|
Dear
Friend,
We live at a critical time in the
history of the church. Never in long
ages has idolatry been such a threat to
the church. We call this movie a
blasphemy against Christ. Is this
accurate? The dictionary defines
blasphemy, not only as profane or
contemptuous speech, but "any
remark or action held to be irreverent
or disrespectful". In this article
we will present the reasons why such a
movie is disrespectful to Christ, a
deception and a blasphemy against God.
(We are not for a moment saying that Mel
Gibson and his supporters intended it to
be a blasphemy; we deem that they are
sincerely in grievous error)
As you read this article, please also
note how the awful, heart-rending
crucifixion scenes advertised for the
movie, actually move people away from
the true saving meaning of the
crucifixion of Christ. His endurance of
the savage beatings may indeed be the
world's greatest model of endurance and
forgiveness, but that is not the
Biblical message. The Scriptures
proclaim that that Christ Jesus'
endurance of God's wrath against sin is
the key element in the Gospel. It was
His taking upon Himself God's wrath for
our sins that provides atonement for us
who believe that we are saved only by
His sacrifice
What is perhaps the deadliest influence
of the movie is its subliminal denial of
the Deity of Christ. Those who made the
movie can insist that this man on the
screen images Christ. Promoters of the
movie may claim that the movie proclaims
the Deity of Christ. But the movie makes
us call Jim Caviezel "Christ".
This is idolatry. The identification of
movie star with Christ is seen even in
news stories, such as calling the nails
used in the film "nails used to
hang Jesus on the cross".* And such
a movie seduces us to talking about the
sufferings inflicted on Jim Caviezel, as
if they really were inflicted on Christ.
As you read this article, you will also
become more aware that this movie will,
on a subliminal level, prepare many
people to think of Mary as the one who
offered Christ's sacrifice. In the
Scriptures it is profoundly the will and
purpose of God the Father that is
portrayed.
May God have mercy on the professing
church and cause His people to turn from
idols to the revelation of Christ in the
Bible.
May you respond in prayer and in the
conviction that comes from the Holy
Spirit through His written Word. We also
request that forward the article to
others, and if possible, you post it on
your Webpage.
In the Lord's graciousness and love,
Richard Bennett and Virgil Dunbar
The article is below and attached
* "Replicas of the nails used to
hang Jesus on the cross have become the
red-hot official merchandise linked to
Mel Gibson's controversial new movie,
‘The Passion of the Christ.'"
www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/18338.htm
2/21/04
Webpage www.bereanbeacon.org
Virgil Dunbar: VDunbar@aol.com
"The Passion of Christ":
Mel Gibson's Vivid Deception
By Richard Bennett and J. Virgil Dunbar
There seldom has been a movie that has
created such favorable publicity and
anticipation in the Evangelical
community. A tidal wave of excitement is
sweeping the church and the movie world.
On the Catholic Ash Wednesday the film
will appear in theaters across
America
. Evangelical churches are buying huge
blocks of tickets, reserving theaters.
An endless list of endorsements from
church leaders publicly promoting the
film is paraded. Names like Billy
Graham, Jack Graham (President of the
Southern Baptist Convention), Rick
Warren, Jack Hayford, names of Catholic
leaders, and an endless list of
celebrities are presented to the public
as endorsing the film. It is being
promoted as one of the greatest
evangelistic opportunities in history, a
concept dear to the heart of every
Evangelical. Even the secular media,
newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, the
Internet, feed the frenzy. There is a
fawning adulation of the film. The
Evangelical church's acceptance of
Gibson's movie gives shocking - maybe
apocalyptic - insight into the state of
popular Christianity today. Will history
reveal this day as the time when
Evangelicalism, on a popular level,
merged with the Roman Catholic Church?
The Church of Rome has done much to lead
modern Evangelicalism into making images
of the Lord. Like the Catholics, many
Evangelicals today seem not even to be
aware that such activity is idolatrous.
The Apostle Paul emphasizes the fact
that idolatry involves exchanging the
glory of the incorruptible God for an
image made like corruptible man. And as
he also stated to the Athenians,
"forasmuch then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is like unto gold,
silver, or stone, graven by art or man's
device."
Christ Jesus is a member of that
Godhead. He told the religious leaders,
"I said therefore unto you, that
you shall die in your sins: for if you
believe not that I am he, you shall die
in your sins." By using the
expression "I AM", the Lord
identifies Himself as the God revealed
in the Old Testament, the "I AM
THAT I AM", the self-existing,
eternal God who spoke to Moses and gave
the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.
The Second Commandment totally prohibits
making material representations of His
person. In creating images of Christ in
books, videotapes, films, stained glass
windows and other artistic mediums - all
things of "man's device"- men
have gone beyond Scripture in their
attempt to add to the biblical
revelation of who Christ is. The Lord
God explicitly warned against adding to
His written Word and He warns just as
explicitly against adding visual images
of the Godhead.
Creating a visual representation of the
Lord Jesus, by definition, is to portray
"another Jesus". The Lord
Jesus in His Person, character, and work
is divine and perfect. No Savior other
than the One proclaimed in Scripture is
permissible. Those who claim they are
only depicting the humanity of Jesus
Christ fall into the grievous heresy of
Nestorius, as they wrongly attempt to
divide the humanity from the deity of
Christ, ending up with idols produced by
the imaginations of their own hearts.
The Lord God gave believers a Wordbook,
not a picture book. The Gospel is at
stake—for the Scripture states that
"faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the word of God." The
Gospel is the power of God unto
salvation as it is written, read,
preached, and spoken one to another. The
power of the Word is that it is God's
revealed propositional truth. Rather
than subjective imaginations created by
man, "The word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the
heart." It is God's revealed
propositional truth that has the power
to change the hearts and minds of those
who live in the darkness of their own
imaginations, for His light through the
Written Word will shine on their evil
hearts and the thoughts and deeds that
flow from them. It is through this
method that they will be convicted of
their need for a true Savior and ready
for the Gospel of God's grace alone in
which to trust by faith alone. The
visual works of a man's devising, for
all their emotional power, are too dull
a tool to bring to the individual
conviction of sin and the explicit
Gospel of grace that the Written Word
and the truth preached bring.
But this fact notwithstanding, a
three-dimensional image of Christ is not
only allowed by official Catholic
teaching, but it is also to be
venerated. The Vatican states,
"Basing itself on the mystery of
the incarnate Word, the seventh
ecumenical council at Nicaea (787)
justified…the veneration of icons - of
Christ, but also of the Mother of God,
the angels, and all the saints."
The temptation to replace the biblical
Lord with a visible Christ dominates
Catholic nations across of the world.
Men calling themselves Christian are now
beginning to accept it. A figure one can
touch, see, wear on jewelry, and is
visible in statues and on a crucifix, is
identified as an object through which
one can approach God and learn of Him.
Yet the Scripture clearly states that
"there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus." The Lord God is
approachable only through the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. But as the bleeding
Savior Gibson's passion is presented to
the world, this fact seems thrown aside.
We ask, then, what worse blasphemy could
there be than depicting with an image
the Lord God who condemns images?
Evangelical leaders, by endorsing this
Catholic film, further solidify the
image of the counterfeit Christ upon the
minds of many.
As we have seen, the Catholic Church
claims authority to make images of the
Lord. Since the Bible absolutely forbids
this practice, where shall Evangelicals
find authority for using such images?
Under what handier shelter can they hide
than the umbrella of the Catholic
Church? Cut adrift from biblical
authority, Evangelicals seem to be
drifting more and more under the
Catholic system of authority. Once they
have, in practice, surrendered biblical
authority and accepted the papal system
of authority regarding the use of images
of the Lord, where will Evangelicals
draw the line on papal authority? This
is only one of the unforeseen
consequences that started when
Evangelicals accepted forbidden pictures
to represent the Lord and entered into
dialogue with the Catholic Church.
True meaning of the Cross as revealed
in God's Written Word
Scripture makes clear that the
meaning of Christ's crucifixion lay not
in His physical suffering, but in His
propitiation of the wrath of God. God's
wrath was utterly placed on Christ
Jesus, who suffered the full extent of
its unabated curse for the sins for His
people. The fullness of divine wrath
that Christ suffered was like that fire
from heaven, recorded in the Old
Testament, which consumed the
sacrifices. The wrath that should have
fallen upon the sinner, had God not been
appeased, fell upon Him. He uttered the
loud cry, "My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" The
representative relationship of Christ to
His people is a real and necessary one.
The All Holy God deemed it just to
punish Christ for the sins of His
people, and to credit them with His
righteousness, and thus completely
satisfy all the demands of His law upon
them. Why was Christ's perfect life
followed by the most terrible
punishment? Strict substitution demanded
it so that real imputation of His
righteousness to His own people could
follow. Rather than the physical torture
He suffered, the absolute horror that
Christ endured was separation from His
Father. In His Spirit, He felt the full
wrath of God. The Apostle Paul explained
it precisely, "For He hath made Him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him." Christ Jesus was
"made sin" for His people. The
wrath of God's holiness flamed against
Him. He was the sin offering, the
sacrifice for sin. "It pleased the
Lord to bruise him; He hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an
offering for sin." He was
personally All Holy; yet as the
substitute for His own, He rendered
Himself legally responsible before the
judgment of God. The consequence of
Christ's faithfulness in all that He did
culminated in His death on the cross and
in His resurrection that followed. His
righteousness is credited to the
believer, "even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that
believe." It was God who legally
constituted Christ to be "sin for
us." He was "made sin"
because the sins of His people were
transferred to Him, and in like manner,
the believer is made "the
righteousness of God in Him" by
God's reckoning to the believer Christ's
faithfulness to the precepts of the law.
Quite clearly therefore, justification,
the Gospel message, is the gracious act
of God whereby a believing sinner has
forgiveness of sin and legal right
standing in Christ. As Christ, who knew
no sin of His own, was made sin for
believers, so they, who have no
righteousness of their own, are made the
righteousness of God in Him. It is of
extreme importance that this entire
biblical Gospel message is missing from
the movie, and that in its place is
given the traditional Catholic faith of
Mel Gibson, and Jim Caviezel, who stars
as Christ.
A Catholic Film with a Catholic
Message
Mel Gibson is a traditionalist
Catholic. He has produced this film with
an image of "Christ" that is
based on the apparitions of the Catholic
mystic, Anne Catherine Emmerich, who
claimed to have seen visions of the
passion, death and resurrection of
"Christ" which were recorded
in her book, The Dolorous Passion of Our
Lord Jesus Christ. She narrated in
incredible detail her understanding of
the horrendous sufferings undergone in
His heroic act of Redemption.
"It is crucial to realize that the
images and language at the heart of
‘The Passion of the Christ' flow
directly out of Gibson's personal
dedication to Catholicism in one of its
most traditional and mysterious forms -
the 16th-century Latin Mass. ‘I don't
go to any other services,' the director
told the Eternal Word Television
Network. ‘I go to the old Tridentine
Rite. That's the way that I first saw it
when I was a kid. So I think that that
informs one's understanding of how to
transcend language. Now, initially, I
didn't understand the Latin….But I
understood the meaning and the message
and what they were doing. I understood
it very fully, and it was very moving
and emotional and efficacious, if I may
say so.' The goal of the movie is to
shake modern audiences by brashly
juxtaposing the ‘sacrifice of the
cross with the sacrifice of the altar -
which is the same thing,' said Gibson.
This ancient union of symbols and sounds
has never lost its hold on him. There
is, he stressed, ‘a lot of power in
these dead languages.'"
The Church of Rome likewise juxtaposes
the sacrifice of the cross with the
sacrifice of the Mass, to which Mel
Gibson has given clear testimony. She
teaches that the Mass and Christ's
sacrifice are "one single
sacrifice". Thus she declares,
"The sacrifice of Christ and the
sacrifice of the Eucharist are one
single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one
and the same…'This divine sacrifice
which is celebrated in the Mass, the
same Christ who offered himself once in
a bloody manner on the altar of the
cross is contained and is offered in an
unbloody manner.'" Blending images
together with the sacrifice of the Cross
and with the sacrifice of the Mass is
extremely dangerous to the state of
one's soul. Divine perfection is seen in
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ's
sacrifice on the cross was one
sacrifice, once offered. To put forward
a reenactment of the one offering, once
offered, is to replace the truth with a
falsehood implying that Christ's
sacrifice was not sufficient and
therefore imperfect. This is an utter
blasphemy against the All Holy God. In
Catholicism and in the Passion movie,
willfully putting together the sacrifice
of the cross with the sacrifice of the
Mass produces a dramatic and a
theatrical lie that serves only to
deceive the very ones it is purportedly
meant to help.
Concerning the film, Gibson has
declared, "It reflects my
beliefs." He also has stated,
"There is no salvation for those
outside the [Catholic] Church…I
believe it." Clearly, before the
public eye, here is a Catholic movie,
made by a Catholic director, with
Catholic theological advisers and a
Catholic message. According to a
Catholic website, Catholic Passion
Outreach, "The Passion of The
Christ offers a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for you to spread,
strengthen, and share the Catholic faith
with your family and friends." It
is obvious from this and other Catholic
sources that Catholics see this film as
an excellent way to convey the Catholic
Christ.
Relationship of Christ to the Father:
replaced with "Mary" offering
her Son
Christ's willing sacrifice of
Himself on the cross and His subsequent
resurrection is the greatest event in
history, the culminating achievement of
God. The sacrifice as given in Scripture
shows forth the unique and distinctive
relationship of Christ to the Father.
Christ's readiness to fulfill His
Father's will is seen in His words,
"lo, I come to do thy will, O
God." The Father's will focused in
Christ's sacrifice to satisfy His divine
justice through the atonement of Christ,
which was the propitiation of His just
wrath. It was an act of His will, and
most profitable for His people. The
priceless double empowerment of Christ's
perfect sacrifice is proclaimed by the
Holy Spirit, "by the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for
all." Christ's sacrifice originated
in will of God the Father. It was
essential that the Father should be
willing to call His Son to this work,
for He was the Person unto whom the
satisfaction was to be made. The
sacrifice was the Father's plan and
purpose. "Him [Christ Jesus] being
delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God." "But
this Man, after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on
the right hand of God. For by one
offering He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." The one
offering of Christ, willed by the
Father, was offered. In view of this
perfect sacrifice, to dare to propose a
relationship of Christ to Mary is to
denigrate the very will and purpose of
the Father. This profane sacrilege is
just what is portrayed in the Catholic
movie. Andrew J. Webb notes,
"‘The Passion of Christ' leaves
us with a vision of the sacrifice of
Christ that is only dolorous (Dolorous:
Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful;
dismal) and which puts into sharp relief
the Roman Catholic notion not only of
the importance of Christ's agony, but
that of Mary in ‘offering her Son'. In
an interview with Zenit, the Roman
Catholic News Service, Father Thomas
Rosica, the priest who oversaw World
Youth Day 2002 and its Way of the Cross
through the streets of Toronto,
illustrated how ‘The Passion of
Christ', in keeping with Roman Catholic
theology, uses extra-biblical content to
massively exaggerate the role of Mary:
‘One scene, in particular, was very
moving. As Jesus falls on the Way of the
Cross, there is a flashback to his
falling on a Jerusalem street as a
child, and his mother running out of the
house to pick him up. The interplay of
Mary and Jesus in this film is moving,
and reaches its apex in the scene of the
Pietà. The Mother of the Lord is
inviting each of us to share her grief
and behold her Son.' This use of
extra-biblical material, emphasis on
physical suffering, exaggeration of the
role of Mary, and explicitly Roman
Catholic theology should not surprise
us, however, as these are all hallmarks
of the primary inspiration for this
movie: [Anne Catherine Emmerich's] The
Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus
Christ."
Fruitfulness of interaction between
the Father and the Son
Christ Jesus has triumphed in His
sacrifice, and He will perfectly give to
all those that come to Him freedom from
the guilt of, the power of, and the
punishment of sin. He will put them into
the sure possession of perfect holiness
and joy of fellowship with Himself and
the Father. "And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission of these is, there is no
more offering for sin." The true
believer's sins and iniquities the
Father will remember no more! This shows
the riches of Divine grace, and the
sufficiency of Christ's relationship
with His Father in the satisfaction of
the cross, "where remission of
these is, there is no more offering for
sin." Nothing can ever separate the
perfection of the accord between the
Father and the Son.
One cannot question Gibson's sincerity.
Yet the utterly evil deceit of his
purpose - to portray his classic
Catholic understanding of the
crucifixion of Christ - coupled with a
very effective medium of communication,
reaches new heights in promoting
blasphemy and contempt for Holy God and
His Word! This is undoubtedly the exact
opposite of what Gibson had hoped to
achieve. Clearly then, Gibson himself
and Jim Caviezel, who plays the role of
Christ in the film, are two of those
most deceived by the Catholic message.
On the authority of Scripture alone, may
the all Holy God in His mercy pour forth
mercy on these poor men to the saving of
their souls through faith alone in
Christ Jesus alone and to God alone be
the glory!
Influence of the apparitions of
"Mary" in Medjugorje on the
film
The apparitions of "Mary"
in Medjugorje in Bosnia, Herzegovina,
have had a huge impact on this film. The
Catholic Church rationalizes acceptance
of other sources of extra-Biblical
revelation by stating that the ordinary
faithful Catholics welcome whatever the
"magisterium" (teaching power
of the Roman Church) guides them into
accepting. She consolidates her power
over the rank and file Catholics by
denying in practice that revelation is
complete and definitive. "The last
century-and-a-half has seen numerous
accounts of appearances of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. Jesus, Himself, is said to
speak to a few of the seers. Some of the
apparitions have received official
approval by the Roman Catholic
Church." "…Our Lady
continues to give messages to six young
people from the village of Medjugorje:
Ivan, Jakov, Marija, Mirjana, Vicka, and
Ivanka. These six young people (referred
to as "visionaries") have had
apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary
since June 24, 1981…" The
influence of "Mary" of
Medjugorje has been documented in the
case of Jim Caviezel, who stars as
Christ in the movie. In an interview
with Fr. Mario Knezovic in Medjugorje on
December 6th, 2003 Caviezel said,
"I was in seventh grade and our
priest showed us a film of the children
during an apparition. We were told that
it was true. We were from a mixed
catholic community – mostly Croatians
and Italians. My grandmother is a 100%
Croatian. It didn't seem hard to
believe. I took me 15 years to come.
When I came, I knew immediately - from
what I was feeling in my heart - that it
was real. I haven't seen signs or
anything, but - I have been a Catholic
for my whole life and I had never felt
in confession as I felt when I was here.
It was a tremendous healing."
Fr. Mario Knezovic said to him,
"‘The Passion of the Christ'
movie, in which you are playing Jesus
Christ, is almost finished. What was it
like to play Jesus? How did you adjust
your body and your soul to the body and
the soul of Jesus? How was it to be
Jesus? Jim Caviezel [replied]: The
catharsis for me to play this role was
through Medjugorje, through Gospa. In
preparation, I used all that Medjugorje
taught me. Mel Gibson and I were going
every day for Mass together. Some days I
couldn't go for Mass, but I was
receiving the Eucharist. Somewhere along
the line, I heard that the Pope was
going for confession every day, so I
thought that I should go for confession
as often as possible…So, the
confession was the preparation for the
Eucharist. Ivan Dragicevic and his wife
Lorraine gave me a piece of the true
cross. I kept this on me all the time.
They made a special pocket in my clothes
for it. I also had relics of Padre Pio,
St. Anthony of Padoua, Ste Maria Goretti,
and saint Denisius, the Patron saint of
Actors. Another thing was fasting. I
read many of the messages continuously.
Every day everyone could see me with the
rosary in my hands.
The fact that the message of
"Mary" in Medjugorje so deeply
influenced Jim Caviezel shows his point
of view, and that of the movie in which
he has the main role. Medjugorje teaches
that the sufferings of Christ are the
offense, or the great sin against God,
"Make reparation for the wound
inflicted on the Heart of My Son."
The truth is that the wounds inflicted
on Christ are the reason we do not need
to make reparations, but solely to
believe the Gospel. The message of
Medjugorje shows contempt for the
sanctity and purpose of the Cross of
Christ. The blasphemy of Medjugorje has
had its influence on the film. The
authority of Scripture weighs in on the
matter, "and no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of
light." Such things as pieces of
bones carried around as relics in a
pocket of Jim Caviezel's clothes may
seem like occult practices, but for a
Catholic it is official teaching. Papal
Rome also encourages people to contact
the dead.
A defining moment of the present time
As visual images form the foundation
for learning in modern world, so images,
movies, and videos of Christ have been
accepted in Evangelical circles. This
idolatry has reached new heights in the
highly Catholic portrayal of the
sufferings of Christ in the Passion
movie. The Christ portrayed, however, is
not the Christ of the Bible. The
sufferings are not those of the One who
was "made sin" because the
sins of His people. It does depict
horrendous sufferings, however,
undergone in a heroic manner, and these
are juxtaposed with the Catholic
sacrifice of the Mass. This heavy
manipulation of people's emotions is
promoted through enticing images and
strange sounding words in Aramaic, the
sum of which is to establish
collectively both a blasphemy against
God and a deceit against man. This high
point of idolatry is evidence of a real
turning point in our day. It is very
much like the idolatry of Jeroboam, who
sinned himself, and who made Israel to
sin. Families and kingdoms were ruined
by Jeroboam's idolatry. Once influential
men do wickedly, they involve many
others both in their guilt and in their
snare. Multitudes follow their
pernicious ways. The Lord God gave
Israel up to their wickedness because of
the sin of Jeroboam.
In all seriousness it appears that in
our own day, the Lord God could hand
over the Evangelical world to the deceit
into which they are running with open
arms. They may very well go to hell with
a long procession following them, and
their condemnation will be intolerable.
They will have to answer, not only for
their own sins, but for the sins which
others have been drawn into by their
influence. In the Old Testament,
judgment came upon the people of Israel
for conforming to the idolatry of
Jeroboam. In our own day, both blind
leaders and their blind followers look
ready to fall into the ditch.
"Repent; or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth."
It is the duty of churches, pastors,
elders, and Evangelical leaders who have
sinned in this tidal wave of idolatry in
the use of images, videos, and movies of
Christ to repent publicly. It is the
duty of Christian people themselves to
repent of these sins, in so far as they
have been accessory to them by
involvement. When God comes to punish
the corrupt members of His people, His
rebuke will be most sore. No sword cuts
so deeply, nor causes so grievous pain,
as the sword of Christ Jesus' mouth. We
truly pray that the truth of the Word of
God touch the conscience of those who
have sinned, are sinning and leading
others into sin. If the Lord's threats
are executed, sinners will be utterly
cut off. We truly pray that the Word of
God will take hold of sinners, including
ourselves, so that we all "hold
fast the profession of our faith without
wavering; for he is faithful that
promised." "And we know that
the Son of God is come, and hath given
us an understanding, that we may know
him that is true, and we are in him that
is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from
idols. Amen." ♦
Permission is given by the authors to
copy this article if it is done in its
entirety without any changes.
Permission is also given post this
article in its entirety on Internet
WebPages.
Richard Bennett's WebPage is:
www.bereanbeacon.org
Virgil Dunbar can be contacted by email
at: VDunbar@aol.com
Virgil Dunbar and Richard Bennett have
also written an article on
"Idolatry in the Evangelical
Camp" it can be read under articles
on www.bereanbeacon.org/articles/idolatry_in_evangelical.htm
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Endnotes:
[1]
Romans 1:22-2 3 "Professing
themselves to be wise, they became
fools, and changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made
like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and fourfooted beasts, and creeping
things." Vv. 24-25, which follow,
are instructive, especially in light of
the scandals that have rocked the RCC in
the past several years, "Wherefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts,
to dishonour their own bodies between
themselves: Who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served
the creature more than the
Creator…"
[2] Acts 17:29 . Bolding in any quote
indicates emphasis added in this paper.
[3] John 8:24
[4] Exodus 3:14
[5] Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 4:12-16
[6] Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Proverbs
30:6 and Revelation 22:1
[7] Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 4:5-28
[8] II Corinthians 11:4
[9] Romans 10:17.
[10] Hebrews 4:12.
[11] Catechism of the Catholic Church
(1994) Para 2131
[12] Code of Canon Law , Latin-Eng. ed.
(1983)
Can.
1188, "The practice of displaying
sacred images in the churches for the
veneration of the faithful is to remain
in force…." See also Catechism ,
#2132 "The Christian veneration of
images is not contrary to the first
commandment which proscribes idols.
Indeed, the honor rendered to an image
passes to its prototype, and whoever
venerates an image venerates the person
portrayed in it." This is the very
idea that Aaron had when he constructed
the golden calf through which the
children of Israel were to worship Holy
God, Exodus 32:4-5. For fuller
explanation, see J. Virgil Dunbar,
Christ Can't Be Pictured—God is not
like Art , (available from Richard
Bennett, P. O. Box 192, Del Valle, TX
78617. $7.00 incl. postage in USA).
[13] I Timothy 2:5
[14] Hebrews 8:6, 9:15
[15] Romans 3:25 "Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past, through the forbearance
of God." See also I John 4:10
"Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our
sins", and elsewhere.
[16] Matthew 27:46
[17] II Corinthians 5:21
[18] Isaiah 53:10
[19] Romans 3:22
[20] The Catholic advertizement for the
book states "Mel Gibson based his
upcoming movie, ‘The Passion of
Christ' on this book! Faithful to the
Bible story of the Passion and death of
Jesus [ sic ], it fills in many
details…It is also wonderful on the
Blessed Mother's role in our
redemption….recounts in incredible
detail the horrendous sufferings
undergone by our Saviour in His (it
would seem) superhumanly heroic act of
Redemption…."
www.catholiccompany.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=2739
2/20/04
[21] www.gosanangelo.com/sast/lv_religion/article/0,1897,SAST_4948_2601442,00.html
2/18/04
[22] Catechism , Para. 1367
[23] www.ewtn.com/WorldOver/ 2/17/04
[24] The New Yorker , September 15, 2003
[25] http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:zUEbH4Mz2hgJ:passion.catholicexchange.com/
2/17/04
[26] Hebrews 10:9
[27] Hebrews 10:10
[28] Acts 2:23
[29] Hebrews 10:12,14
[30] Father Thomas Rosica on Mel
Gibson's "The Passion",
National Director of World Youth Day
2002 Weighs in on Film (2004-02-06)
[31] Andrew J. Webb's excellent aritcle:
http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:E3yWWAGCuC8J:forums.5solas.org/showthread.php%3Fgoto%3Dlastpost%26t%3D1518+%22s
2/19/04
[32] Hebrews 10:17-18
[33] Hebrews 10:18
[34] Catechism of the Catholic Church
Para 67
[35] www.apparitions.org/ 3/20/03
[36] www.medjugorje.org/ 3/20/03
[37] www.medjugorje.hr/Int%20Caviezel%20ENG.htm
2/17/04
[38] www.medjugorje.hr/Int%20Caviezel%20ENG.htm
2/17/04
[39] "Dear children, this evening I
pray that you especially venerate the
Heart of my Son, Jesus. Make reparation
for the wound inflicted on the Heart of
My Son. That Heart is offended by all
kinds of sin." Words From Heaven:
Messages of Our Lady from Medjugorje ,
5th ed., (Birmingham, AL: St. James
Publishing Company, 1991) Message of
April 5, 1985, p. 162.
[40] II Corinthians 11:14
[41] Catechism , Para # 1674.
"Besides sacramental liturgy and
sacramentals, catechesis must take into
account the forms of piety and popular
devotions among the faithful. The
religious sense of the Christian people
has always found expression in various
forms of piety surrounding the Church's
sacramental life, such as the veneration
of relics, visits to sanctuaries,
pilgrimages, processions, the stations
of the cross, religious dances, the
rosary, medals, etc." That such
practices are wide spread in the
Catholic world, see news item,
"Replicas of the nails used to hang
Jesus on the cross have become the
red-hot official merchandise linked to
Mel Gibson's controversial new movie,
‘The Passion of the Christ.'"
www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/18338.htm
2/21/04
[42] Cathecism , Para # 958
[43] I Kings 14:7-20
[44] Revelation 2:16
[45] Hebrews 10:23
[46] I John 5:20-21
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