FrozenChosen
Puritan Board Freshman
[b:df461bdc86]***READ***[/b:df461bdc86]
This is probably the most difficult thing that those of us who have decided not to see the Gospel of Mel Gibson. We're faced with discrediting the content of the movie, and yet we believe it is sin to see and support and give our thumbs up to such a rendering of the Gospel.
So I want this thread to be of quotations from our local newspapers, television programs, and personal friends concerning the movie. So I'd like to start off and hopefully we can all add to this. Or this can be another one of my threads that dies in obscurity!
[u:df461bdc86]From USA TODAY, Thursday 26 February[/u:df461bdc86]
1. "Opening-day screenings were dominated by churchgoers, whose congregations bought blocks of tickets well in advance. Many churchgoers describe the brutality in [i:df461bdc86]The Passion[/i:df461bdc86] as jarring but historically accurate and necessary." - Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
2. "This movie worships violence." - JEff Charroin
3. " 'What it lacked for me was the humanity of Jesus,' said Terry Lindvall, 55, an evangelical Christian and film professor from Virginia Beach, VA. 'He suffered like a Byzantine icon. But that he died for [i:df461bdc86]me[/i:df461bdc86]did not come through as passionately and personally.' "
[u:df461bdc86]Critics[/u:df461bdc86]
4. "[i:df461bdc86]The Passion[/i:df461bdc86] ... is a composite of the Passion narratives in the four Gospels embroidered with non-scriptural traditions as well as the imaginative inspiration of the filmmaker. The result is a deeply personal work of devotional art - a moving Stations of the Cross, so to speak. However, by choosing to narrow his focus almost exclusively to the Passion of Christ, Gibson has, perhaps, muted Christ's teachings, making it difficult for viewers unfamiliar with the New Testament and the era's historical milieu to contextualize the circumstances leading up to Jesus' arrest. And though, for Christians, the Passion is the central event in the history of salvation, the 'how' of Christ's death is lingered on at the expense of 'why?' "
- Office of Film and Broadcasting, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
5. "So narrowly focused as to be inaccessible for all but the devout...this is a film that will separate people rather than bring them together. Normall these kinds of disagreements don't matter, but the "You just don't get it" confrontations here have sad echoes of savage conflicts that have lasted for centuries. It has the potential to foster divisiveness because of the way it exposes and accentuates the fissures in belief that otherwise might go unnoticed. We all know where the road paved with good intentions leads, and it is not to the gates of heaven." - Kenneth Turan, [i:df461bdc86]Los Angeles Times[/i:df461bdc86]
[u:df461bdc86]From a personal conversation with an intelligent friend[/u:df461bdc86]
"if anything it seemed that someone was trying to make you hate the Romans"
"But the Gospel of Mel is very dramatic and seems at times more like a fantasy book, but it would make for some good reading I imagine"
"When I talk to people about the movie they say 'He followed the Bible pretty well.' or 'He certainly didn't leave anything out.' And I say, 'It's not what he left out that makes it possibly incorrect, it's what he added that causes potential problems.' "
"The stuff covering Jesus sinks into itself as if something was removed from i. THen you see naked Jesus (dont see him naked) w/ holes in his handsand. he starts walking away, then it ends " - On the Resurrection
"But there seemed like there was a ... shroud of Turin in there. I mean I think the Shroud of Turin was supposed to have mysteriously appeared or something, but this chic let Jesus whipe the blood off his face by pressing the shroud on his face"
"and she was holding it and his face looked like the shroud of Turin's face"
(10:27:14) Him: Oh no transfiguration
(10:27:38)Me: You serious?
(10:27:46) Me: Well maybe that wasn't in the last 12 hours
(10:28:05) Him: Instead of the 3 coming and seeing him and the two, they came and Jesus was being tormented by Satan sort of
(10:28:27) Him: Satan was like "No one can ever carry that burden. No one. EVER."
Please add as much as possible.
This is probably the most difficult thing that those of us who have decided not to see the Gospel of Mel Gibson. We're faced with discrediting the content of the movie, and yet we believe it is sin to see and support and give our thumbs up to such a rendering of the Gospel.
So I want this thread to be of quotations from our local newspapers, television programs, and personal friends concerning the movie. So I'd like to start off and hopefully we can all add to this. Or this can be another one of my threads that dies in obscurity!

[u:df461bdc86]From USA TODAY, Thursday 26 February[/u:df461bdc86]
1. "Opening-day screenings were dominated by churchgoers, whose congregations bought blocks of tickets well in advance. Many churchgoers describe the brutality in [i:df461bdc86]The Passion[/i:df461bdc86] as jarring but historically accurate and necessary." - Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
2. "This movie worships violence." - JEff Charroin
3. " 'What it lacked for me was the humanity of Jesus,' said Terry Lindvall, 55, an evangelical Christian and film professor from Virginia Beach, VA. 'He suffered like a Byzantine icon. But that he died for [i:df461bdc86]me[/i:df461bdc86]did not come through as passionately and personally.' "
[u:df461bdc86]Critics[/u:df461bdc86]
4. "[i:df461bdc86]The Passion[/i:df461bdc86] ... is a composite of the Passion narratives in the four Gospels embroidered with non-scriptural traditions as well as the imaginative inspiration of the filmmaker. The result is a deeply personal work of devotional art - a moving Stations of the Cross, so to speak. However, by choosing to narrow his focus almost exclusively to the Passion of Christ, Gibson has, perhaps, muted Christ's teachings, making it difficult for viewers unfamiliar with the New Testament and the era's historical milieu to contextualize the circumstances leading up to Jesus' arrest. And though, for Christians, the Passion is the central event in the history of salvation, the 'how' of Christ's death is lingered on at the expense of 'why?' "
- Office of Film and Broadcasting, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
5. "So narrowly focused as to be inaccessible for all but the devout...this is a film that will separate people rather than bring them together. Normall these kinds of disagreements don't matter, but the "You just don't get it" confrontations here have sad echoes of savage conflicts that have lasted for centuries. It has the potential to foster divisiveness because of the way it exposes and accentuates the fissures in belief that otherwise might go unnoticed. We all know where the road paved with good intentions leads, and it is not to the gates of heaven." - Kenneth Turan, [i:df461bdc86]Los Angeles Times[/i:df461bdc86]
[u:df461bdc86]From a personal conversation with an intelligent friend[/u:df461bdc86]
"if anything it seemed that someone was trying to make you hate the Romans"
"But the Gospel of Mel is very dramatic and seems at times more like a fantasy book, but it would make for some good reading I imagine"
"When I talk to people about the movie they say 'He followed the Bible pretty well.' or 'He certainly didn't leave anything out.' And I say, 'It's not what he left out that makes it possibly incorrect, it's what he added that causes potential problems.' "
"The stuff covering Jesus sinks into itself as if something was removed from i. THen you see naked Jesus (dont see him naked) w/ holes in his handsand. he starts walking away, then it ends " - On the Resurrection
"But there seemed like there was a ... shroud of Turin in there. I mean I think the Shroud of Turin was supposed to have mysteriously appeared or something, but this chic let Jesus whipe the blood off his face by pressing the shroud on his face"
"and she was holding it and his face looked like the shroud of Turin's face"
(10:27:14) Him: Oh no transfiguration
(10:27:38)Me: You serious?
(10:27:46) Me: Well maybe that wasn't in the last 12 hours
(10:28:05) Him: Instead of the 3 coming and seeing him and the two, they came and Jesus was being tormented by Satan sort of
(10:28:27) Him: Satan was like "No one can ever carry that burden. No one. EVER."
Please add as much as possible.