With movie awards in the news, I've had several people email me asking my take on "The Passion of the Christ” movie. I wrote this just after the film was released:
We need to applaud and support anything that comes out of Hollywood containing ethics, morals and values. And on the rare occasion where something contains a story of Jesus and scripture we must understand that the world will be watching us as Christians. No film, no matter how good it is, can be completely representative of Holy Scripture. Yet “The Passion of the Christ” is arguably the most accurate visual depiction of Christ and his suffering.
If someone on the outside looking in sees Jews objecting to this film, and Christians objecting to elements of this film, then I would not blame them for wanting to avoid religion all together. Shame on us if that is the result.
While the individual details of applying Christianity to our life may vary, our core belief in Christ as our savior is one in the same. It does not matter if things were added or removed from this movie. For it is not meant to replace scripture or be scripture. It is only meant to depict a vision of how one man pictured the final hours of Christ. Who are we to say it is right or wrong?
Even if you are not a Christian, consider on the most basic level of this film it is a story of a man who never ran from danger. He spoke what he believed no matter what the cost, and he died a heroic death for what he believed in, all the while forgiving his enemies. That is the basis for a true Hollywood epic. If this movie leads others to seek out God’s Word so be it. If not, they have still seen an amazing piece of cinematic art.
No matter how right we think we are, let us not forget, the Jewish high priests. They were the Godly men and spiritual leaders in the time of Jesus. Yet they did not recognize the truth when they saw it. So no matter how theologically correct you think you are, no matter how ordained you claim to be, no matter what you think your relationship with God is, there is a chance that you are wrong. That goes for all of us. The Jewish priests did not believe for one second that they were actually condemning the Son of God to death. Yet they claimed to know the truth. They did not see Jesus was their savior, yet they thought they were saved. Therefore, the lesson that should be learned from this film is that the arrogance in our confidence of truth could also be the cause of destruction.
2 comments:
Powerball,
Well stated and well written. Nice job!
Thanks for the comments. There is one single truth. We just have to be careful as to what we accept as that truth. So many claim to know what that is and they all can not be right. I'm no better (or worse) then anyone. Remember, the definition of an expert is someone who does not know what they are talking about all the while sounding like they do.
Post a Comment