The Passion of the Christ
I saw The Passion of the Christ tonight. Before I saw it I thought that it would be one of those movies that you see and you recommend that everyone see it. However, after seeing it I don't feel as I can recommend it to everyone. Seeing this film was such a deeply personal experience that it's difficult for me to even discuss my feelings and my reactions to it. It was one of those things that touches everyone in thier own way- my reaction to it isn't the same as the next person's. The film is powerful, truly powerful. Never before has anything I've ever seen on the screen caused me to weep or caused me to sob. The film is indeed graphic and I don't believe that it is a film for children to see. But that seems to be the norm for any film directed by Mel Gibson. The film was very graphic but the violence was pertinent to the story, in fact without it, the film would have been nothing but an empty story that would read like "yeah, there was this Jesus dude who like, um died or somethin and they beat him and put him up on a cross and he died" The End. But instead the film told the story of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus. It told of His pain, of His suffering, of wounds both physical and emotional, of his torment. At one point I wanted to stand up and scream for them to stop, for them to leave him alone. I wanted to stand and yell at the screen "Leave him alone, you've beat & tortured him enough. You're going to kill him anyway, why brutalize him?"
There are many that say this film is controversial because it blames the Jews for the death of Christ. I don't think that is the case. The "blame" for the death of Christ is to be placed on the people of the time. While it is true that they happened to be Jewish, it is not thier faith that killed Him - it was the fact that He challeneged thier faith and asked them to see something beyond what they had been exposed to and had been raised to believe. The outcome would have been the same had the people been Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu. The other thing that people all seem to forget is that Christ had to die. His death is pretty much a requirement for him to fulfill the prophecy that foretold His coming.
Anyhow, I had to write about this in here. I know I ahven't updated my journal with personal information in a while and hopefully I will do so soon, but tonight I just had to write a bit about the film
God bless.
-Matthew
There are many that say this film is controversial because it blames the Jews for the death of Christ. I don't think that is the case. The "blame" for the death of Christ is to be placed on the people of the time. While it is true that they happened to be Jewish, it is not thier faith that killed Him - it was the fact that He challeneged thier faith and asked them to see something beyond what they had been exposed to and had been raised to believe. The outcome would have been the same had the people been Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu. The other thing that people all seem to forget is that Christ had to die. His death is pretty much a requirement for him to fulfill the prophecy that foretold His coming.
Anyhow, I had to write about this in here. I know I ahven't updated my journal with personal information in a while and hopefully I will do so soon, but tonight I just had to write a bit about the film
God bless.
-Matthew