ME TOO, ME TOO . . .

Okay, everyone is buzzing about the movie "Passion of Christ." People are all crazed about it for one reason or another, and I wasn't going to join the fray. But I have to. And I will speak simply and quietly so everyone can understand me.

1. THIS STORY IS NOTHING NEW. What is the big freakin' deal? Has the story of Christ NOT been around for over 2000 years? Have we all NOT known that he was brutally crucified? Have we all NOT been aware of what He stood and stands for, and why people do and do not believe in Him? Have we all IGNORED the existence of the Bible and how it tells the story/stories of Jesus's crucifixion? WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE ALL FREAKING OUT ABOUT?

2. I heard someone complain this morning that the movie, depicting the last 12 hours of Christ's life, was "too violent, too bloody, too graphic, too physical." GUESS WHAT: CRUCIFIXION, WHETHER YOU ARE JESUS CHRIST OR NOT, IS VIOLENT, BLOODY, GRAPHIC AND PHYSICAL. People were crucified because it was the purest form of torture and debasement, from the flogging and whipping that preceded the nails, to the nails, to the being left hanging on there to die a slow, painful death. Don't sit there and whine about it, like it's supposed to be some quietly mysterious and beautiful death. It ain't.

3. I heard someone complain that depicting the last 12 hours of Christ's life in such a violent way minimized the spiritual nature of who He really was and the message He truly came to earth to disseminate. That is the biggest load of hooey I've ever heard, aside from Shrub wanting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. But that's a rant for another day. The WHOLE POINT of Jesus is that He was BORN A HUMAN BEING, and was OF GOD all at the SAME TIME. He is NOT LIKE ANYONE YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN OR WILL EVER KNOW. That is the point. As I learned this weekend, people weren't drawn to Him because He was just like everyone else. He was kind of like people, kind of not, and THAT is what drew people to Him. GET THIS, FOLKS: JESUS WAS MAN AND GOD, ALL IN ONE. And here's another point: you can't emphasize Christ's sacrifice for mankind UNLESS you emphasize His physical suffering. What kind of God would let His Son die for the sins of the world in a NICE, GENTLE way? Would you believe in a god like that? No, you wouldn't, because that is namby-pamby, and nothing would separate a god like that from people like us. Only a God who would send His Son to die a horrible, painful, wretched, tortuous death on behalf of ALL OF US, would be worthy of praise and thanks and worship. The physical nature of Jesus's death WAS His spiritual nature, that He would endure ALL OF THAT because that was what He was born on earth to do. So don't try to separate the physical and the spiritual or say that one was more important than the other. Jesus was all of those things and more that we can't even fathom, and if He were more or less one characteristic, then He would not be worthy of taking all of our sins and wiping them away by suffering as He did.

4. And here I go, probably sticking my foot somewhere it shouldn't be, but I'm going to say it anyway. Yes, the Jews in that day despised and tortured Jesus, particularly the "educated" Jews, the Pharisees. They hated Him because He turned their law and their teachings all around and confused the heck out of them. They had nothing to say in response to His "radical" teachings, the fact that He ate dinner with prostitutes and "sinners," the fact that He touched menstruating and therefore "dirty" women, the fact that He spent "valuable" time playing with undervalued children, the fact that He emphasized a life with God instead of a life lived according to written "laws." Of COURSE they hated Him and wanted Him dead. And yes, it was actually the Romans who nailed Him up there. BUT NONE OF THIS EQUALS ANTI-SEMITISM. GET OVER IT. I am not saying that the Jews in this life have not suffered; I am not dismissing the Holocaust or anything else that the Jews in this world have gone through in their history. I am not saying that anti-semitism is not a serious and hateful problem. But I AM saying that accurately depicting a biography does not equal or incite anti-semitism. And here's another thing I want to say: ANY PERSON OUT THERE WHO CALLS HIM/HERSELF A CHRISTIAN, BUT PERSECUTES ANYONE ELSE, JEW, BLACK, WOMAN, CHILD, WHOEVER, IS NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT LIVING ACCORDING TO CHRIST'S TEACHINGS. You who do wrong and evil things in the name of Jesus give the rest of us a bad name. So either quit your bull, or stop calling yourself believers and followers of Christ. Stop inciting people to hate. Stop blaming Jesus's crucifixion on the Jews. Because here's another thing: in laying blame for Christ dying on someone or something, you are saying that it was not God's divine will to save the world from its sins, and that Jesus came to earth to live among us for nothing. NOTHING. If you dare to nullify God's plan and Jesus's vision for this world, then you go ahead and BLAME people for His death. But guess what, HIS DEATH WAS MEANT TO HAPPEN WHEN IT DID AND HOW IT DID. So everyone, JUST GET OVER all this finger-pointing and blaming. You're all so LOUD, but you're not SAYING anything.

5. And bottom line ... IT'S A MOVIE. Movies, in an ideal world, should make you think and question and wonder about things. They should encourage discussion and parsing out theories and evolution of opinions and beliefs. Movies are only controversial because loud-mouthed talking heads MAKE them controversial. The rest of should be allowed to watch in peace, absorb, enjoy and think for ourselves WITHOUT other people telling us what to think, what conclusions to draw, whether or not to be offended or pleased. I wish no one had made a big deal of this MOVIE. All this drama hinders people from going into the theater with an open mind, a porous curiosity. It turns this movie into a freak show, something people pay to see to discover what all the hubbub is about. Just go see it. Enjoy it if you enjoy it, hate it if you hate it, think about it if you are so spurred, ignore it if you think it's a big load of hooey. But remember ... we should not be a humanity that allows a MOVIE to dictate our lives, our hearts, our thoughts, our actions. We should not be a people afraid to discuss RATIONALLY things that we see, things that make us curious, things about which we disagree. And we should not lose sight of the fact that Jesus is Jesus, belief is belief, faith is faith, God is God, and a MOVIE is a MOVIE.