Can You Capture The Holy On Film? (February 15, 2004)

I have been thinking long and hard about whether to see Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. I have some misgivings.

The first time I watched a video of Robert Duvall's The Apostle, I had to turn it off and walk away. Not because I objected to the content, but because the line between reality and cinematic representation was blurry, leaving me with a kind of spiritual vertigo. What I mean is, while the film had authentic “Holy Roller” preaching and prayers and invitations to follow Christ, I knew that behind the camera there was a director saying things like "Action," and "Cut," and "Let's have Billy receive Christ again, more tears this time, and we need to adjust the lighting." It struck me as a trespass over the guardrail that shields a holy place from all that is unreal. We may enter a holy place, of course, but only with reverence and fear. All drama and pretense must be left behind.

I feel that the more sacred a thing is, the more it should be left alone, not subjected to the profaning influence of drama. Please understand that I have no problem with Bible skits and plays per se, especially for kids. I've even written a few myself. But even there I observe certain limits. A fellow missionary and Christian puppeteer once said to me, "There are two things I never have a puppet do. One is pray, and the other is receive Christ." I knew exactly what he meant, and was glad for his sensitivity to the sacred. Prayer is real - it is how we connect to the Almighty, and to have a puppet mimic communion with God is wrong. Nor can I see how it honors Christ to invite him into the heart of a soulless, cardboard dummy. I think that is kind of like Uzzah touching the ark of the covenant in 2 Samuel 6: well-intentioned, but a violation of the holy.

Is it a violation of the holy to have an actor portray Christ in his suffering? I wish I could say for sure, but I just know that something in me recoils with discomfort when I see it. Nothing is more real to me, more meaningful to me, than the death of Jesus on behalf of my sins. Can a movie represent that? Can a movie help you appreciate it more?

What comes to mind in this regard is the single most transcendent moment in my life - witnessing the birth of my firstborn, Benjamin. That was a unique event, never to be repeated but always to be treasured. It mystifies me to hear reports of men carrying camcorders to their wives' bedsides in order to film them giving birth. Are they NUTS? How can they film that? How can they put a camera between themselves and the birth of their child? Don't they understand anything about majesty and transcendence, let alone seemliness?

We are all wired differently, and I must keep that in mind as I try to define the border between guarding the holy and squawking my personal preferences. I'm the sort who loves to visit national parks but never takes a camera, knowing that taking pictures will only distract me and looking at them afterward will only disappoint me. All I want to do is bathe in the experience of nature first-hand and then leave it at that.

I pray that The Passion of the Christ will stir hearts and provoke worship and lead souls to Jesus. I do not doubt that it will benefit some. But as for me, I think I’ll pass.