I've about had enough as well. My eyes are wide open...uncomfortably so.
Thank you very much. Last night, after I posted my tagline a friend of mine gave me grief over it and told me I was building a wall between the believers and the non-believers, and that I should delete it. I explained that anti-Christian comments are becoming bolder and incessant, and that after one full year of being told by the non-believers that the Passion was anti-semitic, full of gratuitous violence and with nothing good to show except trashing the Jews, I had reached a point where I can no longer remain silent. Last night in my prayers I asked the Lord if my tagline was wrong and you replied this morning.
I went to Catholic School for most of my education, and after seeing this movie I can attest that it is true to the Gospel borrowing some artistic license of course. There are a few things in this movie that aren't written in the Scriptures, so if we decide to pick on a specific scene and say, but that's not in the Scriptures therefore, the movie is wrong, that doesn't make the argument right. Let's take for instance the devil, there is nothing in the Scriptures that says the devil is a woman with a man's voice who appeared carrying a midget while Jesus was being scourged. However, the spirit of the devil is portrayed in the movie… as Mel said, satan doesn't have horns and carry a pitchfork, but is a seductive figure, almost beautiful but not quite. The devil takes something good and twists it and perverts it, like the baby satan was carrying and it turned out that it wasn't.
Some others complained that the presence of Caiaphas in the movie during the scourging and the crucifixion isn't written in the Scriptures, however, the religious leaders and the chief priests were there, and the Jews who wanted Jesus dead were present, thus their antagonistic spirit is portrayed through Caiaphas. Let's look at the Scriptures:
John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged [him].John 19:2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put [it] on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
John 19:3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
John 19:4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
John 19:5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And [Pilate] saith unto them, Behold the man!
John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify [him], crucify [him]. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify [him]: for I find no fault in him.
John 19:7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
John 19:8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
John 19:9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
John 19:10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
John 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [at all] against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
John 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
John 19:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
John 19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
John 19:15 But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
John 19:16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led [him] away.
John 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called [the place] of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
John 19:18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
John 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put [it] on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
John 19:20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, [and] Greek, [and] Latin.
John 19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
John 19:22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
John 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also [his] coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
John 19:24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the [wife] of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
John 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
John 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own [home].
John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
John 19:29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put [it] upon hyssop, and put [it] to his mouth.
John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.
John 19:32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
John 19:33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
John 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
John 19:35 And he that saw [it] bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
John 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
John 19:37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
Abe Foxman was upset with one of the scenes in this movie in which the high priest says, let His blood be on us and on our children. He called Gibson antisemitic and blasted him for inciting hatred. So Gibson removed the scene from this film yet, it is written in the Scriptures…
Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
Matthew 27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
It is ironic that non-believers blast us with so much intolerance while demanding tolerance from us. A lot of them haven't seen the movie but judge something they haven't seen, or if they have, they don't understand Christianity. They judge the Gospel, which they haven't read and call us anti-semitic, ignorant fools, and Jew bashers. It is ironic they tell us to respect their religion while they trash ours. The way I see it, this movie is testing our beliefs, is making us to come out in the open and show who we really are… what's in out hearts.
Maia Morgenstern the actress who "plays Mary in the film is the daughter of Holocaust survivors but says she does not consider the film anti-Semitic. She told the Associated Press if the film has a message it's more about how people can be manipulated by their leaders. " She also said, "Mel Gibson is an artist, a director. He never imposed his religious convictions on anyone," LINK