Fiery Darts Are Backfiring: Showing The Passion in the Middle East

BreakPoint with Charles Colson ^ | April 8, 2004 | Charles Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

Surprisingly, theaters in Doha, Qatar, and Amman, Jordan, are showing The Passion of the Christ. A Qatari English-language newspaper, The Peninsula, headlines, “Passion runs full house.” On March 21 three theaters in Doha were sold-out and pre-booked for days ahead. An official of the Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Board boasts that Qatar is so open that no film was refused permission for showing there last year and that the distributor was amazed when Qatar requested The Passion. Censors okayed it without any cuts, and the official expects the film to run for at least two months.

And some mullahs are encouraging their Muslim followers to see the film. Why such an unexpected endorsement? The false rumors that the film is anti-Semitic have reached the mullahs, and as one missionary explains, “since they hate the Jews, they want to see it.” Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet, and although they believe Muhammad superseded Him, they still revere and respect Christ. So when they hear of a film which is alleged to show Jews crucifying Christ, some Muslims welcome the opportunity to revel in a depiction of the wickedness of their long-time enemies.

But many Muslims are responding to the film in ways their mullahs hadn’t intended. One viewer recognized, “When they show a story of the Romans . . . in ancient times, it doesn’t mean the present-day Italians are responsible.” By analogy, he reasoned that, even if he construed the film as depicting first-century Jews as instigators of Christ’s crucifixion, that would not be an indictment of modern Israelis.

An even more important consequence shows up in an e-mail from a missionary, who marvels, “In two short hours more Qataris heard the Gospel than I have been able to reach in nearly five years living here. At the 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. showings, the film was running in all three theaters.” He estimated that more than 50 percent of the people in the theater were local Muslims—including completely veiled women.

After viewing the film with a former student, he told him in Arabic, “You think that this film is here because of ‘freedom of speech’ or the new openness of your government, but actually God Himself has sent this film to correct your total misunderstanding about who Jesus is and why He came to earth.” For two hours, the missionary and the student discussed the differences between Islam and Christianity, and the cross—the heart of our message.

The missionary adds, “How interesting that God is using this film to communicate the Gospel [in] the very opposite spirit that might be motivating [Muslims] to see it. The message to love your enemies, and Jesus’ praying for them to be forgiven while on the cross, would hit the Muslim moviegoer in a powerful way.”

With theaters in Jordan and Qatar scheduled to show the film for at least two months, and with videos and DVDs selling briskly, the potential is staggering.

Isn’t God amazing? He is using charges of anti-Semitism to stimulate Muslim mullahs to encourage their followers to see a Christian film during Holy Week—in essence, to make fiery darts backfire.

[JesusIsLord]

"The omnipotence and omnibenevolence of God is such as to bring good from evil. Hence God allows evil to exist so as to create latter, greater good." --St. Thomas Aquinas

I think Thomas missed it here. Evil exists because of the fall. Redemption, in a sense, is the removal of all evil from our lives. If not, then we should applause and pray for evil so that the greater good can come, as Thomas put it. The supposition that evil is necessary to create a greater good is a questionable theology. We should hate evil, and what it does to people.

The only think that will create the greater good, is God's Word and Spirit living in us, not evil. I believe the Word supports this position.

[sneakers]

"I think that there is something the "GUYS" do well. Men have built civilizations, fought wars and forged nations. Women have been there also, but there is something so creative and passionate about how testosterone works...."

I must say I heartily agree! :-)

[RussianConservative]

Do close comparison of Allah and God you soon find that Allah is no Judeo-Christian God.

[Aquinasfan]

The problem is, if an all-powerful God exists, and if God is all good, how can evil exist?

The answer is that God allows evil so that greater good may come. For example, God allowed the Fall so that we could be saved through Christ's redemptive death on the Cross and have the opportunity to enjoy eternal life with Him. Without the Fall, an evil, we would have remained in a state of natural happiness indefinitely, but we wouldn't have had an opportunity to enjoy the Beatific Vision, a far greater good.

[stuartcr]

There is one God...no matter the name...I don't believe there is a Judeo-Christian, or an Hebrew, or a Muslim, etc, God...just one for all. Those are just human definition/traits assigned to the same Entity. Whether correct or incorrect....

[lonevoice]

We might've guessed that the scandalous lies about The Passion being anti-Semitic would stimulate the M.E. Muslim world to see this movie. What we couldn't have guessed is that it would cause some of them to reconsider their own beliefs.

[stuartcr]

Why do you assume God is good? Goodness/evilness, I believe, is a human trait, I don't think God needs human traits. I believe God is above all that....our perception of good, and our perception of evil. God is everything.

[Mr. Silverback]

Hmm. Eventually clerics could have second thoughts, and to them, this may go down as another evil American plot to corrupt devout Muslims.:)

We'll see, but even if that happens, we haven't lost anything (the clerics hate us already) and we've shown Truth to a wide audience.

[reagan_fanatic]

There is one God...no matter the name...I don't believe there is a Judeo-Christian, or an Hebrew, or a Muslim, etc, God...just one for all

I couldn't have said it more clearly myself.

God is a god of all people, regardless of race or creed. That's what makes the Creator so wonderful...he is here for everyone - all you have to do is accept him as your savior and a whole new world opens up.

[stuartcr]

I don't believe that accepting Him as ones savior is necessary...He is, regardless....other than that, we seem to agree.

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

The missionary adds, “How interesting that God is using this film to communicate the Gospel [in] the very opposite spirit that might be motivating [Muslims] to see it. The message to love your enemies, and Jesus’ praying for them to be forgiven while on the cross, would hit the Muslim moviegoer in a powerful way.”

Yes, that has been exactly my sense of how this has transpired. Its actually going better than I imagined it would.

God is great.

[Mr. Silverback]

I agree with RussianConservative's comment to you. In addition, you should know that God disagrees with you:

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." --John 14:5-7

Indeed, there is only one God, and we celebrate his death and resurrection this weekend.

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

Hello again. Seen the movie yet Stu?

[Mr. Silverback]

I would like to think that this film could convert people, but my sense when I saw it was that conversion through the film alone was highly unlikely.

Agree. There have been large numbers of conversions from the showing of The Jesus Film but most of those showings were for unreached people groups who had never heard of Jesus in any context before.

What will most likely happen is that this is the planting of many seeds, and the fruit may take years to appear.

[stuartcr]

It's heartening to know that there are those that know what God thinks. Thank you.

[stuartcr]

No.

[Mr. Silverback]

I know a man who was told by a prophet that God was calling him to apostleship. That night and for days afterwards, the man would laugh every time he thought of it. He just couldn't believe God would pick him for something like that. But as you said, look at the batch He picked in the 1st century, and look at some of the people (like Mother Angelica) He's picked since.

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

Typical.

Post away!

[stuartcr]

About what?

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

About the movie you have not seen as well as the Faith you don't understand and the concept of Absolute Truth you refuse to acknowledge. Keep going.