Is Mel Gibson's film passion for Jesus misplaced?

The Boston Globe ^ | 7/22/03 | Alex Beam

[Aquinasfan]

A fair amount of attention, although not necessarily the attention one would seek, attends the production of ''The Passion,'' Mel Gibson's movie about the last days of Jesus Christ. Making a movie about Christ is a surefire path to instant publicity, most of it negative. And when one of the most bankable stars in the English-speaking world is backing the project, you can bet Christ won't go quietly this time.

[Aquinasfan]

I'm speechless. I mean, I shouldn't expect more from the Globe but... damn. This is high crap. Crap has been elevated to an art form.

[Aquinasfan]

You have to see this. It's pathetic, but funny.

[wideawake]

Alex Beam is merely spouting, word for word, the Jesus Seminar's own press.

He's an unthinking mouthpiece who has literally no conception of what he's discussing.

[elenchus]

How about this article:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/951145/posts

The original polling information is at:

http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=127&Reference=F

[Tax-chick]

Egad. Words fail me.

[Aquinasfan]

He's an unthinking mouthpiece who has literally no conception of what he's discussing.

That's literally true, and that's what I find so fascinating. This story passed through the hands of at least one editor, who must also have had literally no conception of what he was reading.

[big gray tabby]

What kills me is that he won't come right out and say that he hasn't seen the movie.

What a tool.

[Kwilliams]

"Whatever Gibson's intentions, the film will be perceived as anti-Semitic, because the Christian Bible holds that Jesus was a Jewish prophet rejected and betrayed by his own people."

What?

[PaulJ]

the film will be perceived as anti-Semitic, because the Christian Bible holds that Jesus was a Jewish prophet rejected and betrayed by his own people.

I guess The Bible needs a politically correct make-over.

[Pietro]

The Jesus Seminar has been thouroughly debunked by serious theologians as well as historians, I reference the Christian Research Center.

I'm also reminded of the words of St. Paul who said that if Christ did not rise from the dead then Christians are the most unfortunate of all peoples (sorry for the paraphrase).

I think Mel's movie is important precisely as a stick in the eye to all these wishy-washy Christians that are comfortable w/ platitudes but uncomfortable w/ the idea of everlasting judgement. They don't want to see the reality of Christ's suffering because it will shatter their world of complacency.

[carton253]

It is crap... what a hatchet job... on Gibson, on this film, on Jesus, and on Christians.

[Savage Beast]

Whether or not Hutton Gibson is a crackpot I wouldn't know, but judging from this article, it appears that Alex Beam certainly is.

[jammer]

You beat me to it. Has any article ever before been written by someone as clueless?

[Kwilliams]

How can such nonsensical drivel be published in a semi-national mainstream newspaper?

[mhking]

This writer is full of used food.

I saw the trailer, and I would arguably say that the film has the potential of being one of the biggest Christian outreach vehicles in the history of contemporary media. The sheer power that is radiated from that short excerpt blows everything the televangelists are doing out of the water. TBN, Daystar, Sky Angel and The Word Network pale in comparison.

What I got from that was a true indication of the depth of the sacrifice that Our Lord made for us all.

Many people don't understand the sheer brutality of Ancient Rome. Many don't understand how Jesus bucked the established system among the Jews of the day. Many people don't understand the true ramifications of what happened 2,000 years ago. This film will change that for untold numbers of people.

In the larger scope of things, that fact alone will completely overshadow any notion of how much this film makes or does not make monitarily.

That so many people find fault with Gibson, simply for having the wherewithal to even attempt to tell this story, speaks volumes in terms of how powerful this message has the potential to be.

[jammer]

I don't know, but I can hear the squealing now from the likes of, say, The Boston Globe, if this sort of misinformation were published about any of the other religions, even including the worship of Isis.

[steplock]

"Whatever Gibson's intentions, the film will be perceived as anti-Semitic"

Could it be because of POS like this "reporter"?

Reporter's email is :

beam@globe.com

[mr.pink]

I guess The Bible needs a politically correct make-over.

LOL...with Abe Foxman given final edit oversight authority.

[DManA]

He means the Bible is hate literature.

What?

[BibChr]

...the storied Jesus Seminar, whose members, mostly serious Biblical scholars from diverse fields, spent 10 years sorting out what ''really'' happened in the events described in the New Testament

Oh, good heavens. "Storied," all right: the idea that the Jesus Seminar was in any sense an exercise in dispassionate, fact-oriented scholarship is quite a whopper of a story in itself.

See How to Make Your Very Own Jesus.

Dan