Mel Gibson and Christianity: Lessons learned from Mel

Part 1
I’ve been a fan of Mel for years, going back to the first Lethal Weapon. Some of my favorite movies were done by him (Braveheart, We were Soldiers, The Passion of the Christ). He is a creative, talented man, able to masterfully tell a story on film that captures my imagination and inspires me to see beyond myself. Creative genius and an ability to inspire does not necessarily equate to ethical or moral fortitude. History is filled with those who did not live out the moral or religious standard they espoused.

I was shocked and disappointed by his actions the last week. Not just that he was drunk, but that he was driving drunk. He’s a husband and father. How can one who is a husband and father willingly put the lives of others in jeopardy by his driving? And in addition to that, there are the things he is alleged to have said about Jews that were not just stupid, but outrageously bigoted and far removed from the Christian religion (Catholic) he claims as his own. (The Jews are still God’s chosen people, but to expand on that thought is for another time).

Lest you think this is yet another tirade on Mel, it’s not. In reflecting on the incident, there are three lessons that can be learned.
1. But for the grace of God go I. Jesus said, “He who is without sin can cast the first stone.” Often people use that for an excuse to sin and do whatever they want, but I’m not quoting that verse for that reason. I am acknowledging that I, though a follower of Christ, being redeemed by His sacrifice on the Cross, am still a redeemed sinner. The apostle Paul wrote about this very issue in Romans 7:
a.

Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

No, I don’t have trouble with being a drunk or a bigot, but I am no less capable of sin, and therefore no less in need of God’s grace.