Of all the shocking, sickening topics we shed light on here, pagans flagrantly blaspheming the One who made them and died for their sins is one that gets my blood absolutely boiling.
According to Breitbart, Netflix released The Last Hangover last December, retelling the story of the Last Supper as a night of drunken debauchery reminiscent of the movie The Hangover, during which Jesus disappears.
This year, Netflix is back with another original short film for Christmas called “The First Temptation of Christ,” which reimagines Jesus’ life and ministry on Earth with one major change: he’s a homosexual, and his “boyfriend” is Lucifer.
That’s right, the One who not only created men and women and designed the so-called “gender binary” but also pointed back to God’s design for sexuality when questioned by the Pharisees in Matthew 19, is a homosexual in these people’s sick imaginations. Anything for shock value, right? SMH.
“Jesus, who’s hitting the big 3-0, brings a surprise guest to meet the family,” Netflix says in a brief description of the 46-minute feature. “A Christmas special so wrong, it must be from comedians Porta dos Fundos.”
Feminist blog The Mary Sue gives a plot synopsis:
The movie isn’t really a “movie,” it’s a cheaply made comedy special by Brazilian group Porta dos Fundos (literally “the backdoor) and it’s called “The First Temptation of Christ.” It has production values a bit above a Saturday Night Live skit. It’s 45 minutes long and revolves around Jesus showing up for a surprise 30th birthday party with a new “friend” by the name of Orlando.
Orlando is a gay caricature that’s very dated, but I’m not sure what the humor is in Brazil and what their standards are for what’s offensive in regards to this topic. And the whole 45-minute special is meant to be offensive to everyone. Its main storyline is about Mary and Joseph telling Jesus that Joseph isn’t his dad and “Uncle Vittorio,” who is actually God, is. The holy family swears, Jesus gets super-stoned to deal with the stress of being a God and has a vision where he talks to other religious figures like Shiva, Buddha …as Rastafarian and an Alien (there’s a good Scientology joke there). And yes, Allah is there too, but they don’t show him.
As an aside, it’s very telling that Netflix didn’t want to step on any Muslim toes by depicting Allah, an act considered blasphemous in Islam and those who have dared to do so have often caused everything from full-scale riots to acts of terrorism.
Meanwhile, they have no problem totally ignoring the deeply-held beliefs of some members of the Christian and Jewish communities who believe it is blasphemous to depict the God of the Bible.
Can you even imagine the backlash if they’d made a “gay Muhammad” comedy special during Ramadan?
The Mary Sue continues:
It’s funny that Christians have chosen to be offended at the implication that Jesus comes home with a boyfriend—who he really doesn’t want his family to meet—because there are a lot of things to be offended by in this special aside from that. And there are even things that are offensive to gay people because the big twist is that Jesus’s boyfriend Orlando is … actually Lucifer. Ooof.
Right. That’s what’s offensive about this film.
Netflix has crossed every possible threshold to offend its Christian subscribers—the few that remain, anyway—and all for a cheap laugh.
As low-budget and obscure as the film is, it has sparked a massive backlash. As of this writing, over one-and-a-half million people have signed a petition calling for Netflix to pull the offensive film.
While Breitbart’s John Nolte says he personally wouldn’t sign the petition and that Christians need to grow a thicker skin (more on that in a moment), he does point out that Netflix’ treatment of Christians, in particular, reveals their bigotry:
If you’re a satirist, you satirize everyone equally.
If you’re a bigot, you single certain groups out for mockery and place others off limits.
In this way, lazy, cowardly garbage like The First Temptation of Christ is useful — it exposes who the bigots are, and if this so-called comedy troupe wants to produce a “Gay Mohammed” special for Ramadan and Netflix wants to stream it, I will take it all back.
Nolte’s solid point about bigotry notwithstanding, he misses one crucial fact: God is real, and He will not be mocked. Christians surely need thicker skin as he suggests, but that is to better empower us to boldly profess God’s righteousness.
These people laugh and spit in the face of the precious Lamb slain for sin, and yet we must not forget His mighty power to save the vilest and most wretched of sinners. The more they mock us and our God, the more we must be all the more emboldened to share the Gospel in this dark world.
Either way, God’s righteous judgment will be poured out on all blasphemers who do not forsake their sins and call upon Christ’s holy name.
When our society so openly rejects and despises Him, how long can we expect His restraint?
This article was first published on the Activist Mommy website, and is republished with permission. You may not use, copy, distribute, publish, syndicate, sub-license and transmit the whole or any part of such material in any manner and in any format and/or media without the permission of the original publishers.
