Mel Gibson, the director of The Passion of the Christ, along with Jonathan Roumie, who plays the role of Jesus in the hit series, “The Chosen,” revealed how important it is to make entertainment that shares the central message of Christianity to viewing audiences. Both of these individuals have played critical roles in helping to further the influence of Christian entertainment, so it’s critical for the Church and those in Hollywood to pause and take seriously what’s happening with this very marginalized group of potential viewers. It’s an audience that studios are largely missing out on as they continue to push for projects they use as propaganda to promote the progressive agenda.
“There’s a tendency for all of us to take that event and the extent of the sacrifice for granted,” Gibson stated during an interview with Greg Laurie. “In film, in particular, I think, [the crucifixion] has been sanitized a fair bit so that it becomes, I don’t know, ineffectual, not emotional.”
Some might say that is how it is portrayed in the gospel accounts, since there aren’t a whole lot of details revealing what kind of suffering Jesus really went through. However, the main reason for this is because back at the time the New Testament was written, everyone knew all about crucifixion and how horrible it was. But in our modern era, that has been lost. Films like “The Passion of the Christ” provided a picture of the horrors of crucifixion for those of us 2,000 years removed from the terrifying mode of execution.
via The Christian Tribune:
Gibson further emphasized his desire to accurately portray the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, allowing viewers to understand and genuinely appreciate the foundational moment in Christian history. “I wanted to illustrate the extent of the sacrifice Christ made, so I felt it was right to do a film like that. With my own experience contemplating over the years on The Passion, my imagination soared,” he said.
The “Passion of the Christ” director went on to add, “And there are readings on the matter that kind of really brought home the dreadful reality of how bad it was. I just wanted to put that back on film to give people maybe a new look and to sort of bring another theological perspective to it that perhaps I hadn’t thought of before now.”
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Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in the hit series “The Chosen” offered a similar sentiment as Gibson, explaining his motivation in illustrating the savior of humanity on screen. “I don’t know what it’s like to [be] the perfectly sinless Son of God — nobody does. I tend to stay out of the way when it comes to playing Jesus,” Roumie told Laurie. “But I do know what it’s like to be fully human, you know, fallible and all the ways humanity can be fallible and broken and weak.”
“So I use a lot of humanity in all these other roles, especially in a role like Lonnie Frisbee where he had such a wild and broken childhood,” Roumie told Laurie. “But God uses that. Despite his weaknesses, despite his trials that he went through to make him this beacon of hope, this dynamo of the Holy Spirit with the charisma of healing and touching people and reaching people’s hearts and knowing that Christ was looking for them.”
Back in ancient times, the ability to read and write was not common. One of the ways the Church spread the gospel and helped teach people with pictures featured in stained glass windows. Movies and television today are sort of like stained glass. Lots of people will never pick up the Bible, but they’ll watch a movie. Thus, as believers, we need to make use of this medium as much as possible.