Passion of the Christ was a pro S&M propaganda film - promoting

[BR_Parkway]

the KKKristian agenda of pain and suffering. Children watching this film will be drawn to a lifestyle choice of being beaten to prove their worth. A few hardcore followers will become the beaters.

Well, using the same fundie logic (oxymoron, I know)that BBM is a homosexual recruitment tool anyway

[stepnw1f]

1. Why Not... Fundis Seem Fixated with His Punishment and Death

more than His life. Very revealing....

[Benhurst]

2. Tens of thousands suffered every bit as much or more as Jesus

under the Romans.

To those who are believers in His divinity, His willingness to endure such suffering for mankind should be more significant than the gruesome details of His crucifixion.

If you look at other Mel Gibson films, including The Patriot and Braveheart, you will find other examples of S&M. Mr. Gibson seems strangely fascinated by it.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

5. I've studied art history

a lot and the Catholic church in general was into the whole pain and torture thing in their artwork. Even today, you'll find many Catholic crucifixes with the agonized Christ. I am not criticizing this and it is something I recently read on a Catholic website that they "celebrate" feeling that the pain needs to be detailed in order to be attoned for.

Gibson is a good Catholic and appreciative of Catholic imagery. And yeah, it gets uncomfortably S/M at times. But then the whole thing is a continuum, with pain, pleasure, sexuality, adoration, transfiguration... stick a pin anywhere along the line there and it can get interesting!

I could have done without all the graphic blood in "the Passion" but then, hey, every week I "eat the flesh and drink the blood" of my savior. How gross is THAT?

Life is endlessly fascinating.

And if you don't hear from me anymore I got blown away in a tornado.

[Benhurst]

6. Hold on tight, TallahasseeGrannie! This global warming

Winter Wonderland is getting a bit much.

Good luck! :hi:

[xchrom]

7. that's a misinterpretation of the art work

at that time.

life was indescribably difficult for people when that art work was created -- it actually meant something else to both the artist as well as the viewer.

they knew pain, understood pain, lived with pain in a way that we haven't for a long, long time.

and no gibson's film doesn't come near to talking about it in that context -- because he is A}talking to a modern audience B}the same kind of rigid hierarchy no longer exists -- even in a country like china.

if you think hierachachly -- it would have been amazing to people that ''the king of kings'' would have suffered as they did.

any way -- it goes on and on how this film misses the mark on so many levels.

[Fridays Child]

3. Seriously, I just learned that a friend of mine who is heavily into...

...the S&M scene loved the movie for that very reason.

[johnnypneumatic]

4. but that torture was necessary to get information

from the insurgents and protect the Roman people from terrorists attacks.