[Weirdad]

Long article, but well said. The movie may be worth seeing and may help evangelize, but it is also worth thinking about carefully.

[tbird5]

Is it wrong to think many Protestants have a problem with the Catholic Church and it's teachings? I am a Catholic and I feel that many protestants think my religion is weird. I think what he has to say many Protestants would agree, if they really understood Gibson's film. He's right, it is a very Roman Catholic film.

[michaelt]

Based on this one passage:

The first reason why all visual representations of Jesus are lies is because the only wise God went to great lengths not to leave us with any description of the physical appearance of His Son lest we fall into the sin of image making. Therefore all of our representations of Jesus are inevitably speculations usually based upon our own desires. We create an image of Jesus that says more about the Jesus we want than the Jesus whom God sent.

it seems to me that for evangelicals (and even for Catholics?) no movies should be made about Jesus, or at least they shouldn't watch them or take them as anything more than pure entertainment (and why would you then want to be entertained by something that is the core of your faith?).

So that makes all of the rest of the author's reasons superfluous and gratuitous.

And maybe just a reason to bash the Catholic faith.

[Nick Danger]

In a society where the government is so hostile to religion that even the Ten Commandments are not welcome; where every cultural megaphone from Disney to the Teacher's Union preaches nature worship to children, this guy gets torqued because it was a Catholic who rammed a movie about Jesus Christ past the Hollywood "elite" and onto 4,000 movie screens.

Hello? 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.

[nmh]

It's interesting how mere mortals want Jesus to look handsome ... of course how we would LIKE to perceive Him. There is a Jewish historian, Josephus who described Jesus as VERY unattractive but charismatic in a loving way. All things considered ... I suspect that Jesus was NOT very attractive ... .

[CaptainJustice]

Leave it to christians to view an explicitly christian film and declare it to be wrong to see it. As I christian, I'm pretty appalled at the way other christians take pride in being so out of touch and hysterical.

[Tall_Texan]

I didn't read it but if they aren't busy crucifying Mel's father, it's already a step above the mainstream media in its critique.

Personally, though, I'm not really concerned that it is the "Catholic" version of the crucifixion. At least it's not the Jehovah's Witness version or the Mormon version.

I may disagree with some points of the Catholic faith but I think they've generally done their research into the subject matter. It's a movie, not Scripture. I don't hold it to the same level of authenticity in my life and beliefs and neither should anyone else without searching His Word for themselves.

[Jorge]

....the problem with all visual representations of Jesus. Although we may intend for them only to have a role in teaching, they inevitably become part of our worship and adoration. As a result of seeing this film James Caviezel, the "Jesus" of The Passion of Christ, will become the figure countless thousands if not millions of people think of when they worship Jesus Christ. To do this is to fall into the trap of changing "the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man" (Romans 1:23) and to violate the Second Commandment.

This is infantile.
The idea that those who see this movie are going to think the person playing Jesus ACTUALLY IS Jesus, and not an actor is just plain silly.

Give me a major break.

[Interesting Times]

The first reason why all visual representations of Jesus are lies is because the only wise God went to great lengths not to leave us with any description of the physical appearance of His Son lest we fall into the sin of image making.

A rather strong assertion, that.

Especially considering that we have an image that nobody has yet been able to adequately explain.

[Diddle E. Squat]

If the Bible tells us that God even used Rahab the harlot to advance his cause, how can you be so sure that he isn't using the film of someone who worships him and his son, someone who is attempting to give glory to him, even if he is imperfect in your judgement?

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[Quix]

I believe the above article to be

--quite overly narrow and rigid and that based on no significant issue central to The Gospel. God has used birds of strange feathers; donkeys; heathen kings and a list of other not so kosher things, people, stuff to work His will and even to declare His messages.

--The article strikes me as prissy and perhaps even haughty.

--I believe the many individuals who sense Holy Spirit has been at work in the making of this film and will be dramatically with this film in drawing people to Christ. CHRIST HIMSELF SAID--"IF I BE LIFTED UP, I WILL DRAW ALL MAN(KIND) UNTO ME." I can't think of a better way for Him to be lifted up for the masses in our era. The centrality of The Cross is evidently vividly portrayed in the film regardless of the Romanisms which crept in. The centrality of Christ's Love and Blood sacrifice for all of US who put Him on the cross is also reportedly quite evident. That's quite a lot for me.

--I'm happy to cheer it, see it and hopefully enable some others to see it. I'm certainly happy to pray for it and it's impact on The Kingdom.

BTW, for those interested . . . some new Bible Codes found on Mel Gibson's name can be read at post #88 in this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1086319/posts

[Fester Chugabrew]

BUMP for later read. (A cursory reading of several parapraphs makes me wonder if this guy is still wearing theological diapers.)

It ain't denominations at stake here, dear people. Only one Church that exists solely by the Sacrifice so plainly displayed in this film.

[TaxRelief]

What a load of hogwash.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

What a strange place I find myself in. On one hand, I can't find a significant passage of this article I disagree with. It's written by someone with honest, legitimate, intelligent views. On the other hand, the title doesn't fit. It should have been titled "5 Things to Keep In Mind When Watching Passion." Strange.

[Ronzo]

Speaking as a Catholic/Evangelical/Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian, let me be amongst the first to STRONGLY CONDEMN this article, and say that I find it incredibly insulting and very divisive. But most of all, it's very un-Christian. This article is just as bad, if not far worse then ANY of the liberal and anti-semitic trash that has been written about "The Passion."

The evangelicals DO NOT have have the market cornered on theological truth, FAR FROM IT; and I say that as being one of them for the past twenty years. Sadly, very few evangelicals agree with me on that point, even though I find it completely obvious. We evangelicals have enough garbage theology amongst our own ranks to fill a city dump. No need to go picking on someone else...

It is also completely obvious that this article is very anti-Catholic, and unfairly crticizes their practices and beliefs. I'm sick and tired of this sort of dribble being pushed by evangelicals, especially those who have set themselves up as the "popes" of truth.

Do us a favor, and when you see any articles like this in the future, leave it where you found it.

As for you Weirdad, YOU OWE US ALL an apology for even posting this sort of despicable crap. The Free Republic is not the place to post evangelical hit pieces on the Catholic Church. It is in especially bad taste since every single evangelical leader in the nation, from Billy Graham to Dr. Dobson, enthusiastically supports this film--and for very good reasons I might add, having seen the movie myself this past Wednesday.

[LiteKeeper]

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST - if this person stays home, it will make it that much easier for the rest of us to get in the theater!