Hey BVS, that's totaly cool. If the film didn't work for you, that's fine. I never said anyone has to like it to be a Christian or to have a relationship with Christ. I'm glad to know you know that Christ died for you and that's enough. That's all that matters anyway!
Let me just add though that I don't need the flim (which didn't include 2 hours of torture, more like 45 minutes
) to know that Christ was tortured a lot. That's not what I'm saying. Like I said before, it simply helped me understand the sacrifice that was made for my sake.
I did a story a few years ago on a woman whose son was killed by a drunk driver, while he was being a designated driver himself. (They burried him on Christmas Eve.) She told me as gruesome as the details were, she had to know them because it helped her feel closer to her son. It helped her make sense of what happened. That's all I'm getting at. And that's just me.
In terms of the plot, it was taken right from the Bible! The story's there — he claimed to be God, the religious leaders thought this was blasphemous, he said "I am the way, the truth and the life, nobody gets to the Father, but through me," and he fortold his death, etc, etc. You know the story. Did it focus on Christ's whole life, no. That's not the point of it.
As far as accuracy, it was actually very accurate. The most accurate film of Christ to date. Yes, Gibson took creative liberties to tell the story visually, but they didn't take away from the historicity of it or what the Gospels tell us. The only part with accuracy I would bring up is that the crucifixion wasn't brutal enough according to what we know from historical texts. Lee Strobel's "Case for Christ" goes into this in detail. (Amazing book by the way.)
In the end though, I think we can agree that it's just a film. It doesn't substitute for the Gospels and in no way does it come close to how we can know Christ through prayer and the Bible and through serving him. I'm just saying it was enriching for me.
Holy crap I'm rambling tonight.
Peace