ideoverse home to the ramblings, experiments, resume, and portfolio of Adam Dunford

So I was talking with my friend Keith a few weeks ago about upcoming movies and he mentioned The Passion of the Christ. He asked whether I was going to see it, it being rated-R and all. I told him “no,” based on the rating, and he brought up the old “If the Book of Mormon were a movie, it would be rated-R” argument.

Now that the movie is out now, I have a bigger reason: it doesn’t sound like the Christ I believe in. Apparently the movie focuses on the last 12 hours, emphasizing his pain and suffering in all the glory of Dolby-surround and CGI-enhanced effects to the exclusion of anything else, with quite a few reviewers saying it is the most violent movie they have ever seen.

There’s no baptism, no 40 days in the wilderness, no temptation from Satan, no Sermon on the Mount, no calling of the apostles, no raising of Lazarus, no bread and fishes, no parables, no triumphal entry–just blood and guts and pain, pain, pain.

Christ suffered and died for me, but he also lived and loved for me too. His teachings bring me peace, and his resurrection gives me hope.

And it doesn’t sound like 2 hours in a movie theater to see this film will give me any of that.