The Story of Jesus Christ: Why Can't They Get It Right?

The movie The Passion of the Christ has raised many questions about Jesus of Nazareth and His sacrifice. Yet one of the most important questions is also one of the most basic: Why can't they get it right?

by Scott Ashley

Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ generated a huge amount of publicity and controversy. So far, the movie has drawn more than 50 million viewers and is on course to become one of the top moneymakers in cinema history. This is all the more amazing for a film restricted for younger viewers because of its violence and in which every line of dialog is spoken in Latin or Aramaic, two long-dead languages.

Mr. Gibson, who financed and directed the movie, put a great deal of effort into making the film. His storytelling genius comes through in many ways. The movie is a powerful and moving attempt to tell the story of the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ.

Yet, for all his effort, Mel Gibson didn't get the story right in several significant ways.

It's not like there isn't an accurate script to work with. After all, the four Gospels that describe the events have been around for almost 2,000 years. He simply made the same mistake so many others do when they approach the subject of Jesus Christ—they let their own ideas get in the way.

An accurate depiction of Jesus?

Old ideas die hard, and one of the oldest is what Jesus Christ looked like. For centuries people have assumed that Jesus had long hair. After all, that's the way they've always seen Him portrayed in every painting, drawing or movie. That's the only Jesus they've ever seen. But are those depictions accurate?

The fact is, we don't know what Jesus looked like, because the first depictions of Him weren't created until several centuries after His ministry. Thus every image we've ever seen is based on nothing but the artists' imaginations.

While we don't know what Jesus did look like, we do know that He didn't look like the common depictions of Him with long hair. After all, this same Jesus inspired the apostle Paul to write this criticism of long hair on men in 1 Corinthians 11:14: "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?"

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn52/getitright.htm

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