A review of some spiritual issues surrounding the film by J. Randal Matheny, editor

The great hulabaloo in the U.S. now is the February 25 release of Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ." Most of us have read articles and reviews over the past months. Religious people have rallied to the film's defense in light of unfair criticisms, and properly so, I supppose. It is touted as an exceptional opportunity to strengthen faith and evangelize the lost. Gibson himself has suggested the latter purpose.

I will go see the film when it comes to Brazil. I will probably recommend it to others, if it's as good as they say it is. But I might add a word of caution to the wave of enthusiasm that has washed over most people in American Christendom.

First, it is a movie. Let us never forget that. As accurate as it may be, as sacred as its subject is, it is still a movie. As good as the director's motives are, and I have no reason to question them, he still is using the techniques of acting, directing, producing, and distributing "The Passion of the Christ" that all other good movies use. As such, there are liberties with the story. There are "holes" that must be filled in, dialogue supplied, perspectives assumed that go beyond what is written in Scripture. Though these may not contradict the Word, they do interpret it in a certain direction.

Second, taking this thought a bit further, the director will show his religious bias, even as the title indicates. In spite of consultations with religious and biblical experts, his worldview will show through. Linda Chaves, of CNSNews.com, wrote:

"Gibson's film is an intensely Catholic account of the Passion. Indeed most of the scenes depicting Christ's journey along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Golgotha seem inspired by the Catholic devotional ritual the 'Stations of the Cross,' which dates back to the 14th century. A scene in the film depicting Jesus' encounter with Veronica, who wipes his face and is left with Christ's image on her veil, is part of Catholic tradition, for example, and may be totally unfamiliar to non-Catholic viewers."

Third, the medium is the message, or so wrote Marshall McLuhan in his 1964 book, Understand Media: The Extensions of Man. Though one can overdraw the case, the medium chosen by God to communicate the gospel is the spoken and written word, not powerful images which provoke, above all, emotional responses. The emotional responses God wants are based upon mental comprehension of truth, as can be seen in Acts 2:37. A movie cannot sustain the emotional reactions, so some people will return to see it repeatedly. All this is to say that a film is not God's means of communicating the Good News and will fall short of the needed process for one's perception of and proper response to the message. "The Passion of the Christ," as good as it may be, replaces the written word with the image.

Fourth, from the reviews and descriptions, the movie apparently plays to modern religious tendencies for maximum emotional impact that bypasses the mental processes. Consciously or no, it may well reinforce the individualistic, personal religion that makes little difference in the way one lives, as surveys show is the case in the U.S. today. One takes away from the film one's own impressions and conclusions.

Fifth, the movie is incomplete. The gospel means showing people the way to respond appropriately to Christ and receive the merciful salvation he gives. Perhaps we cannot fault it greatly for this, but it may also feed the general view that it matters not how one responds to the Gospel story, just so you make some response. Some will try to "tack on" in public viewings and small group discussions how people should accept the gospel, but it's possible the movie may shortcircuit those attempts. Time will tell.

The movie has had a positive effect of focusing attention on Jesus and what he suffered. Unfortunately, it has been greatly politicized, and many people will attend -- and they have so stated -- as a way of showing support to the "conservative" Mel Gibson against liberal efforts to supress it.

Gibson and company have done an excellent job of working the denominations to gain support for the film. Conservative groups praise it with few restrictions. Articles by my own brethren have tended toward support, though some are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

These concerns expressed above have briefly mentioned not only questions directly concerned with the film, but larger cultural and religious issues as well that could possibly injure the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

by Mitchell Skelton

The parents of a ten-year-old public school boy who was failing fifth grade math decided to enroll their son in a private Christian school after exhausting all methods. The young boy stormed home the first day of school, walked right past his parents, charged straight to his room, and locked the door. Two hours later, he surfaced for a quick meal, announced that he was studying, and went straight back to his studies until bedtime. This pattern continued until the end of the first quarter. After school, the boy walked home with his report card, dropped the envelope on the family dinner table, and went straight to his room. His parents cautiously opened the letter, saw a bright red "A" under the subject, MATH, and rushed excitedly into their son's room! "Was it the teachers?" the father asked. The boy only shook his head and said, "No." "Was it the one-on-one tutoring? Peer-mentoring?" asked the mother. Again, the boy shrugged, "No." "The textbooks? The curriculum?" asked the father. "No, no, no." the son finally spoke. "From the very first day of school, I knew that these folks were serious about math. When I walked into the lobby, and I saw a guy nailed to the PLUS sign, I knew they meant business!"

The cross of Christ is "the" sign to the world that God meant business! And His business was that of salvation and forgiveness of sin. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:16,17).

A popular Christian writer said concerning the cross, "It rests on the time line of history like a compelling diamond. . . History has idolized and despised it, gold plated and burned it, worn it and trashed it. History has done everything but ignore it." Christian, Atheist, Moslem, Buddhist, Agnostic, or Jew no matter what you believe the power of the cross lies in the fact that you must decide what you will do with it.

How important is the cross? The cross has a very special meaning to those who are in Christ. To us, the cross is neither a source of shame nor an offensive symbol. It is a symbol of grace, mercy and forgiveness. The cross is the promise of eternal life!

Salvation is based solely in the power of the cross. "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). The idea of God in human form dying a criminal's death in such a heinous manner is foolishness to the majority of the world, but one day all men everywhere will acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord!

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:5—11).

On the outskirts of London stands a prominent landmark in the form of a white cross. One day, in the heart of the city, a policeman heard a little boy crying. He found the little boy and asked him, "What's the matter? Can I help you?" The little boy replied, "I am lost." The officer said, "Well, don’t cry. We can fix that. Where do you live?" The little boy said, "If you will take me to the hill where the white cross stands, I can find my way home."

It’s as simple as that, THE WAY OF THE CROSS LEADS HOME!

by A. A. Neale

When the traffic light turned green in Allentown, Penn., Dwight Steidel watched the driver in front of him continue to chat with a pedestrian. Steidel rolled down his window and told him to move or pull over. "He immediately began to curse at me. I believe he did not know I was a police officer," Steidel said, since he was driving an unmarked police car. The officer pulled the man over. His driver's license had been suspended. And he was carrying cocaine and lots of cash. And he was driving a stolen car.

Bank officers called police in Hillsborough, N.C., about a suspect. Capt. Dexter Davis confronted him and asked him if he had a weapon. "He pulled his book bag off his shoulders. He opened the bag up and held it open to me," Davis said. No gun, but a note in clear view demanded, "I want $10,000 in $100 bills. Don't push no buttons, or I'll shot you." Davis laughed out loud. "I was looking for a weapon, but here was this note with nice large letters." The 42-year-old would-be bank robber was arrested.

Doesn't it give you just a little bit of satisfaction when somebody gets what's coming to them? Especially when the thief or perpetrator is rather dumb? Serves them right, don't we say?

If we do say or think such a thing, watch out! We may get what's coming to us.

So said the Lord to Edom:

"But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother In the day of his captivity; Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah In the day of their destruction; Nor should you have spoken proudly In the day of distress" (Obad. 12, NKJV).

The Edomites even took advantage of the Israelites when the Lord punished them. So he tells Esau,

"For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head" (Obad. 15).

The Lord punishes no one out of pleasure. "'Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?' says the Lord God, 'and not that he should turn from his ways and live?'" (Ezek. 18:23).

He doesn't want us to get our kicks from the wicked's downfall either. So says Proverbs:

"He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished" (Prov. 17:5b).

"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him" (Prov. 24:17-18).

As much as we hate the sin, and even, in Old Testament perspective, the sinner,* we always regard it a sad day when Satan claims another soul and the Lord must express his ire toward the rebellious.

Let's be sure that, when we smirk at the wicked's downfall, we're not being the dumb ones.

*Randal Matheny, "Hate the Sinner," Forthright, January 7, 2003, forthright.antville.org

by J. Randal Matheny

At a funeral, it borders on cruelty to say, "Do not weep." The hot tears for one's loss can hardly be contained. Shock, sadness, grief are all legitimate human emotions whose expressions may be accepted and even encouraged. Though eventually the crying subsides, the pain continues, the sadness lingers on.

Before Lazarus's tomb, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). John does not mention what provoked his weeping, but his inner turmoil suggests he was moved deeply by the moment.

So the words fall strangely on our ears from Jesus' lips, "Do not weep," when he and his followers, entering the city of Nain, meet a train of mourners carrying the body of a widow's son to its burial. Luke says his compassion prompts the words (7:13).

Often, well-meaning words do the most damage. Spoken to cheer up, even the right words, proffered too soon, or in false hope, wound worse than an enemy's bitterest invectives.

So why does Jesus say to the mourning widow, "Do not weep"?

These words presage her son's resurrection. Jesus tells the woman not to weep, because he will shortly remove her reason for weeping. He will raise her son from the dead.

If anyone can justify saying, "Do not weep," Jesus can. If someone could offer more than words, our Lord could. And did.

When Christians worried about the future of deceased loved ones, Paul explained with consoling words their secure status, "that you may not grieve" (2 Thess. 4:13-18). Instead of saying "Do not weep," he encouraged, "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (v. 18).

The best one can do, Paul says, is to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15).

So we weep with those who weep, we remember that Jesus wept, we recall the security of disciples who have preceded us in death, and we comfort one another with such words.

And yet ... we still hear Jesus speak, "Do not weep."

Though we do not look to the coffin for the dead to rise, through the blur of our tears we raise our eyes for the rending of the skies.

Midst the cries and wails of our grief, we listen for an angel's trumpet.

Between sighs and flashes of painful memories, we lose our breath at the thought of rising in the air to meet the waiting Lord.

"Do not weep." We know the words are meant for us as well. And we know that he will take away our reason for weeping.

Any moment now.

By Emmett Smith

The lyrics to the 1994 song of that title seem to have really resonated with a lot of people. It got a lot of airplay, so most of us were probably exposed to it in some venue or other. The notion that sex is simply to be enjoyed indiscriminately with no emotional complications is not new. But the widespread acceptance of this philosophy is relatively new here in the U.S (as I've said before, we're a generation or so behind the Europeans).

Just this past Friday, an article in Worldnet Daily discussed upcoming officially sanctioned events at Tufts University in Massachusetts. According to the article, these events were mind-boggling in their explicitness and depravity. It's hard to believe this is sanctioned on any college campus. The unfortunate fact, however, is that such things are also encouraged in many, if not most, publicly funded secondary schools. Tolerance is highly esteemed as a virtue these days and is preached energetically in these forums as well.

But what can I, as a Christian, tolerate? What do these folks mean when they preach their doctrine of tolerance? Well, as anyone with one eye and half sense can deduce, they're not preaching tolerance of the Christian worldview. No, the message is that we must be "tolerant" of:

• Homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle (Massachusetts and San Francisco are making big waves at present)
• The inviolable "right" of any woman to "choose" to abort her unborn baby at any time she wishes
• The acceptance of paganism and Wicca into the mainstream
• The idea that personal character isn't important in choosing a political leader

Of course I could continue the above list ad infinitum. But surely you get the picture. As a Christian, I must not lend my support to such vile false doctrines. As Paul ended his discussion of activities for which, "God gave them up", he said, "Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (Rom. 1:32).

That's not a very tolerant position is it? Paul made it clear that as Christians we may not give approval to those who practice such abominations.

What's love got to do with it? Here's what!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil" (Jn. 3:16-19).