I got on the internet last week, and a headline caught my eye:
"Pastor dies watching the Passion"
Well, I had to see it, of course.
The article was ridiculous. Apparently a pastor and his wife went to see "The Passion of The Christ" and the man died of a heart attack during the movie. The article then told of an earlier incident in which an elderly person had also died while watching the movie. The conclusion: The writer decided that the movie was killing people.
Now wait just a minute. If someone died while watching "Dawn of the Dead," do you think anything would ever be said? If a dozen people died watching it, would anyone even notice? I've had the misfortune of seeing "Dawn of the Dead," and I would consider it a blessing to die early in the movie, just so you wouldn't be subjected to the rest of it.
I remember before "The Passion" was released, people were raising a
fuss because of the supposed anti-Semitic message. You notice that you don't hear about that anymore? Once the movie was actually released, people could obviously see the truth: "The Passion" is no more anti-Semitic than "Star Wars" was. The whole argument was nonsense from start to finish.
So what is all the fuss about? If you want to go see the movie, go see it. I have, and I would consider it excellent even if I wasn't a Christian. I do not like violent movies, but violence is a fact of life. I wonder what the people would have said if it had been fully accurate? According to a historian of the day, scourgings were much worse than what we actually saw in that movie. I won't go into details, just trust me on this one. This was, if nothing else, a reasonably faithful account of what the Bible records. It was certainly a lot more accurate than what the entertainment community normally puts out. Who could object to that?
To those of us who know the Lord, and who know the full meaning of what He did that day when He gave His life for us, "The Passion of the Christ" is, among other things, a powerful reminder of why we shouldn't complain when God expects something of us. To the secular world, it is just a story, historically accurate or not. So what is the problem here? How could people get so emotional and so (let's face it) irrational about something that doesn't hurt them in any way? After all, nobody has been forced to watch it. Well I know exactly why.
You know, those of us who live in the light can be really stupid sometimes. Sometimes we are purposely ignorant. We all do it, so there's no use getting offended. It's like we're walking down a busy
street, and we just decide to walk with our eyes closed, with no regard for the possible consequences. We sometimes just refuse to see what is right there in front of us. The Holy Spirit sometimes has to pound something into our heads for a long time before we will finally just accept it.
I said that because people have a tendency to judge others as if the experiences of the person being judged were exactly the same as the person doing the judging. It's one of our most annoying racial flaws. The people who react so irrationally to a movie about the crucifixion aren't being purposely ignorant. They aren't closing their eyes-- they're blind. Think about it-- they can't see the truth. Not won't, as many people do, they can't. That's a pretty heavy statement. They aren't closing their eyes-- they are completely in the dark. They can't see the truth even if it hits them in the face.
As Christians, this should cause us to get concerned about them. I am shocked to see that often it does not. We need to be praying for their sight, not treating them as if they can see.
Jesus said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." (John 12:32 NKJV) The movie "The Passion of the Christ" lifts Jesus up. That is the whole point of the movie. This threatens the enemy, so what would you expect him to do? Well, naturally, he is opposing it, through those who unwittingly serve him. This is the best evidence of all that God can use this movie for His glory. Satan hated it even as it was being made. We need to pray, and pray hard. We need to pray for those who oppose this movie, and we need to pray that God uses it for His purposes.