A wise man once said :
"Humor is the beginning of prayer", and truer words were never spoken!
As many of you fans of this fine "blog" already know, I am a man who possesses a fine humor. But a prayerful man...well, I like to think I am but only God (and my conscience) know for sure.
Where's all this leading you're asking, are you? Well, I'll tell you and I hope I won't be boring you all to death in the process.
OK...have a listen now...
There has been a lot of talk, recently, about a new film coming to the theatres soon called, The Passion of Christ.
I know you must have heard about it. It is the film directed by that famous film actor himself, Mel Gibson.
Now...I've read that there is a lot of criticism of this film because (supposedly) it blames the Jewish people for the death of Jesus. I've heard a lot of people think that the film is too prejudice towards the Jewish people and for that reason it is causing a great deal of anxiety and tension prior to it's official release.

Now...for what it's worth I've been thinking about this and here is what I've decided.
First off, it seems to me that any film is an interpretation of a particular story according to the viewpoint of the director. In other words, we have to realize that the "events" of the Passion of Our Lord as portrayed in Mel Gibson's film are only the personal interpretation of events as understood by Mel Gibson himself. None of us should think that this is the only way in which the events could have occurred. There is a tradition in the world of the arts called "literary license". I'm ready and willing to give Mel Gibson a nod toward exercising this "literary license" as he is the artist behind the canvas this film is "painted" upon. It's his right to show us what he thinks happened. It is equally my right to accept or reject his interpretations of the events as he portrays them in his film. To me, that is an important point that a lot of folks are not thinking about.

There is another point about this film I would like to discuss also.
Now...before I begin keep in mind that I am no theologian. I am also not a historian and I make no pretenses to being a scholar of any type. What I am, however, is a thinking man and its with this in mind I ask you to consider this thought.
It seems to say in the New Testament that Jesus was condemned to death by the Jews. I honestly don't think that the writers of these Gospels meant for us to think that ALL JEWS FOR ALL TIME were the ones condemning Jesus to death. NO. I think the Gospel writers meant it to mean that only the "particular Jews"in the courts where Jesus was living and being tried were responsible for Jesus's death.
It is as if I said that the British were responsible for the death of the great patriot Robert Emmett (which they were). I don't mean to condemn ALL THE BRITISH for all time! No, I am only blaming those British who were directly, historically associated with the great man (Emmett) himself for his fate.
There is a fine distinction now, isn't there?

Anyway...there it is. I've been thinking a lot about this film and hearing a lot about the controversy surrounding it. I want to see it for myself and I plan to judge it's value and it's merit with the above thoughts in mind. I would recommend the rest of you do the same. Give it a fair chance. I hope it can be as much a prayer as it is a film.
We need more faith and more prayer in all of our lives, don't we?

Well, thats all I'll be writing this evening.
I hope I didn't bore you all to death with my ramblings and my fine discourse.

If you want to pass on your thoughts about what I've written here just click the link over there on the left that says "Email Me" and tell me what you think.

Best of the evening to all of you and to your loved ones as well.

Slainte!