2004 Soap Box Archives

Wondering 03/01/04

It is Monday morning, March 1st, as I write this piece. I am going to
see “The Passion of The Christ” this afternoon and will be writing my
impressions of the movie for my Friday soapbox.

Having not seen The Passion, I can’t speak from a totally informed
position but even before even seeing it I have drawn several
conclusions.

I have wondered why a movie depicting the last twelve hours of Jesus
Christ’s life would create such uproar amongst people who pay scant
attention to such things the rest of the time.

How could a motion picture turn a Hollywood golden boy into a pariah
and the media on its collective ear? What is their motive for
attacking this movie with more animosity and vigor than any other
motion picture in my memory?

Let’s examine their purported reasons.

1. It’s too violent.

Well if that ain’t the kettle calling the pot black. There’s no way it
could be more violent than the Quentin Tarantino bloodbaths or the
slasher movies. Many of Mel Gibson’s movies have been extremely
violent and never caused this kind of furor.

2. It will cause anti-Semitism because it depicts the Jews of the day
in a bad light.

Well history is history and the Jewish leaders of the day did deliver
Jesus up to Pontius Pilate to be crucified. Pilate even tried to
release Jesus but the crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus to be released,
thereby condemning him to crucifixion.

I’ve known this almost all my life and I am not an anti-Semite. If
you’ve ever read this column you know that I take a very pro Israeli
stand.

That excuse just doesn’t hold water with the Christian community. The
Bible says God speaking of Israel, ”He who blesses you I will bless and
he that curses you I will curse.” It is a sin to be anti-Semitic and
though there may be the occasional anti-Semitic kook who claims to be a
Christian, the Christian community solidly supports our Jewish brothers
and sisters.

When I saw “Saving Private Ryan” and watched the Germans slaughtering
our servicemen on the beaches of Normandy, it didn’t make me
anti-German.

Just because I remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor, I don’t hate the
Japanese.

3. It’s historically inaccurate.

I don’t believe that most of the people who make this claim have ever
read much of the Bible. I heard one guy on TV Sunday morning refer to
the movie as an Old Testament piece. The life of Jesus is told about in
the New Testament. Though his coming is foretold many times in the Old
Testament, the birth of Jesus is first related in Matthew, the first
book of the New Testament.

And I’ve heard the phrase, “the gospel according to Mel Gibson.” I
think that if you read the Scriptures, you’ll find out just how
historically accurate Mr. Gibson’s movie is.

Now I would like to tell you the reasons why I believe The Passion has
received such a vitriolic reception from so many people.

First and most importantly, they are viewing Jesus as a purely historic
figure. He is not just another prominent figure who lived and died long
ago. He is the only begotten son of Almighty God, born of a virgin,
put to death on a cross for the sins of all, rose on the third day and
ascended into Heaven.

You can believe that now or you can believe it later, but one day
you will have no choice but tobelieve it, not because I say it, because
the Creator of the Universe said it.

I believe that another reason for Mr. Gibson’s ostracizing is that he
went outside the Hollywood system to distribute his blockbuster film,
proving that it can be done, that Hollywood doesn’t have to put its
stamp of approval on everything that reaches the theaters.

And finally, I don’t believe that profit was Mel Gibson’s motivation
for making “The Passion of The Christ.” I believe that it was motivated
by Christian love and wanting to share Jesus Christ with a lost world.

I will have a lot more to say about The Passion on Friday after seeing
it, but one thing I know, my sins put Jesus on the cross, your sins put
Jesus on the cross, we all were responsible.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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