i have been quite hesitant to go see 'the passion of the christ'. why? i think i have been weary of all the hype. especially all the talk about it being THE movie for Christians to bring their non-Christian friends to. it's supposed help people finally understand the pain and suffering that Jesus had to go through. i have a couple of friends who have already seen it and the general consensus seems to be it preaches to the converted. it doesn't surprise me that this is the case. i think a Christian, who already knows God and has an understanding of who Jesus is, can sympathize and feel for Jesus' pain. they are not thinking about, "why are they doing this, why are they doing that?". on the other hand, an atheist or someone who doesn't know the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion, would probably be appalled by the brutality in this movie. many critics have complained about the gratuitous violence and the graphic nature of the movie. as some people have put it, all they could see was a two-hour sadistically violent torture session.

still, it doesn't necessarily mean that a non-Christian shouldn't see the movie. i would just say it depends on 'who'. i think someone who has some interest in knowing who this Jesus character is, would be open-minded to this film. but i would suspect if you brought the wrong person, it could possibly turn them off Christianity altogether. they might not feel or understand the nature of His sacrifice.

despite my reservations, i am actually pretty interested in watching it. i'm looking forward to watching it this friday with some friends. more so since i went to mitchell's with ebrian the other day. i saw the companion book to the movie, so i decided to take a look. it consisted mostly of still photos from the movie. as i was flipping through, i was struck by how powerful the images were and i was quite moved by them.

anyway, an excellent article by richard roeper puts it best: before we make any judgements, we should see it for ourselves, "with an open mind and open heart." besides, it's just a movie.