The Passion Of The Christ

This is definitely premature without having seen the movie. We all know how often the media hypes stuff up, whether deserving of hype or not. To tell the story of Jesus, killed by the people he came to save, yet forgiven for it, how could you not include the people who killed him? If it wasn't the ancient Jews, it would have been someone else. If it had been the ancient Aztecs, would you now call this antiMexican garbage? The Bible isn't antisemitic - Jesus was a Jew and Christians see themselves as spiritual descendants of the Jewish people. But you can't get around the fact that the people he came to save killed him. That is simply the story, it is not a condemnation of the Jews.

Wow, what a vitriolic response.However, my point was not who killed Jesus. My point is that it doesn't matter who killed him. In reality, we all killed him (that's right, even we alive today). If it wasn't for our mortal, sinning ways, he would not have had to sacrifice himself to redeem us. He came to save all of us, and his blood is on all of us.You have a good point about "the ancient Jews." Perhaps I should have said "some" or "a few" ancient Jews. I only focused on them because the discussion was whether the movie was antisemitic, not anti-Roman. As for the Romans, yes, they actually carried out the execution. Yes, the Romans were incredibly cruel oppressors in their own right and are guilty in their own right. But, I hold nothing against the Jews or Romans as peoples, or the individual Jews or Romans who had anything to do with Jesus' death. If it wasn't them it would have been someone else. In which case I guess you would be saying this was anti-whoeverelseitwas. Jesus himself forgave them while he was still hanging on the cross. Which was the whole point of his coming into the world anyway - love and forgiveness.You come here spouting vitriol about a movie that relates a Bible story, accusing it of being antisemitic when you haven't even seen the movie yet. I understand the movie supposedly portrays a lot of violence, probably more than what the Bible tells us, but did you ever think that maybe the director is just trying to portray the incredible pain, both emotional and physical, that he believes Jesus endured in the hours leading to his death? He may be trying to show the inhuman sacrifice that was made for us. He may be trying to portray the infinite amount of love and forgiveness it took to make that sacrifice. I doubt very much the director is trying to spark antisemitic sentiment.We will see after the release tomorrow.

See message 34.As for the violence in the film, why must it be about who instigated or perpetrated the violence? When I read the Gospels, it is not a message about who committed the violence against Jesus that comes across to me. The message that comes across is of the inhuman torture suffered by a human body in order to redeem me from my sins because of Jesus' love for me. The fact that Jesus forgave those who committed this atrocity against him is the real message, not the violence itself.

I did generalize. That is sometimes not a wise thing to do. It tends to create ambiguity and confusion. My intentions were not to stereotype, but as you said, to point out that it could or would have been any group of people Jesus might have come among. You're right - my thoughts are that the "nationality, creed, race, sex, of his killers is inconsequential to the story." The violence itself is what is consequential because it shows Jesus' sacrifice in a graphic way that perhaps we will feel in our guts when we see the film.

Perhaps. But I do not claim that the Bible is a scientific treatise. If debating a scientific theory, I would demand evidence. If debating a faith-based issue, I would look into my heart. A film based on a matter of Faith is obviously not scientific in nature. So why demand evidence?

The story hardly promulgates antisemitic attacks. Granted, bad people and some bad Christians in the past have promulgated antisemitic attacks in the name of the Bible, but they were wrong. The New Testament does not call for such attacks against Jews or anyone else. And, by the way, it does bother my Christian heart. It also bothers my heart that a story's message of God's sacrifice for His people is twisted out of shape into a message of prejudice against a particular people. You say it is antisemitic, but perhaps your real motive is to incite antiChristian sentiment.

CA, I just looked at one of your links. I have no arguments with what it says. But you may have glossed over or missed the main point of the article--that a passion play may be used as a tool for anti-Semitic propaganda. A passion play is not necessarily anti-Semitic. The message provided by the story of Jesus' crucifixion should be about the sacrifice he made, not about who killed him or who is to blame for his death. He sacrificed himself out of love and forgiveness for those around him. This simple yet profound part of the story should make it clear to anyone who is properly taught the story that it is not against any people or group of persons. No arguments with this statement, either. But you cannot wrap all Christians up into a group of anti-Semites because of the actions of some. That would be the same kind of stereotyping that leads to the bigotry and prejudice that you appear to be railing against. You have every right to rail against bigotry and prejudice, but not if you become a perpetrator of it yourself.Some of us Christians would contend that anyone who called themselves a Christian while acting out of hate for any people or group of persons was actually false in their Christianity. I do contend just that. I admit that some have used the story of Jesus' execution to commit pogroms against Jews. I am not defending that practice, I despise it.As to Gibson's film, I have not had the opportunity to see it yet, but I still maintain the belief and hope that it is not intended as a tool for use in anti-Semitism. That it may be used so by evil people is a possibility, but the possibility should not be used to condemn the film itself. Those people should be condemned for misusing it so.[This message has been edited by godsmac, 02-26-2004]