Todd Friel loves The Passion of The Christ. He does. In going through the WOTM radio show archives, I have come across many airings where he exalts the movie and Mel Gibson for making it. To Todd it is an accurate and sobering account of the sacrifice that his Lord and Savior made in becoming the atonement for his sins. Believe it or not, I have no problem at all with his admiration for the movie; it was a well-produced bit of drama (though a bit gory for my taste).
My only request is that Todd be honest with us, his listeners, as many look up to him as a shining example or Christian morality. How then does it reflect on him and his God to be blatantly hypocritical? Why do I say this? Because Mr. Friel does not endorse and even decries the viewership of R-Rated films. As a matter of fact, Todd owns a bit of hardware (the name escapes me) for his home entertainment system that removes all foul language from whatever programming he may currently be viewing. Does this same device censor or distort visual representations of violence? If it did, Todd and his family would be left with a ten or fifteen minute snippet that would contain the opening credits, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (until the guard's ear is sliced off, at least) and some of the more mundane bits of dialogue between Jesus and his disciples, among others. The majority of the movie is spent graphically portraying the scourging, beating and crucifixion of Jesus as is described just as vividly in the (contradictory) Gospel accounts in the bible. So much so, in fact, that it is enough to engender a feeling of nausea in the most jaded of moviegoers.
How then can Mr. Friel blame the state of our nation's moral decline on violent media when he openly endorses perhaps one of the most gruesome feature films of all time? If left in the wrong hands, this gore fest could further pervert a mind already demented by grotesque fantasy and could be the breaking point that might affect another school shooting or federal building bombing.
I find it troubling that Mr. Friel dissuades the viewership of secular media for mature audiences but freely advocates The Passion as wholesome family fare. The story depicted in the movie comes from an equally horrifying book which, if rated,might find itself on the top rack in most retail outlets. Doesn't this attest to the fact that theists really do employ situational ethics? "Don't watch Apocalypse Now because it's R-Rated; instead, bless your soul and glorify God as you watch His Son's blood being wrung out like a sopping wet dishtowel." Just another testament to my reasoning for not following a god that lusts for his own son's sacrificial blood and for not joining the ranks of a congregation that joyously worships such a monster.
4 comments:
There is no comparison with the horrific truth of the death of Jesus Christ and the films that protray senseless violence in terrible grotesque detail. Jesus gave up His life willingly to be the ultimate sacrifice for me, you and the rest of fallen man. It is a testiment to how horrible our sin really is. You are grasping at straws to find something wrong with Mr. Friel because of your hatred for Christians who speak the Truth and try to point others to the way of eternal life.
I've listened to WotM radio for so long it kind of makes me sad I can almost imagine how Todd would defend himself. Something about how it is necessary to see how really "evil" we are, how infinitely "good" God is, letting Jesus suffer so immensely. Thus, the violence glorifies God.
According to him, 6 year olds are the perfect demographic for scary stories about satan and hell, and telling about these things you can be as graphic as you like, as long as the violence or horror somehow pertains to "glorifying God". Whatever appears "good" to Friel, seems to be the defining factor. The doublethink is strong in this one.
Cheers to the webmaster, I've been pondering about starting a WotM-critical site for ages now :)
Susan, you must back up your claim that the media only portrays senseless violence.
What is wrong with violence, take aside Gibson's catholicism, hypocicy, and the fact Jesus probley didn't just speak one language. What was wrong with the passion? The Bible is full of violence and crimes. Its apart of living in a fallen world. The doctrine of Hell is very violent, therefore because it is true, I must come to the conclusion not all violence is bad. Violence and pornography are not on the same stage. Violcence has more complexity and degrees to it than lust. And there is nothing wrong with a rated R movie in theory. It all depends on the content. Schindler's list is a beautiful and tragic movie. Christians are given a degree of liberty to see worldly things. I enjoy watching Fraiser for example, but if I ever had kids they would not be allowed to watch it. I'm an adult, they are children. I can use discernment better than they can. I am smarter in this way. Use common sense. I know there isn't much of that at urbana-Champaign, I guess thats why we in the Springfield U of I campus got the vote on the board of trustees last year.
Post a Comment