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NASB | Luke 24:14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 24:14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. |
Subject: What about "The Passion of the Christ"? |
Bible Note: I had begun a response that said, “That is good news”. Then I decided (That is my intellectual bent) to do some research on the professions of faith made by Mel Gibson and James Caviezel. To report them here may lead to a discussion of the nature of salvation, and that may be a good thing. I had read that Jim was a believer, a saved man. What I had heard about Mel was that he was a Catholic. Jim had said of Jesus, “I love him more than I ever knew possible. I love him more than my wife, my family”. After making the movie he said, “I connected to a place I could have never, ever gone. I don't want people to see me. All I want them to see is Jesus Christ”. See http://king-of-fools.com/archives/000623.php. Gibson, interviewed by the Herald Sun in Australia, was asked if Protestants are denied eternal salvation. "There is no salvation for those outside the (Catholic) church," Gibson replied. "I believe it."' See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4224452/ He elaborated: “Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s, like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it, she’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.” Those statements seem to portray a loyal Roman Catholic. They did not tell me much about his personal faith in Christ. What was his motivation in making the film? ‘Gibson also said in the interview that he was nearly suicidal before he made his controversial film. “I got to a very desperate place. Very desperate. Kind of jump-out-of-a-window kind of desperate,” he said in the interview. “And I didn’t want to hang around here, but I didn’t want to check out. The other side was kind of scary. And I don’t like heights, anyway. But when you get to that point where you don’t want to live, and you don’t want to die, it’s a desperate, horrible place to be. And I just hit my knees. And I had to use ‘The Passion of the Christ’ to heal my wounds.”’ From all I have heard (I have not seen the film) the screenplay is faithful to the Scriptures. As such it would not detract from the message the that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. It would not hide the fact that God puts forward repentance and faith as the requisites for salvation. We are not called upon to judged a man’s salvation or his motives. But from what I have read it seems that Mr. Gibson took to the project as therapy for his psychological ailment rather than as an evangelical project. As I said before, that may be God’s way. This movie probably had to be made in Hollywood rather than by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. It is likely within God’s design that everything happened the way it did. I trust him to use it for the salvation of souls, and for his glory. |