The Passion
 

Is anyone planning to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" after it opens today?

Any thoughts on the media hype?

As I understand the story from the Bible, a bunch of Jews and Romans got together and crucified a Jew, exactly as God wanted them to do. Got a problem with that? Take it up with God.

I'll be going to see it after the crowds die down, and I'm fairly sure that no one is going to try to firebomb the theaters.

Review, not of the film, but of the reviews.

I'm waiting for the Happy Meals to come out, featuring the Super Disciples of Jesus. I'm gonna collect all 12! I hope they come with Kung Fu grip...

Probably the most cogent analysis of the film I've read said basically that the film focuses so much on the physical suffering of Christ that the spiritual redemption part of the story is almost non-existant, and therfore seems unimportant.
I've also heard that Gibson interprets the statements in the Bible very, very, very literally, without taking some of the politics that theologians and historians are pretty sure were happening at the time.
I haven't seen the film yet, but the critics' reviews seem to be that Gibson's faith may have gotten in the way of his filmmaking. I'm still going to go see it, but I definitely have my doubts that it will be as powerful as The Last Temptation of Christ (which was amazing).
Media hype: he's pushing buttons and getting people to think about their faith, or lack thereof, which is, IMHO, a good thing.

I can't wait for the long-term repercussions of showing millions of children an hour-long torture scene in the name of establishing their spirituality.

Media hype: he's pushing buttons and getting people to think about their faith, or lack thereof, which is, IMHO, a good thing.

I kept hearing in the media that many felt that this movie was going to be responsible for a serious increase in hatred towards the Jewish population. Does anyone think that is really true? I haven't seen the film, yet, but I've not heard any grumblings from people who have.

You'll be needing this then.

An interesting point by Dr. Michael Shermer:

Allow me one brief comment of a theological nature. If Jesus did not die for
our sins then there is no point in being a Christian--one might as well be a
Jew (no religious belief is also acceptable). If Jesus did die for our
sins--indeed, if he HAD to die for our sins as we are told he did in order for us to
be saved--then why must ANYONE be blamed, let alone condemned? If this was a
foreordained event by God, then it was out of human hands. If it was not
predetermined by God and was instead a contingent event that might or might not have
happened, shouldn't we be THANKING the Jews (or the Romans) for doing the
unpleasant but necessary deed? After all, thanks to the crucifixion and the
resurrection, all who accept it are born again, saved, and will have everlasting
life. Shouldn't Pilate, Barabbas, and Ciaphas get special dispensation from God?

Look, if you people are going to insist on contiuing to point out inconsistencies in Christianity, I'm going to have to become a Pagan...

Oh...wait...too late.

I like

this one,

Jesus can be someone to follow as an example of a model life whether or not one believes in the miracles surrounding his life. The philosophy he talks about in the beatitudes, parables, and other places, can be a way of approaching life.

But being a Christian is a bit more than the above, consider this one point.

If a man two thousand years ago really did bring himself back from the dead, would that be an event of some significance? Would that force you to have to change what you think is and is not possible in this great big universe?
That is, of course, if you accepted the event as fact, or at least tried to believe in it as fact.

It would be especially impressive if a man came back from the asskicking I keep hearing about him taking in this damn film.

I think it is kind of cute how people are coming out of the theaters crying and talking how inspiring it was seeing Jesus tortured to death, especially considering it is probably mostly the same group of people who were so outraged about Janet's boob. The same people who are taking their kids to see the inspiring asskicking in the move were outraged about the tit.

We live in a really, really silly world.

I've heard of killer movies, but this???
 

Well, all those people thought they were possessed after seeing the Exorcist ...

Betcha she wouldn't have croaked if she hadn't had the extra large tub o' popcorn with extra butter, the cheese covered pretzel bites and the nachos ...

I've always thought the US was a little wierd with the violence - yes, sex - no media.

From what I keep hearing about the Passion movie, It seems to focus only on the pain and suffering, but not much else.

Imagine a Holocaust movie where all you saw were the people dying in all sorts of ways, but did not go into the reasons, or the circumstances surrounding the event.

It sounds hollow to me.

Yeah, it's a shame the Christians can't get organized and unified like the Pagans are.:rolleyes:

I don't think I'm going to see this movie. I heard that the book version was better.

The Templars believed that Jesus didn't die on the cross but was put to sleep with mandrake . That article reads like one of those magic tricks revealed, shows. Fascinating.

This may be a really stupid question but why is the title "The Passion of The Christ" and not "The Passion of Christ?" And what is the Latin definition of Passion? Guess I should have paid more attention in Sunday school.

"Christ" is a title, meaning "messiah". The first and primary place where Jews and Christians split is that Christians believe that Jesus is the Christ, while Jews believe the Christ has not yet come.

Undertoad's hangnail?:p

The meaning of the original title was a bit more clear I think....

In the artcile below, scroll down about midway and read:

Symphony for The Devil

Debney claims that Satan’s image kept appearing on his computer screen while he was trying to compose music.

I bet Symantec's Anti-Virus would clean that up in no time.

I watched most of The Passion of The Christ this evening, but I had to go out before it was over.

Can anyone tell me how it ended? ;)

The bad guy won.


No, wait... :angel:

In all seriousness, this is one disturbing film. I don't quite get the point of showing a two hour film about the torture murder of one guy and presenting it as something religious.

I can also see the concerns expressed by the Jewish community. The Jewish priests and most of the general populace surrounding the events of Christ's torture are loathesome at best, and downright gleefully sadistic at worst.

Finally, did anyone else think this was more of an extreme BDSM film than anything remotely resembling a religious presentation? It was utterly bereft of spirituality and chock full of whoopings, flayings, humiliation, bondage and everything else that people who love Jesus usually find objectionable rather than inspiring.

Ick. Gag. Puke. I think I'll stay Pagan, thanks.

One of the guys at work is a Baptist, quite possibly of the southern fire and brimstone variety.

He was telling us tonight that his congregation has bought out several showings at a local theater. The tickets are offered to the congregation as buy one, get one free ... with the free ticket to be given to one's heathen friends to help bring them to the Lord.

(Funny unrelated moment ... later tonight one of our ambulance crew came in from a call and was quite excited about one of the police officers that he had seen that evening ... "oooh, mama, you gotta send me back to that department. Officer so-and-so was sooooo hot!! The crew member then ran upstairs to do something. The new guy looked across the desk at me, and said "He's talking about a female officer, right?" The look of horror on his face when I said "no" was a sight to behold.)