Gya: Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

The only people who have made anti-Semitic noises upon seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ are the Jew-hating Islamics in the Mid-East and points out there. For Christians, Mel Gibson's film does not occasion anti-semitic rage but personal acknowledgement of sin and recognition of the need for Christ's redemptive act. The people of Guyana are no different in this respect.

Cinema goers left the Astor Cinema dazed and penitent yesterday afternoon after the premiere of Mel Gibson's controversial film "Passion of the Christ".

"It's beyond words... I thought I was going to cry but it was also beyond tears..." said Patricia Seaton who was among the small audience.

"I'm really convinced Christ died to save this world," she declared after seeing the film....

Those who attended the first screening yesterday praised the film for what they said was its honest portrayal of the crucifixion, which was graphically recreated in several detailed scenes that are not for the faint of heart.

In what was perhaps the bloodiest scene of the film, Jesus, who is played by actor Jim Caviezel, is whipped by Roman soldiers who literally rip the flesh off his back. They then turn him over and bloodthirstily start again.

"I couldn't watch it," said one man who took time off from his job to see the film with his wife.

"I think that picture really showed exactly what Jesus had to go through... and if people take it into consideration they will have to change... I had to come out and repent. I had to come out three, four times to repent," he told Stabroek News.
...
Pastors Wayne Joseph and Bertlyn St. Hill appreciated the film for its honest portrayal and lack of subtlety.

"That is actually what happened... This is close to what actually took place... It's not violence, it's what he had to go through," St. Hill told Stabroek News at the end of the premiere.

Joseph thought the portrayal was powerful and, more importantly, accurate, according to the testaments of the Holy Bible. He defended the depiction of the violence in the film, which he said is more historically accurate than some of the false concepts that have been peddled in other movies.

"This is something I've been longing for a long time. It has been long overdue... Jesus of Nazareth and King of Kings, those films do injustice to the crucifixion.

"What [those films] have given us is watered down versions of what occurred. This is what actually happened..." St. Hill added.

Yes, indeed. No anti-semitism here. Now, will the ADL, the NY Times and Frank Rich, in particular, and all those other anti-Christians, who reviewed the film, apologize to the world-wide Christian community? Whatever you do, don't hold your breath.