of Moses about vengeance and justice? Vengeance is his. The Lord loves justice, but it's not yours to handle."

He continues, "We cannot always stop others from hurting us, but we can stop scratching our own wounds so that we can heal. We can forgive. Forgiveness isn't just for her, it's for you too, Abby."

After this conversation, Abby finds Yael and says, "I forgive you, Yael. You made me feel bad about myself, and maybe you didn't mean to, or maybe you did, but either way, I'm going to forget it." Then she takes off the bag of pot shards that had been weighing her down and breathes a sigh of relief.

Positive Lessons for Parents

One episode includes encouragement specifically for parents. Ellie (Abby's Abba, her father) feels like a failure because Abby constantly asks theological questions he can't answer. As a fisherman, he doesn't have extensive scriptural knowledge. When he visits the synagogue, he's reminded of how poorly he did in Torah school as a boy, and he feels discouraged.

Then Ellie encounters Jesus, who asks for help tying knots on a fishing net. Jesus says, "Ellie, you're raising Abby in a home that loves God. Continue to teach her everything that you know, and for everything else, show her where to find the answers. Being a good teacher isn't just teaching about what to learn, but how to learn."

I found it encouraging that this series includes this message for parents. As I've said many times on the Foundation Worldview Podcast, it's not about having all the answers for our kids—it's about training them how to find solid answers.

Negative Elements

Sarcasm and Humor

Sheep and Pigeon provide comic relief but can often be sarcastic. Depending on how you feel about sarcasm, this might give you pause. The jokes weren't inappropriate, but there were places where I wished the series had done without them.

In one episode, somebody mentions being at the bottom of something, and Sheep just keeps laughing, saying, "Oh, he said bottom." That's potty humor we don't really need.

In another episode where Sheep is on the roof eating hay, Abby's dad bleats like a sheep trying to get her attention. Sheep comments to Pigeon, "Boy, what a potty mouth." The series could have done without these moments.

One Episode Needing Clarification

Episode 4 needed clarification so that a wrong lesson isn't learned. Abby is sitting in the synagogue listening to the rabbi read from the Torah and keeps getting bored and falling asleep.

Then Jesus gets up to read and says, "What if you changed your questions to 'What does God want to tell me this week?'" That's good—we should listen for what God is speaking to us. However, the way that line is delivered could be interpreted as God speaking to us in ways different from what he said in Scripture.

Jesus continues, "God hears us. He answers us sometimes through his written word. To the daydreamers—daydream. In the scriptures, you may find that they hold meaning for you that you did not see before."

Abby then listens and daydreams in the Scriptures. Walking home, she says, "Jesus said that everyone could get something different from the same Scripture. So what did you learn?"

I think Jesus is talking about the objective meaning the Holy Spirit has placed into the text. However, this could confuse children into thinking different scriptures mean different things to different people.

If you watch Episode 4, a really good follow-up question is: "Do scriptures mean different things to different people?" Then discuss how there's one meaning for the Scriptures, but the way it applies to our lives might be different.

For example, discuss the command "Children, obey your parents in the Lord" or "Children, honor your mother and father." For your kids, the immediate application is obeying you with the rules in your house. For you, honoring your parents doesn't mean following their rules in your home—it means caring for them and speaking to them respectfully.

For those who have taken your kids through our Studying the Bible Curriculum, this would be a great opportunity to review the lessons in Unit 2 about the objective meaning of a text and how that meaning was placed there by God. It doesn't change for different people, but the personal application—how that objective meaning applies to a person's life—might differ.

Questions to Discuss With Your Kids

I think there are four questions we can ask after each episode to help our kids think critically and biblically.

Question 1: What truth did Abby learn in this episode?

We don't want our kids just to be entertained. We want them to actually learn something.

Question 2: Where do we find this truth in the Bible?

We want to make sure these concepts are anchored in Scripture—not just random ideas, but objectively grounded in the Word of God.

Question 3: Why is understanding this truth important?

Get them thinking through why understanding this biblical truth matters.

Question 4: How does this truth apply to our lives?

Before I walk through applying these questions, I wanted to mention that if you want to help ground your kids in a solid understanding of objective truth versus subjective feelings, I highly recommend our two picture books: What is Truth? and Our Feelings Truth? Available on Amazon, they're quick, easy reads that get your kids' bodies and minds involved—a great way to anchor them in the objective nature of truth.

Applying the Four Questions

Let's use Episode 3 as an example—where Abby didn't understand why she was having a bad day.

What truth did Abby learn? We don't always understand why God allows bad things to happen, but we can trust that what he's doing is for our good.

Where do we find this in the Bible? A great resource is GotQuestions.org. Type in "What does the Bible say about why bad things happen?" and you'll find an article with plenty of Scripture references.

Romans 8:28-29 is an excellent passage: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

What truths does this passage reveal? God is working all things together for the good of those he has called. How? By conforming us more into the image of his Son. Even when bad things happen and we don't understand why, we can trust God is working those things together for our good to make us more like Jesus.

Why is understanding this truth important? Bad things are going to happen. Sometimes it's one or two little things, sometimes 25 little things, sometimes really huge things. We need to recognize we can trust God and put that trust into practice as hard things happen.

How does this truth apply to our lives? Discuss hard things your family is going through or has gone through, and how you can trust God through them. Spend time praying, thanking God that you can trust him even when you don't understand what he's doing.

Going through these four questions will not only reinforce the lesson taught in each episode but also train your kids to be discerning as they watch Christian content—to know that we have to think critically in order to think biblically.

Conclusion

That's a wrap for this episode! If you have a question you'd like me to answer on a future Foundation Worldview podcast, you can submit it by going to FoundationWorldview.com/podcast.

If you found today's discussion helpful for navigating media choices with your children, I'd encourage you to sign up for the Foundation Worldview email list. You'll receive practical resources, be the first to know about new podcast episodes like this one, and get equipping content delivered straight to your inbox—so you never miss an opportunity to help the children in your care think critically and biblically. Visit FoundationWorldview.com to join today.

As we leave our time together, my prayer for you is the same as always—anchored in Romans 8:28-29—that no matter the situation in which you and the children God has placed in your care find yourselves, you would trust that God is working all things together for your good by using all things to conform you more into the image of his Son.

I'll see you next time.