The Passion

Let me reiterate my thoughts on the film. If it seems repetitive, skip it, but I want to get this down so I can refer to it again someday.

People don't get the point of the movie, or they do and want to take focus away from it by saying stupid things like:

- it's anti-semitic
- they didn't really speak Latin back then
- Jesus didn't have long hair
- it's not completely historically accurate

I mean really, who cares? The point is we get to see what Christ had to endure in his last twelve hours of his life. I think it's the work of
Satan, trying to take focus away from the fact that this movie explains why Christians believe and exist. Obviously Satan knows this is a
powerful movie and wants to bring out every flaw he can think of to detract people from going in with an open mind.

For awhile I thought about how this is just Mel's interpretation of it, but then I realized that there is no way Mel could have done all this without inspiration from God. I mean surely a religious person like him would have prayed a lot about it, much like a pastor prays for wisdom and truth when he is preparing his sermon. So although it's Mel's production, it's still also inspired by God. God has the power to control Mel's ideas if He chooses to, so the more I think about it, the more I realize that the movie is probably exactly what God intended it to be.

Mind you it was pretty brutal, I think you will cry and you will cry hard, probably harder than I did, especially if you are a Christian, but even moreso if you are a mother or father. The emotion part of the movie is most captivated by the role of Mary, because you feel her pain as she watches her son go through these horrible things.

The movie is very intense too, I was at the edge of my seat, and my arms kept losing circulation because I was holding myself up with my arms against the armrests.

I had trouble sleeping last night because I kept picturing Christ being tortured. It really helps to remind me the pain and suffering He did all
for me. Actually, it was troubling for me, which is why I couldn't sleep. For me that is what I wanted from the film, to get that mental picture of it happening, so that Easter can mean that much more to me. It's a constant reminder now, that despite how "close" my relationship with God becomes, it's still no where near where He meant it to be.

G recently blogged about being in love. It's a long post. My thoughts are In love, (better known as Eros) is a human emotion. I don't think I have ever truly felt this human emotion although I hope to someday. Whereas love (or Agape love) I feel is an emotion passed onto us from God.

Maybe this sounds stupid or overzealous, but I've always felt that I could do this love they call sacrificial love. Would I die for Christ? Most definitely. But thinking about that level of brutality, it scared me because last night it was still so vivid to me that I don't know if I'd do *that* for Christ. Not that I think we're called to do something like that, but if the God asked me to do it.. I dunno if I could. Maybe that's a reflection of my lack of faith, or not having full trust in God. I don't know what to think of it, but I'm really troubled by it right now.

More to come.