The Definitive 'Passion Of The Christ'

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends an events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from a promo for Fox MGM Home Entertainment, March 2007, the following are excerpts:Fox MGM Home Entertainment has released, The Passion of the Christ, definitive addition.The two disks, special edition, will be available for around $26.98.The film itself includes extras such as, The Passion Recut, a film maker commentary with Mel Gibson, Caleb Dachinell and John White, a theologian commentary with Mel Gibson, Jesuit priest William J. Fulco, Catholic apologist Jerry Mattatix, and priest and Vatican press liaison John Bartunec.

Tom:

Dave, some have viewed our recurring criticism of “The Passion of the Christ,” as “beating a dead horse.”But this nag not only refuses to die it’s being pumped with steroids.It’s been 3 years since it was originally released, each year, especially around Easter time, Lent and so on, there’s a new promotion for it, and it’s affecting, you know, it just gets before the public.But more of a concern to me is that the evangelical church is continuing to go for this.It’s the top grossing religious movie of all time, okay.It’s DVD has sold more than fifteen million copies, and mostly sadly to say, to evangelicals.

Dave:

To show on their Sunday school classes.

Tom:

Exactly, or for an outreach, or for their so-called Bible studies.Now why read the Bible, Dave, we’ll just go to somebody’shouse and we’ll watch a DVD.I mean it’s really grieving me.Now sadly, talk about a lack of discernment, evangelicals that really were against our criticism of the film, such as Hank Hanegraaf’s Christian Research Institute, the Christian Research Journal reviewed the film and said they didn’t see anything significantly Catholic about it.Wait a minute!Now they have a DVD out in which you have two priests, a Jesuit, a liaison from the Vatican, along with a Catholic apologist, and Mel, I mean he’s the guy who came up with the concept—

Dave:

He’s a Catholic.

Tom:

Absolutely, and do you remember, Dave, when they interviewed him in Christianity Today, he was shocked that these evangelicals would go for such a Marian movie.It’s all about Mary, it’s all about the 14 stations of the cross, and so on.Now, we have this commentary that’s explaining all of these things, yet when’s the church going to wake up to the fact that not only is it so Roman Catholic, it is so anti-biblical that it’s shocking, yet it’s being promoted a the most authentic biblical movie ever made.

Dave:

Well, Tom, a quickly as I can, one of the major problems.Number one, we were just talking about “through covetousness they will make merchandise of you” and Mel Gibson wants to make a bit more money.I don’t think he’s trying to get the truth out there because this film is not the truth.It has a false gospel, it’s got so much that isn’t biblical.

Tom:

Right, but he wouldn’t a biblical view anyway, Dave, as Roman Catholic.So, I believe the guy is absolutely sincere, so it’s not him that I blame.

Dave:

Okay, well, we’ve got a lot of other people, but somewhere, someone wants to make some money on this deal.

Tom:

Right, it’s a movie business.

Dave:

It’s not a passion for the truth.On the other hand, obviously, with the Catholics involved, Mel himself and the other ones that you have mentioned, they have a desire to evangelize the world with the Roman Catholic gospel.Now, what gospel did it present?It presented the gospel that said that Jesus by His physical sufferings, being beaten and beaten and beaten until—I couldn’t take it anymore, I mean, it was absurd.The Bible doesn’t say that Christ was beaten any more than anyone else who was crucified.It wasn’t His physical sufferings, it was the fact that God laid upon Him the sins of us all.“It pleased Jehovah to bruise Him, Thou hast put Him to grief and Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin.”So you’ve got a false idea here, and furthermore, Christ obviously did not suffer more physically than any other human being, go back to the Inquisition.

Tom:’

But Dave, if you’re a Roman Catholic, as I was for 30 years, and you’re taught that it’s physical suffering that you need to go through to remove your sins—

Dave:

Right, you’re going to have to suffer in purgatory.

Tom:

Exactly.

Dave:

So let me, very quickly, Tom—Number one, He’s in the garden, a snake comes slithering in, you know, it’snot in the Bible.

Tom:

It’s not the right garden, okay, it’s the wrong garden.

Dave:

Right.Jesus stands up and stomps on it, it’s not in the Bible, it’s not biblical.He got this woman with a monk’s cowl on, you know, and she’s whispering, it’s supposed to be Satan, again, wrong garden, as you say, didn’t happen.You’ve got Pilate’s wife bringing linens and Mary is wiping up the blood of Jesus—didn’t happen.

Tom:

Jesus thrown over a bridge, dangling on a chain.

Dave:

Right, confronting Judas underneath—a raven plucking an eye out of—I mean, to say nothing of Saint (Veronica), who gives her veil to Jesus and He wipes His face and there she stands over the side with the face of Jesus on, the first icon, and so forth.Tom, it is so unbiblical, so obviously unbiblical, and I am staggered that so many evangelical pastors have praised this as being biblical.Now you just said it’s hailed as the most biblical film ever made, who said that?

Tom:

Well, I have a list of, nine pages together, of leading evangelicals who advanced the film, who said it was the most authentic, and so on.

Dave:

Wow!

Tom:

Now Dave, there’s another issue here. Again, not only is it absolutely Catholic—somebody who said, “Yeah, but God can really use this.” That’s what I’ve heard over and over again, but what about damage control, what about all these things that you just articulated now are being presented in evangelical churches as biblical.What’s going on here?

Dave:

Tom, we’re in apostasy, we’re in the last days, I believe we’re getting very close.As you said, twenty some years ago we wondered, can it get any worse.Well, it has gotten worse.How much worse does it have to be?I don’t know, but I think we’re getting very close to the return of the Lord.

Tom:

Dave, one last thing about this “definitive edition.”If Evangelicals buy this definitive edition, they have to sit down and look at the commentaries made by these two priest, Mel and this Catholic apologist.They tell you right away, Solo Scriptura, the Bible alone? Oh, no, no, no, that’s no good, that’s not helpful for a Christian life.