BEEF

BEEF

postings coming fast and furious, aren’t they? ;) too bad ideas for school projects aren’t flowing at the same rate…

aaaanyway, HUGE DISCLAIMER: the following is a rant. while i hope it contains some solid reasoning, i also realize it may potentially ruffle some feathers. please correct me if my thinking is off track. but i think i should speak my mind. ‘cuz too often, i don’t. take it as an invitation; an excercise for the brain.

many people have asked me if i have seen The Passion of The Christ yet. i have not. and until last thursday, i had no intention of seeing it in the theatres. i had wanted to watch it at home for several reasons, one being the fact that i don’t like seeing violence to begin with, much less blown up to much larger than life proportions on a huge screen. having said that, please keep in mind as you read this that this is coming from the perspective of one who has yet to see it.

i am going tomorrow. but for now, here we go…

i have a beef about this whole church hoopla over The Passion movie. as someone trying to be a witness for Christ amongst a class of skeptics, it makes it really difficult when my friends see hypocricy stamped all over this item. just because the movie is about Christ, it doesn’t mean everyone should mindlessly go skipping to their closest movie theatre. maybe i’m being self-righteous, but it seems to me like most Christians are going because everyone else is going and church leaders are endorsing it. and if people are going because they want to identify with Christ’s suffering so they can appreciate Him more, something is wrong. the way i see it, Christians should not need a movie to be deeply distressed about their sinful condition or grasp the enormity of Christ’s suffering. anyone who actually lets the Bible sink in – especially certain passages in Isaiah, like Isaiah 53 – will be brought to their knees in tears. please tell me that after reading something like “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man

and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14) someone doesn’t still picture a clean, pastel coloured Christ, hanging gracefully on the cross. i guess it annoys me that Christians are touting the movie as “a great chance to outreach,” a fact that i don’t dispute. my problem is that when outreach is not backed by love and a lifestyle consistent with the message, it’s superficial and non-Christians are the first ones to see right through the veneer. how you live before this movie and after this movie is worth way more than the act of watching the movie with a friend. people are hurting everywhere, dying, and we say, let’s go see a movie? perhaps i am just bitter because the zeal of religious groups has turned my friends off and it hurts me to see that.

i do agree that the movie has its merits. it has generated a lot of discussion and lifted off some of the taboos about talking about Jesus Christ. it has also meant that instead of sitting in a Missions Conference, discussing about missions, people are actually inviting their firends out and actively involving themselves in missions.

i have a problem with the Christian consumer culture that’s seen also in the latest music CDs and WWJD paraphenalia. i don’t think the tools are wrong, i just think it’s wrong when they become the focus. the gospel of the grace of God is power in itself and the Word of God is weapon enough. people will be attracted to Christ when they see Him alive through our love, not because of a big screen movie or any other item or event.

i think some people have lost perspective that it is only a movie. while i believe strongly in the use of the arts to touch people (i’ve spent the last 9 years studying it!), in the end, it is a tool. this movie is a work of art, one man’s interpretation of what happened. for all we know, the violence could have been worse – or less severe. i had a booklet on my desk titled, “The Passion of the Christ: True or False?” it was subtitled, “see the movie and decide for yourself.” my friend picked it up and snickered, “right, as if i couldn’t just, oh, read the Bible and decide?” i think i’d have to agree with her.

along the lines of torture, i also think we’re forgetting that Christ’s physical pain and agony was not the worst part of it. if you read the Bible (see a theme emerging?), it tells us that Jesus’ spirit was separated from His Father when He died on the cross. the truly excruciating part of the ordeal was the spiritual experience none of us will never be able to grasp fully – precisely because Christ went through it. Jesus went to hell – the place where God is absent, the place where love is absent. THIS, in my mind, was the most agonizing part of Christ’s Passion – what we cannot see on a screen.

sometimes, i wish people would think for themselves more. and Christians, of all people, are called to be in but not of this world. we are called to love God with all our minds. yes, i am grateful for this movie. i’m glad it is generating so much buzz. but why are you going to see it? to catch the “Christian,” church-approved wave? i surely hope not. i’m not saying i haven’t fallen into thinking any of these things i have just spent half an hour venting about. but we just have to remember: this is a movie. this is a tool. God’s WORD is what our faith is based on and God’s LOVE is what people notice. let’s keep some perspective.