Unbelievers in the audience no doubt will feel pity for Christ and likely be horrified by the experience of this man, but they will have no idea that it was their sin that put him on the cross!
#Watch passion of the christ english version movie#
In other words, the movie indicates only that Christ died. A viewer unfamiliar with the biblical teaching on the substitutionary atonement of Christ will have no way to connect the dots between his own personal sin and the death of Christ. One particularly troubling theological aspect of the film is its failure to adequately address the atoning significance of the death of Christ. The problematic aspects of the movie may be divided into two categories: (1) theological/biblical issues and (2) functional/impactive issues. The question that needs to be answered and the question that this review seeks to answer is: Notwithstanding the disturbing elements of the film that will be addressed below, what, if any, are the positive contributions of this film? We will return to this question at the conclusion of the review. Second, let me hasten to add that the secular origin of the movie does not, in and of itself, prevent it from being a positive contribution to the Christian arena. At the very least, the widespread ecumenical support that the movie has received should give us pause. Christians need to be very cautious about boarding the bandwagon of a purely secular production.
But the difference between these books and The Passion film is that the books are a creation of the Christian community the movie is not. Pastors and religious leaders are hailing it as "the greatest evangelistic tool in two thousand years!" Christians are captivated by it on the level of The Prayer of Jabez and The Purpose Driven Life-two recent Christian books-turned-phenomenon. Churches and other Christian institutions are purchasing blocks of tickets by the hundreds of thousands nationwide. To be sure, it has captured the Catholic and evangelical communities by storm. Before addressing some of these, allow me to frame the context of my remarks.įirst, it must be understood that the movie is a Hollywood production, not a religious phenomenon. However, there are several disturbing elements of the film that deserve comment. If the mission of the movie was to evoke emotion, producer Mel Gibson deserves an A+. On the faces and in the eyes of those in the theater with me I saw tears, somberness, fright and shock-just to name a few emotions. Only the most unfeeling individual could watch this film and not have an emotional response. The movie is two hours of relentless, wanton brutality with almost nonstop bloodshed, anguish and torture. Gruesome? Grotesque? Shocking? Sickening? None of these descriptions fully captures the movie's portrayal of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is difficult to find words to describe the graphic nature of the film. That is the thought that went through my mind as I walked out of the theater after viewing the much anticipated and highly acclaimed movie The Passion of the Christ. I just spent the last two hours watching an innocent man get brutally tortured and eventually murdered-in painstaking, striking detail.
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