If you only go to the movies to be entertained, don't go see "The Passion of the Christ."

But if you want to experience an artistic achievement beyond any scale you could imagine, you must see "The Passion of the Christ."

If you only go to the movies to forget about the important issues of life, to allow your mind to "veg" out, or to escape reality ? definitely avoid "The Passion" at all costs.

But if you've ever wondered what life is truly about; if, in the darkness of the night you have ever been awakened with worry, or sadness, or emptiness; if you have ever wanted to know or understand truth, you must see "The Passion."

If you doubt Christianity because you have known "Christians" who fail, or who have distorted the message to their own advantage, "The Passion" will reveal for you the pure truth and message of Jesus.

This movie about the last hours of Jesus' life is for anyone brave enough to come face-to-face with the reality of their own sin, for anyone who is hurting from a pain they cannot describe, for anyone who is looking for meaning in life.

Last week I had the opportunity to view a screening of what I believe is the most powerful use of film in the history of the industry. I sat with some 5,000 other people in near complete silence as we became part of the arrest, "trial," beatings, and crucifixion of Jesus. We were not entertained. We did not laugh. We did not leave relaxed. When the film was over, 5,000 people filed out of an auditorium in virtual silence. Only a few low voices could be heard rumbling here and there among the crowd as some struggled to break the awkward quiet.

"The Passion" is powerful ? it is reality. It is brutal and graphic because the beatings and crucifixion Jesus suffered were brutal and graphic.

In watching the scene where Jesus is flogged unmercifully, I found myself wanting it to end. "OK, I've seen enough of this," I thought, "let's move on to something else." But the flogging scene didn't end quickly ? it continued on as if I had been there for all of the terror of the real event. It was then I realized that for Jesus, the horror and agony didn't end quickly ? so why should it end quickly for me as a mere observer? Continued...