I am a youth leader in my church, and as such spend a lot of ministry time on myspace (I know, sounds odd)... Well, as part of my account, I uploaded an edited viewing of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" that was shown at our youth group last for Easter '07. To date, it has been viewed over 30,000 times... and I have people leave comments on the video.
One such occassion, a young guy posted a comment which said, "this movie was nothing but a snuff film that made us concentrate on the suffering jesus went through instead of all the great things he did , thats what we should be looking at, and not be forced into being good christians with graphic violence"
Now I appreciate honest commentary from people. But for those who really know me, I occassionally like to challenge what people believe in order to a) have a better understanding of why they believe it, or b) to show that their way of thinking is a flawed.
I have posted my reply to this guy's comment below, and I would appreciate your comment- as it's tied to an issue that goes way beyond a simple movie by Mel Gibson.
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Hey dude...
Thanks for your video comment.
I will say that you're correct in one sense. Jesus certainly did do a whole lot of good stuff throughout His amazing 3 years of ministry. No one could ever call that into question.
But the apex- the highest point- of the glory of God revealed to mankind, is to be found at the cross.
The Bible says that, "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2:13-15- Emphasis mine)
It also says that,
"And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain...
" You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation...
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" (Revelation 5:6, 9, 12- Emphasis mine)
I don't know if you've ever thought about it this way before- but we will worship in Heaven because of murder on earth. That's pretty heavy. The ONLY reason you and I are Christians and will enter Heaven is because of what was accomplished at the cross.
Something for you to have a think about.
Posted at: 02:40 PM | Add Comment
