Buddy Christ

Jesus Christ, the lord and savior in the Christian faith(as well as other faiths) is holy figure in which people reside to in times of helplessness, pain, confusion, etc. He’s the closest connection to God and a man who lived, suffered, and died for our sins. Sent by God and with the utmost care he traveled in his time, revealing the teachings of God to society. He healed and loved not only those close to him, but strangers he came across during him journey. Sending Jesus Christ down to earth, allowing him to be painfully crucified for all of society’s sins was a symbol of God’s love for the people he created. Many Christians hold him to be the only way through to God. To worship and please Jesus Christ is to worship and please the almighty God.

After this brief over view on Jesus’ historical reputation, I wouldn’t be surprised if people were offended by the Buddy Christ introduced in the movie. Just the name Buddy Christ is insulting, as Jesus Christ does not hold up the reputation of a friend or buddy, but as a savior, Son of God, messiah, etc. By revealing this version of Jesus, winking with a “thumbs up” completely contradicts the way Jesus was meant to be remembered. His posture is far from his last image seen on earth, crucified on the cross. To promote a Jesus smiling, winking, and putting a thumbs up is fallible and can be hurtful to many people who see Christ as a sacred image, not an image up for alteration. It mocks everything they believe Jesus Christ to be. The initial thought to create such an image of Jesus Christ shows how weak and empty their church is and how they will go to desperate measures during desperate times. They are promoting false ideas to those who may not know anything at all. Saying that Jesus is a friendly figure leaves out what Jesus had done for the good of human society and converts the truth about why Jesus should be honored. It conveys the message that the church needs to persuade people to conform to the religion by drastically altering its most sacred figures.

In the movie, his original crucified image was retired for the new, modern, and “up lifting” image of Jesus. This was done so by the Cardinal in the movie as a part of a new movement called “Catholicism wow”. The cardinal saw Jesus’ original image as too depressing, so depressing that people wouldn’t want to conform. With such an act done by a cardinal it puts shame to way of thinking and shows he is not worthy of his position. The fact that he had to power to destroy such a divine character in religion provides the assumption that he as the power to do so. To be able to change that part of history requires a lot of power, more than which a Cardinal upholds.

I am offended by the Buddy Christ, as is does contradict everything I believe Jesus to representative of, but it is just a movie and I wouldn’t go to extremes to get my point across. I’m sure many people, especially those of the Christian faith, feel the same way I do. Since the movie, the directors have received hate mail and recently after the movie was released bobble head Buddy Christ’s and costumes were sold in the market.