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.

[eastsider]

What these people don't understand, what Mel Gibson and his ilk don't understand, is that the literal truth of Jesus' story isn't what animates Christian belief.

Tell that to the 12 apostles who gave up everything to spread the literal truth of Jesus' story and who died gruesome deaths rather than deny the reality of what they had seen with their own eyes.

[wideawake]

The Jesus Seminar published a very profitable volume entitled The Five Gospels consisting of very loose "translation" of the actual Gospels - a "translation" which demonstrates that the "translators" have an embarassing lack of command of Koine Greek - plus a translation of an apocryphal text known as the Gospel of Thomas.

The Gospel of Thomas is not a narrative of Christ's ministry and passion like the real Gospels - it is a collection of snippets of stories about Jesus which range from bits lifted straight out of the real Gospels to grotesque legends - including a bit about the boy Jesus murdering the local town bully.

It's the kind of book serious scholars wouldn't be caught dead reading.

[Aquinasfan]

I can't even imagine the outrage if there would be a Mohammed Seminar...

Excellent point.

[B-Chan]

You could always buy me an extra ticket!

Or, better yet, buy a block of tickets and give them to your church. I'm sure your pastor knows a family that would enjoy seeing the film but cannot afford a night out at the movies. Your tickets could give them the chance to see it!

[SoothingDave]

''The mistake was to suppose that Jesus could come to mean more to our time by entering into it as a man like ourselves.''

Is it me, or is this a direct refutation of the very idea of the Incarnation?

And does this write quote this approvingly as evidence of his own "Christianity"?

SD

[Aquinasfan]

Tell that to the 12 apostles who gave up everything to spread the literal truth of Jesus' story and who died gruesome deaths rather than deny the reality of what they had seen with their own eyes.

That was part of the hoax. You see, years later, when they were old men, they were planning on sitting around laughing about it... No... wait...

[sweetjane]

Anyone who is confused about the Jesus Seminar quotes in this article should read "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel, who has a law degree and was a writer at the Chicago Tribune. In this book, he examined all of the evidence for the story of Christ, as depicted in the Bible, to prove it was true. He interviewed scholars in all areas - history, archeology, psychology, medicine, bible, language, etc. - to argue the evidence. It's a great book!

My pastor went to seminary and one of his first professors participated in the Jesus Seminar. On the first day of class, this professor told the students they could forget what they knew about the bible and threw his bible out the window. My pastor, who is 35 and started in a garage what is now a 6000-member church, said the experience in this class really shook his beliefs. But that he was able to overcome it with the truth.

[Pietro]

"It's really bothering them."

Yes, and what will they say if this movie does well at the Box Office? Especially after the astounding success of LOTR trilogy. Do you think perhaps they will reconsider sex/violence/cynicism/sophistry/banality?

nah....

[Aquinasfan]

Your tickets could give them the chance to see it!

Excellent idea! We can all buy extra tickets to donate to our churches. Send a CCD class, please!

[MissAmericanPie]

"Nothing illustrates this better than 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."

The "Jesus Seminar" is storied alright, it's infamous for it's collection of apostate wolves in sheeps clothing. A defrocked priest is one of their "experts". So far the laughable "Jesus Seminar" has concluded the only statement that can be attributed to Jesus is "hi there".

[Aquinasfan]

Is it me, or is this a direct refutation of the very idea of the Incarnation?

It could, but it's so vague that I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what he was getting at.

[Zack Nguyen]

The secular left must attack this movie, because it is possibly the most extensive attempt at recounting the life of Christ accurately that has ever been put on film. If people actually go see it, it may strike a blow against secularism and the notion that all religions are essentially equal. Therefore it must be destroyed.

I'll definitely be seeing the movie.

[The Iguana]

What these people don't understand, what Mel Gibson and his ilk don't understand, is that the literal truth of Jesus' story isn't what animates Christian belief.

Come again?

"But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."

- I Corinthians 15:14

[SuziQ]

You know, for folks who believe this whole Christianity thing is a fantasy, anyway, it makes one wonder why they are so highly incensed about it.

[Zack Nguyen]

I bet you didn't realize that there were originally Fifteen Commandments either. You see, Moses dropped the other tablet. Sadly it has been lost to history.

:)

[Aquinasfan]

"But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."

The author literally knows nothing about the faith. Yet somehow this pathetic article happened to find its way into the largest newspaper in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.

The thought of this movie has so upset the Globe editorial board that they've neglected to adhere to their normal operating procedure of innuendo, caricature, and marginalization of those with whom they disagree.

[AD from SpringBay]

Ah yes, the Jesus seminar. A handful of moderns must certainly be correct, while thousands of believing scholars, whose resumes equal and excel the "seminar", throughout the world are wrong.

Read The Case for Christ for just a smattering of opposing opinion.

[SuziQ]

We were talking about Mel Gibson's movie, Passion the other day. Check out what this moronic writer at the Boston Glob has to say about it!

[opus86]

Wow...Where to begin? First off, this doofus proffers the opinions of the Jesus Seminar as fact. That's rich.

"...the literal truth of Jesus' story isn't what animates Christian belief."

If the literal story of Jesus doesn't "animate" our belief, then the belief cannot be called Christian.

[Ditto]

"...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."

Funny. I never read it that way. Every one of his followers and the multitudes who gathered to hear His words was a Jew. He was "rejected and betrayed" by an small elite group of powerful men who saw him as a danger to their wealth and status --- kind of like the folks you find in the editorial department of the Boston Globe who assign motives and disparge works they haven't seen because it may threaten their status among the elite.