Kent’s Recommended Watch:
Mel Gibson:
The Passion of the Christ
Saw The Passion of the Christ again tonight at church. They announced it by saying, “Come at seven; we’ll have some popcorn made and some refreshments…” I thought: This is not a popcorn movie. If you can eat popcorn through this movie, there’s something wrong with you.
It’s not that the movie itself is so good that it emotionally picks you up and body-slams you. It is a good movie in itself; and there are lots of horror movies with more gore. The difference is that this is someone I know. Put it this way: If you were watching your best friend getting beaten to death before your eyes, it would freak you out. And lots of Christians consider Jesus to be their best friend, or their Lord, or at least the guy that they talk about so much at church that they recognize the pastor is fond of him. So it’s traumatic. But it certainly helps you appreciate him.
(And, I’ve found, The Passion had led me to appreciate Jesus’s mom more. Protestants tend to underplay her contribution to his life and ministry because we feel the Roman Catholics overdo it; but under-appreciating her isn’t the solution. She was a really brave woman; and you’d have to be a strong woman in order to raise God.)
Kent’s Recommended Watch:
Brian Dannelly:
Saved!
And, just for contrast, I also saw Saved! today, which almost gave me flashbacks from my high school youth group. (Heck, there are some people at Bethany who are like that… but I won’t name names. Y’all know who you are.) Yeah, I remember my early days as a young Christian hypocrite… figuring that God’s will was for every Christian to be successful, and popular, and eventually make lots of money so we could help get conservative anti-abortion candidates elected to office. (Because that was the only issue we cared about; screw the poor and homeless, they did it to themselves.) Fortunately, God saved me from that too.
So, an interesting Good Friday…
Abraham Lincoln died on Good Friday too, you know.