Agnate Manifest

Someone asked me if I thought the Bible was pornographic based on my condemnation of The Passion of Christ.

I certainly would not call the Bible pornographic. It is true that Christ suffered for us horribly, but the Bible is written in such away that while
we know what he suffered, we are not exposed to every stripe, every blow, every drop of blood, and every agonizing detail of a gory and horrific way to die. By the decree of God and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, those details were left out for a reason. The crucifixion is one fourth of the Gospel. Jesus was born, lived, died and was resurrected. The Bible is not pornographic in its depiction of any of these things. The Word of God is governed by the Spirit of God in its accounts, and if we attempt to supercede that wisdom by creating our own ideas of how the Image of the Invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation was born, lived, died and was resurrected, we are in deep water and sinking fast.

I doubt any of us would attend a film that contained equally graphic sequences of the birth of Christ. Do we need to see that to identify with his humanity?Would we attend a movie about the life of Paul that graphically depicted what went on in the temples of Corinth to help us get a grip on the depth of depravity Christians faced in that day? How would we feel about taking our children to see an accurate reproduction of the slaughter of every living thing in Ai or Jericho? Is is necessary for us to watch babies being placed in the cherry-red arms of a brazen Persian idol for us to grasp the evil that was in the land in the days of Daniel? I cannot find scriptural warrant for "educating" our children in this manner, or "building ourselves up in our most holy faith" by exposing ourselves or our families to such things.

If a man were being beaten to a bloody pulp by a mob in the presence of our family, we would not stand by and watch, or move our children so they can "get a better view" in order to understand the effects of physical violence on the human body, or to show them what the effect of sin does to the minds of mankind. We do not invite people over to our home to fornicate so we can give our family some idea of what the disobedient do in secret (or in public). We arrest people who expose children to sexually graphic images, and we condemn adults who view those images. Why? Because they are inaccurate depictions of the purposes of God. They violate His order. They corrupt His design. And they are a perpetuation of the original defilement of His image that occurred in the Garden of Eden. My conviction is that the graphic nature of this movie will violate the purity of those who see it. It will provoke a response that God did not intend. It will ravage the consciences of its viewers, not to the point of conviction, but to the point of violation of those God created to have fellowship with Him.

Our understanding of the effect of visual images seems to go out the window when we talk about the depictions of violence, gore and torture depicted in this movie. Like sexual pornography, they are designed to produce a response. One man who went with his wife stated that his wife described the movie as "a whole body experience." A movie that is a "whole body experience" is not just a movie. It has gone past entertainment and evoked an emotional reaction so intense that a physical response occurs. Many other movies have impacted the minds of the viewers in a similar manner: Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Silence of the Lambs. Saving Private Ryan. Somehow, because this is a movie with Biblical content, we think that is a good thing. We condone it, even though what we see in the movie far surpasses what our minds could produce as we read the pages of scripture. We praise the movie, because it doesn't just make us think, but it makes us feel. It stimulates us in a way that scripture doesn't. We get to see what God left out of His account. Our itching eyes and ears are salved, and we are changed. I can't see how we are changed for the better.

I've got some great photos of my wonderful wife. There are plenty of memories and emotions those photos produce when I look at them. But if you asked me to choose between the photos and the woman, I will load up every scrap of Kodak paper and give it to you in a heartbeat. Any of us would do that. Why? Because the actual relationship is more valuable than the images of the relationship. And whatever the photos help us remember, all that they represent is lost if we are without the living, breathing spouse. Take away the person, and all you have is a memory. We serve a risen saviour. We worship the Living God. Jesus did not leave us a "photo album". He left us His word and His Spirit. By His design, these are decreed as sufficient for our understanding of what occured at Golgotha. We should not substitute our own images to help us remember what He did for us, or rely upon our own depravity to reproduce the heinous crimes of those who hated Jesus. If we do, I believe scripture teaches that we are guilty of crucifying Him all over again to our own shame, and quite frankly, I believe our judgement.

As patriarchs we all have to choose what we will do about showing this movie to our families. God will hold us accountable for our choice. The men here who take their wives or their children to see this movie will be responsible for the spiritual, emotional, and yes, even physical effects it has on those in their charge. Keeping in mind that we are not our own, but we were created to leave an inheritance for those who will come after us, I will not flinch in reading the scriptural account of the cruxifixion to my children, but this movie will not be found in the material or historic archives of my estate for the reasons listed above. May God give us all the grace to know how we should live.

I read a fascinating review of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of Christ on MSNBC. The author pointed out that Mel has an unhealthy passion for violence. He points out that Braveheart, The Patriot, and a number of other Gibson movies possess an overt glorification of blood and guts. This particular reviewer was grossed out and compared the movie to sadist pornography (an assertion with which I heartily concur - even without seeing the movie).

Granted, Gibson's depictions are always, "in context," and are "essential to the plot", but there is something grandiose, melodramatic and subsequently offensive in them. I don't expect The Passion to be any different. One more reason I won't go see the movie that extends beyond my conviction that this movie is a direct violation of the Second Commandment.

I remember when Saving Private Ryan came out. Everyone who went to see it came back and told me, "If you go, be ready to be overwhelmed in the first 15 minutes." The beach landing sequence was amazing and horrific. The image that will never leave me is a medic dragging a man across the beach who is missing his entire lower half. The human mind can fill in the blanks, but the "realism" was a bit more than anyone was prepared for. I anticipate Mr. Gibson's movie will be the same.

We all have some idea of what beating, thirst, hunger, loneliness and physical pain can do to a person. We also understand the logistics of crucifixion: the pain of the nails, the weight of the body against them, the slow and unrelenting exhaustion that leads to death through suffocation. We've seen the paintings, some of which are more benign than others. We've attended the "towel and bathrobe" church Easter pageants, where stage paint fills in for the gore and the terror. We know what happened, just as we know people were shot, maimed, blown up, abandoned, drowned and disfigured by World War II.

So what benefit is it to a Christian to watch Jesus be crucified all over again? All they will see is a man bound and put on trial. They will see every punch. They will watch the sweat from his brow sling out from his hair in slow motion at every blow. They will see the points of the thorns slip agonizingly beneath the skin. They will raptly sit without breathing as he is tied to the stake. They will grit their teeth and wince yet never turn from the screen as each stripe is laid on, the flesh of a man's back slowly disappearing into the pulp of his muscle tissue. They will sit on the edge of their seats as he is put on trial, the hands of a Roman official are washed, and the crowds clamor for more blood. They will watch the weight of a heavy beam be placed atop the seeping, oozing back, and they will groan inwardly as what is left of the man hobbles through the streets of Jerusalem.

They will be waiting for The Moment. Hating it, yet yearning for it, because it is the climax of The Show. They cannot imagine what it would be like to be pushed to the ground and nailed to a tree. The horror. The abject terror. The excruciating pain. And so they wait and wonder. And then they know. They see the nails pierce the wrist. They watch incredulous as the hammer collides again and again with the head of the nail. They count the strokes. They hope for the end. But the end does not come, because there are more nails to be driven. More flesh to be pierced. The images will roll over them like waves, the astonishment and the revulsion mixing to produce a rich and frothy cocktail of carnal sensations.

Only when the body is securely fastened to the wood do they relax. The worst, by their estimation, is over. They will continue to watch because they paid $8.50 for a ticket. They will continue to watch because they want to see how it ends. They will continue to watch because they have nothing better to do. They will get their money's worth, and they will drink the poison they purchased without concern for what it is doing to the REAL image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Churches across the nation are buying out theaters to "evangelize" through this film. Christians are giddy over endorsements by the Pope (whatever you believe and however you feel about that), Pat Robertson, George Bush, Billy Graham and the like. The Body of Christ is no longer on the cross, but it is rushing out to see what it looked like when it was. Men will take their wives and their children. Co-workers will induce their "unsaved" friends to go. Neighbor will rise up with neighbor, and they will all march happily into the blackness to watch their Saviour be crucified over, and over, and over again.

I've heard people say, "It will help us to appreciate so much more what He did for us." They forget that a movie will never capture the spiritual dynamic of the event. No one will see the separation the Son of God, who was One with the Father experienced. There will be no depiction of the tearing apart of The Three and One. They will hear the words, "Why have You forsaken me?" They will see the tears and the anguish. But they will never comprehend the depth of despair that overwhelmed the Son of God and Son of Man in that moment.

They will never see Him descend into Hell, preach to the captives, or lead captivity captive in His train. They will never witness the resurrection as it really was, or lay eyes on the moment when the innocent Son, convicted and executed for a crime He did not commit, was vindicated by the Holy Spirit.

And the following Sunday, if they are bold enough to approach the communion rail, or take the cup and the wafer as it passes under their noses down the pew, they will remember Jesus. They will remember how bloody he was. They will remember how he thrashed as the nails bit into his body. They will remember the lighting, and the camera angle, and the way the blood ran down his brow "just so". They will recall the man-made image of God that now so vividly rests in their mind. They will come out of the movie saying, "This movie changed me." They will have no idea how changed they are.

I'm still alive and kicking against the goads.