Friday, March 05, 2004
Mel's Passion is Not for Me
Please don't show me the Immaculate Conception. Please. I really don't need to see it to believe in it.
And you can keep the home videos of The Birth, while you're at it.
And you can definitely keep Mel Gibson's well-known passion for torture and pain. Whether it concerns Lethal Weapons, Patriots, Conspiracy Theories, or Bravehearts, Mel Gibson sure does love to show men suffering. My sister said it is because he does it so well. Maybe. But what a thing to be good at.
I, too, am grateful for all that God has done for us and for me. But I do not put my religious emphasis on the death and resurrection. I put it on the teachings and understandings. I don't celebrate the death, I celebrate the life. God raised up his Son from death, and His Son raised up Lazarus from death -- but I don't worship Lazarus, do you?
We all have suffered torture and pain to varying degrees -- we are all living in fragile bodies. But certain cruelties, like the unspeakable purposeful torture by fellow humans to each other, are too painful to enjoy with popcorn. Look at the Inquisition! All in the name of some Pope trying to possess the Chalice, the Holy Grail, the cup that held Christ's blood (or bloodline). Just look at what Vann Nath and Bou Meng suffered through in Cambodia. You can, you know -- their paintings and stories are all over the Web. Three days? They were tortured and beaten for a year! 16,000 were beaten, tortured, starved, and finally murdered in Cambodia's Killing Fields. And of course six million Jews (and more than twice that number when you add in Ukranians, Poles, and Yugoslavians) were tortured, beaten, starved, and murdered in the nazi concentration camps. They didn't even have the divine knowledge of an immediate here-after. Unlike Christ, they died for nothing. Which is the more depressing story?
Sorry, but this has always been a bone of contention between Christian church and me -- since Jesus was pretty sure He was the Son of God or Son of Man, He knew He was suffering for our sins, He knew He would make a path for us to follow Him into Heaven to be with God, He knew. He knew.
Mary Magdalene said "Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men."
Please don't show me the Immaculate Conception. Please. I really don't need to see it to believe in it.
And you can keep the home videos of The Birth, while you're at it.
And you can definitely keep Mel Gibson's well-known passion for torture and pain. Whether it concerns Lethal Weapons, Patriots, Conspiracy Theories, or Bravehearts, Mel Gibson sure does love to show men suffering. My sister said it is because he does it so well. Maybe. But what a thing to be good at.
I, too, am grateful for all that God has done for us and for me. But I do not put my religious emphasis on the death and resurrection. I put it on the teachings and understandings. I don't celebrate the death, I celebrate the life. God raised up his Son from death, and His Son raised up Lazarus from death -- but I don't worship Lazarus, do you?
We all have suffered torture and pain to varying degrees -- we are all living in fragile bodies. But certain cruelties, like the unspeakable purposeful torture by fellow humans to each other, are too painful to enjoy with popcorn. Look at the Inquisition! All in the name of some Pope trying to possess the Chalice, the Holy Grail, the cup that held Christ's blood (or bloodline). Just look at what Vann Nath and Bou Meng suffered through in Cambodia. You can, you know -- their paintings and stories are all over the Web. Three days? They were tortured and beaten for a year! 16,000 were beaten, tortured, starved, and finally murdered in Cambodia's Killing Fields. And of course six million Jews (and more than twice that number when you add in Ukranians, Poles, and Yugoslavians) were tortured, beaten, starved, and murdered in the nazi concentration camps. They didn't even have the divine knowledge of an immediate here-after. Unlike Christ, they died for nothing. Which is the more depressing story?
Sorry, but this has always been a bone of contention between Christian church and me -- since Jesus was pretty sure He was the Son of God or Son of Man, He knew He was suffering for our sins, He knew He would make a path for us to follow Him into Heaven to be with God, He knew. He knew.
Mary Magdalene said "Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men."
