PASSION & CHRISTIANITY

Dear Editor of Orwell Today,
re: PASSION'S CRUCIFIXION OVERKILL

I have just read an article on your website about the film Passion of Christ, a movie I have so far resisted seeing as I am undecided whether it is a sincere attempt to depict the passion of Christ or an excuse to make money by appealing to modern man's love of violence. I confess to being unsure of where the writer stands in relation to a belief in Christ. As a Christian, before I start drawing what may be the wrong conclusions, could you confirm please whether the book referred to in this quote from Jackie Jura is in fact the New Testament?

'Maybe when they realize they're being "taken in" under false pretenses, they'll start questioning other aspects of the movie and the book it's based on'. ~ Jackie Jura.

If indeed that is the reference, you are entitled to your opinion, but I do not feel that the article provides sufficient evidence against the Bible. I haven't yet found out who the organisers are behind Orwell Today.

If indeed you are Christians (you do support Christian ads on your site) I apologise for my ignorance.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. D. Edwards,
England.

Greetings Mr Edwards,

I don't see God in the holy books of organized religions which I have studied in the past searching for Him.

There is no organization behind my website Orwell Today. It's "a minority of one" operation. I am webmaster, writer, editor and everything else.

Yes, "the book" I was talking about in the article PASSION'S CRUCIFIXION OVERKILL was the Christian bible which, as everyone knows, is the book Gibson based his movie on. But, as the article stated, he didn't portray it factually either in reality or literally.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - I wonder if you have heard of Mel Gibson's next movie called Apocalypto which is also about human sacrifice. I don't think he'll be gaining converts for any religion with these types of productions:

Mel's passion turns from Christ's Passion to Mayan blood rites. London Guardian, October 30, 2005
His most recent film, featuring flayings and floggings and with dialogue in Aramaic and Latin, was a worldwide hit. Now Mel Gibson has announced his next project will be set against the bloodthirsty backdrop of the Mayan empire - this time in an ancient dialect called Yucatec... Anyone who turned nauseous at the flesh-ripping carnage of The Passion should fear for their stomachs again. While Mayan civilisation thrived for nearly 2,000 years before its mysterious collapse, mastering astronomy and the construction of pyramids, it also carried out savage rituals of human sacrifice to appease the gods.

Dear Jackie,

Prayer, meditation, contemplation, life-experience, being alive, etc. are also ways of glimpsing God. I do read the Bible in conjunction with contemporary records of those times and this has given me a much better insight into it than I previously had and actually shows it to be much less inaccurate than I formerly believed it to be.

I was genuinely confused by the fact that you have Christian adverts on your site and yet you imply that the Bible is a lie (if indeed that is what you are implying). Why advertise Christianity if you don't believe in it. A further read of your website leaves me with the impression that you are more opposed to fundamentalist Christians than to wishy-washy New-Age anything-goes type Christians. I can understand this attitude, because in America particularly (I am not saying you are an American) red-neck Christians do (from my contact with them) seem to go more by the letter of the law than by the spirit of it. Ku Klux Klanners in the past have somehow been able to combine their persecution of black people with their Christian beliefs and currently I believe gay people are being victimised by "Christians" in America. As you'll know, Christ Himself had a few well-chosen words to say about the Pharisees, whose descendants seem to have settled in the America "Bible Belt". Sorry if you find this offensive; I'm quite a harmless old duffer really :-)

I have no problem with your feud against Mel Gibson - enjoy. Catholics do appear to concentrate more upon the physical death of Christ than upon the resurrection of Christ and the promise to His followers of eternal life. Catholics also seem to feel that personal suffering is essential for Salvation (as in "offer it up for your sins"). I personally view suffering as something that is inflicted upon Christians by those who oppose their beliefs, rather than as a necessary qualification for church membership. I have not seen the film you speak of and have no real desire to see it anyway. Methinks £200 million may be a possible motive for Gibson's film of the suffering of Christ :-]

I believe Christ's message can be encapsulated as Love God and love your neighbour.

Yours Sincerely,
Dave Edwards

Greetings Dave,

Thank you for your encapsulation of how to glimpse God, ie through prayer, meditation, contemplation, life-experience and being alive. That is how I see Him. And I agree with you as well that people who believe in the Christian religion do so because of Christ's message to love God and our neighbour - wherever that neighbour may be, even on the other side of the world.

There is much good and wisdom to be found in the Bibles of all the religions. A person just needs to separate the wheat from the chaff. But what Mel Gibson is doing with his movies, in my opinion, is not goodly or Godly.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~
website: www.orwelltoday.com & email: orwelltoday@orwelltoday.com

email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
HOME PAGE
website: www.orwelltoday.com