Dear David,

I think you are wrong to suggest that an actor portraying
Jesus in a movie is a sin. The commandment clearly forbids
establishing false gods whether fashioned with one's
imagination or one taken from the likeness of a created
creature. Please note the three wrongs involved in idol
worship:

1. fashioning a false god
2. rendering worship to an image portraying a false god
3. serving the image protraying a false god

An actor portraying Jesus does not meet the criteria.

Note that the commandments quoted below do not prohibit
fashioning a likeness in the image of the true God. Perhaps
there are other texts that prohibit just that.

Man himself was created in the "image" of God by God. God
clothed His Son with that "man" image. Gibson's actor is
limited to portraying a man and nothing more. He is not an
idol to be rendered worship and service.

  Moe


---- scripture ----

And God spoke all these words, saying, I am Jehovah your
God, who has brought you out from the land of Egypt, from
the house of bondage. You shall not have any other gods
before Me. You shall not make a graven image for yourself,
or any likeness in the heavens above, or in the earth
beneath, or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow
to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your
God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on
sons, on the third and on the fourth generation, to those
that hate Me;
(Exo 20:1-5)

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make a
graven image for you, any likeness of anything in the
heavens above, or in the earth beneath, and in the waters
from under the earth. You shall not bow yourself to them nor
serve them, for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons, and on the third,
and on the fourth generation of those that hate Me,
(Deu 5:7-9)