Eric, re: "The beauty and significance of the story should be accessible to those people without forcing them to endure things that they wouldn't watch anyway."

That hit the nail right on the head for me. I had no more desire to watch the scourging in "Passion," than I did a graphic depiction of violence in any other movie. The fact that the actor was portraying the Christ - rather than a gangster, or a Scottish rebel or Jason's 285th victim - did not make the film violence any more palatable.

Of course, there were those who walked out of the theater with a greater understanding of what the Christ endured for us all, and I am genuinely glad for them. But no matter how fine the work of the special effects creators, I still don't I can come out of there with even an inkling of His suffering.

But that does not make me any less grateful for God's mercy, and what Jesus endured that we might all know that mercy.

My wife hasn't seen The Passion for the same reason. I hope she'll be able to see the new version, and I think you'd be edified by it as well, if they really do tone it down.

As I wrote after the first time I saw the movie, the physical pain was the least of the suffering He endured, but it's only aspect of the Passion that we can even come close to comprehending.

Personally, I don't believe Gibson is "selling out" to make money. What he's doing is far worse. He's compromising his vision and the purpose of his film to reach a larger audience. He's releasing a watered-down version lacking the visual and emotional punch of the original. That horrible, emotionally wrenching experience was the whole point of the film.

A person can intellectually know what being nailed or scourging is, but actually seeing it happen is entirely different. There's just no other way around it. It's true, a lot of people couldn't take watching it and didn't want to, either. (...except when it's a nasty accident on the side of the road. Then traffic backs up for hours because of the "curiosity factor".)

Gibson's original vision was to show everything Jesus went through as part of His suffering. That intention is what separates the violence in "The Passion" from the sort found in action and horror films. Unlike previous depictions of the Crucifixion, Gibson's was graphically realistic. It's the best depiction of what Jesus went through.

True, there are people uncomfortable with such a literal and visceral depiction. There's an easy solution for those people.

Don't watch it. If your children are too young, don't let them watch it.

It's not like Gibson's movie is the only one ever made about Jesus. There are other, much more "sanitized" films depicting the life of Jesus, films that minimize and downplay His sacrifice and focus on His message. Gibson's movie was designed to make a point about the enormity of Jesus' sacrifice. If Gibson's insistence on realism is too much for some viewers, then those viewers should avoid the film in favor of some other.

But this movie shouldn't be "dumbed down" just to fulfill the unrealistic expectations of people who want to see (sort-of, kinda) the suffering of Jesus without being affected by it in any way.

I was hoping for an Easter release of a larger, much more expanded version, a "The Passion Of The Christ Redux."

As with Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," there's a lot of footage that never made it into the first version of the film. Almost none of it is "gory". I've seen a number of images and clips of scenes that never made it into the film. From the look of it, there was a lot of character development (the very sort critics felt was lacking) that got edited out to tighten the focus almost continually on the suffering of Jesus. The inclusion of that extra footage wouldn't diminish the message of the original, though it definitely would provide a wider scope to the film.

I was also hoping for the inclusion of all the trailers, teasers, TV spots, the "Outreach CD" material, the Press Kit CD material, a photo gallery, and interviews with the actors and actresses. A movie of this importance certainly deserves a 2 CD set.

I am glad that this has been done and I may go now and see the film. Many of my readers and friends were surprised at my reluctance, but I have a very low tolerance for visual violence having had way too much exposure at a early age... Frankly, I agree with how the original was done, for this blood soaked age the Passion can be depicted in all of its bloody glory, but it was more than I could endure. My God endured His passion so I wouldnt have to, that doesnt lessen the impact.
For those that think this is a sell out or worse remember that the Word of God shall go out and it will not return void... People will be touched by the new version as well...