Hi brother, (I'm a sister)
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response, I really appreciated you taking the time to answer my question. I have been busy and wanted to really look over what you said before I responded. I can definitely see what you are saying about how, the prophecies should be read and I agree. I don’t agree with you about the movie though. You stated in your response that the movie represents a twisted gospel, I still don’t get what you mean. If it’s because a few things were included in the movie like Satan tempting Jesus not to go through with it in the garden or leaving out or combining a few situations for artistic license. I might say that you maybe a little ridged in your views of what twisting the gospel means. The opening scene of the movie accomplishes so much in just a few minuets. When the devil is talking to Jesus and trying to weaken him saying that one man could not take on the sins of all mankind, that was the truth, but also a lie. One man could not take on the sins of the world, the point being that Jesus was more then a man. Satan is a liar; he mixed lies with the truth, which is why he’s so good at it. In that opening scene Satan is also I think trying to figure out if in fact, this man is the actual Christ. There is some debate out there about weather or not Satan new for sure if Jesus was the real one or not, that maybe God did not allow the Devil to see this, before Jesus was crucified. That one scene in also showing that Jesus was tempted by Satan and stood strong. The movie gets that across to the viewer without spending a lot of time showing it how it literally happened, while at the same time keeping you focused on his last night in the garden, and the main story of his passion. When the serpent came out from under the devil’s robe, Jesus crushes his head. That represented the verse in Genesis, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between thy seed, and her seed. It will bruise thy heel, and thou salt bruise his head. (You will strike his heel, but He will crush your head.) The beauty of that entire scene is breath taking. It is saying so much more then you would think is possible in what amounted to five-ten minuets of film. In just this scene you feel the total magnitude of what he was taking on. And that he was the only one who could. The scene is telling us that this is the one talked about in Genesis. When stories are told and retold they do get changed a little from the original, but as long as the truth stays in tact and the true message is not lost, diluted or distorted. After all is said and done, do the semantics of this happened exactly this way A, B, C - 1, 2, 3 hold as high an importance as the over all truth that encompasses the entire scope of what happened. The no no in changing the gospel. - Is in changing the gospel. Taking away from or changing the meaning of what Christ did, said, and who he is. That would be twisting or distorting the gospel - adding or changing a word here and there as long as the meaning is not changed, is not the same as professing another gospel or presenting a false Christ. Film is a visual medium and any subject that is taken from the written word will always need to be translated into that art form. If done well, it is a translation not a duplication. When you duplicate - what you make, is a movie that’s miles to long and not very good. This movie is by far the best ever made about Jesus, artistically, and enough of the facts are there, that people will get the message. I think I read on your web-site that you hadn’t seen the movie. I think you should. You may not have to, to discuss it. But people would take your opinions more seriously if you have seen it. In stead of going by what other people have told you or what you have read. You have enough interest to read about it and listen when people tell you about it, but not to see it for yourself. And how could you trust your sources as much as you own eyes. You may not need to for yourself. But should something come along in the future that has such an effect on people as this movie and could have, a negative influence on the body of Christ, then you would want people to listen and take what you have to say about it seriously. To a lot of people out there, religious leaders and religious people in general, are always doing that, going off about stuff they have not seen or read. And for some people as soon as you say well, I didn’t see it but it’s bad, they immediately close their minds and don’t hear a word your saying. If I come off in this and previously - sounding antagonistic or anything other then humble, I can’t help it and I don’t mean it that way at all, I don’t know why I come off that way. So please don’t think I’m being argumentative. That’s not my intention.
God bless
Respectfully,
MerMer Rae
