Five Reasons Not to Go See The Passion of Christ

The Banner of Truth: Biblical Christianity through Literature ^ | February 19, 2004 | Andrew J. Webb

[Diddle E. Squat]

I came out of it thinking Pontius Pilate should have cruicified all the people involved.

Including Jesus, his mother, and the man who aided him in carrying his cross?

I'm guessing you don't mean that literally, but the statement is coming across as somewhat odd. Not sure exactly what you mean.

[Salamander]

I saw it and felt absolutely no desire to run out and join the Catholic church.
I'm still Protestant and will remain so.
It sounds to me like this Brit [check out the URL root] is carrying some sort of historical grudge.

My husband was raised Catholic but is now firmly agnostic.
This is the -only- "Jesus" movie he's ever willingly sat through, much less looked forward to seeing.
That in itself is a minor miracle.
He is also somewhat more receptive to speaking about God, at this point, and it is my desperate hope that he will become more able to open his heart to God. [prayers on his behalf cheerfully accepted]...:)

Now, if the movie is "so bad" and it has gotten just one person who would not even speak of religion at all to consider the possibility, then how "bad" is it?

The author acts if this was meant to be a "Catholic recruitment" film.
Mel has his own particular doctrinal vision, based on his church's teachings, true, but the message itself is universal.

Apparently he can't or won't look beyond that.

A pity, for him.

[sharpink]

I haven't been to church in a while but after seeing the Passion I recognized it right away. It is the same passion play put on in almost every Catholic Church in America.
It brings a very catholic view of Jesus to the screen.

In my parrish prominent members of the congregation played the parts. I remember my own father playing Caiaphus one year and King Herod another year. The message was that we killed Jesus. Each part of the play was designed to make the viewer examine his own conscience.

[shetlan]

"...I do not want to see this film."

Your assignment is to see the film and submit a report. :)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Well said.

[NewLand]

If but one person who does not know the Lord comes onto Him because of this movie, then it was worth making.

Amen. Stop the thread right there.

[narses]

"The message was that we killed Jesus."

Right, but wrong tense. Every sin, every day crucifies Our Lord.

[claudiustg]

---God has ordained the foolishness of preaching to evangelize the world. He has promised to attend the preaching of the Word with the power of the Holy Spirit. The so-called pictures of Christ are a hindrance and a temptation to idolatry. Let us cleanse the Temple of God from them.---

We must always be on guard against idolatry, and we must be strict with ourselves to avoid heresy. I will not see this movie right now, maybe later. Thanks for the great article: I'm bookmarking it.

[unspun]

Great comment.

The Word of God never fails.   ;-)

And so should we not fail to recognize the good works of Christians of even probematic sects. The Lord is using Mel Gibson's production so powerfully that one could hardly assert that He hasn't taken the initiative in it.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=jesus+portrait

Take your pick Jesus looks like many things to many people

[DentsRun]

The threat to Evangelical Christianity is not Mel Gibson. Never mind whether he's Catholic. Worry about Mel Gibson when you're done with the ACLU and the liberal judges. In case you haven't noticed, those people are out to stamp out Christianity altogether, and they are getting real good at it.

Well said. One reason Abe Foxman and his merry band of Christophobes hate this movie so much is that Christians clearly like it. Abe et al aren't really worried that film will stir up anti-Semetic sentiment. That simply is not going to happen in America. What worries them is the fear it might stir up pro-Christian sentiment. That's what really keeps them awake at night.

[MindBender26]

It's like FR: Jim's, house, Jim's rules.... wipe your feet

Mel's movie, Mel's script... don't spill the popcorn.

Be well.

[Jorge]

For Evangelicals, who would feel very uncomfortable with a version of the Bible that put words into the mouth of Christ that He never spoke, to endorse a movie that does the very same thing seems hopelessly inconsistent.

Everybody knows that movies like the Ten Commandment, Ben Hur which use Biblical themes also include dialogue that isn't necessarily in the scriptures.

The Bible itself says that many of the things Jesus said and did were never recorded.

So as long as the additional dialogue doesn't contradict what we see in the Bible, or distort the character of Christ, it is hard to object to it. We all know it's a movie.

So far the arguments I've read by this author against seeing the movie are really weak.

[TheRightGuy]

The movie may be worth seeing and may help evangelize

Don't need to see the movie ... already read the book.

[killjoy]

Including Jesus, his mother, and the man who aided him in carrying his cross?

I ment Jesus, his followers, the Romans, and the Jews. Jesus comes across as a completely disrespectful madman no different than homeless people I see downtown. His followers come across as people jumping on the latest trend and ready to jump ship when the fashions change. The Romans are portrayed as being sadists for the sake of being sadists (with the exception of Pontius). The Jews in the movie, although I can halfway sympathize with them for the utter disrespect shown to them, need to take a few valiums.

I usually judge a movie by thinking, "If a bomb goes off at the end and kills everyone, would I care?" The answer for this one, with the exception of Pontius, Mary, the guy who helped carry the cross and Monica Bellicci, no.

[B-Chan]

I couldn't become a Catholic since I am Bible based

That's too bad. True, the Catholic Church is not Bible-based. It is Jesus-based. Jesus is at the center of everything we do in the Catholic Church. Jesus gave us the Church and the Church gave us the Bible. In fact, without the Church, there would be no Bible.

In any case, why should I believe what you preach? Are you an infallible teacher of Christian Truth? If so, then you have set yourself up as a pope — a Papacy of One.

Well, no offense, but when it comes to the Christian Truth, I'll stick with the teacher that God gave us — the one in the Vatican, aka His Holiness Pope John Paul II.

[section9]

Agreed, but this article doesn't help. It's one big No Popery Riot from beginning to end.

Islamic Fascists are trying to destroy the Body of Christ, and some Protestant Evangelicals still see Jesuits under the bed.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Dajjal]

**I came out of it thinking Pontius Pilate should have cruicified all the people involved.**
Including Jesus, his mother, and the man who aided him in carrying his cross?
I'm guessing you don't mean that literally, but the statement is coming across as somewhat odd. Not sure exactly what you mean.

I believe killjoy meant High Priest Caiaphas and everyone involved in the Sanhedrin's kangaroo court.

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

Our family is very religious. We read the Bible every day. We have family devotions after breakfast and supper. We all love the Lord and love to hear His word preached. How will this film increase our faith? The argument that it will is not logical.

My dad's ship was blown out of the water in the South China Sea during the Korean War. Almost all of his shipmates died. He told me about it. He wrote letters about it. Does a film need to be made in order to strengthen my faith that my dad's ship actually hit a mine?

[unspun]

BTW, I have two main concerns about the evidence of the Shroud of Turin. What do you think?

1. It shows a man way, way taller than the average man of the time.
2. It shows a man with long hair.

Anthropology tells us that the men of that era tended to be in the mid 5' x" range -- also that the Jews of that time and earlier had short hair (unlike Absalom).

In Scripture, Paul remonstrated about men having short hair. And as for height: Isaiah said that the "suffering servant" is not of notable appearance.

Fascinating knowledge of the torture and death of Christ displayed in that shroud, though. Also, the imaging....