[Imal]

It is important to remember that Jews who honor the Torah (I'll call them "Jews", but there are many Jews who do not) cannot accept the idea that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God or part of a trinity and effectively God himself. To do so would be to renounce the teachings of the Torah and to violate the First Commandment. There are tremendous and insurmountable disagreements between the Torah and all of those things. Arguments which assume Jesus is the Messiah are meaningless to Jews.

A key point that seems to be lost in this discussion is the fact that Jews do not accept the Gospels as being historically accurate or sacred and inviolate. Rather they are viewed, with significant historical justification, as slanderous, hurtful and dangerous to Jews. Arguments based on the Gospels as historical truth are meaningless to Jews.

But I think it is important for Jews to recognize that the Gospels are sacred to Christians, and outline the foundations of their faith. To ignore that, even in light of key conflicts between Christianity and Judaism, undermines attempts to foster mutual understanding and respect. That is wrong.

For my part, I disagree with Abe Foxman and the ADL in their approach, but that does not inspire me to defame and attack them. They have legitimate reasons for concern, as this thread and other public discussions amply demonstrate. But their concerns do not trump Mel Gibson's right to express himself freely in any way he wishes, especially where his religious beliefs are concerned.

Would Mr. Foxman and his associates stand idly by if Christians and Muslims insisted on dictating changes regarding important details of a movie about Moses and Mount Sinai if it was being made by a Jewish producer/director? I think not, and I would not want them to. But the hypocrisy of going after Mel Gibson in light of such a thing should be obvious to anyone, regardless of faith.

I hope Mel Gibson will present the movie he wants to present, free of external tampering and pure to his vision.

I hope Abe Foxman and the ADL will come to recognize the fallacy of attacking the religious beliefs of others, even those which may be seen as hurtful, while seeking to defend Jews and Judaism. Such an approach ultimately will put Jews at odds with everyone else, and is not consistent with long-established Jewish tolerance for the non-violent religious practices of Gentiles. Disagreement need not mean conflict.

I also hope that those who call themselves Christians while indulging in the spread of lies, hatred and evil (you know who you are) will stop to consider who such endeavors really serve, and remember that such roads unfailingly lead away from God. If you truly embrace the teachings of Jesus, then live by them.

[missyme]

One of the biggest problems I see is that this is not a debate on TORAH vs. Jesus Christ or TORAH vs. Judiasm. The attackers on Christianity are not coming from an Orthodox view they are not true to the commandments of G-d by what is written in TORAH this is a secular attack that is why it is so infuriating.

A sincere religious debate would be with individuals highly educated in TORAH, ancient writings, biblical texts, and archaelogical findings is one thing but that isn't part of this paticular problem...

There is things within both faiths that are missing, I do believe that the early Christians of whom were Jews never intended for some of there doctine to be mis-used by the Christian Church, I also believe that some of the Jews missed the gospel message of Jesus do to arrogance and complacency within ancient Judea. The world was just in turbulent times back as it is now.. Men still have hardened hearts that is still alive and well in 2004.

I would object to any movie made about MOSES, ABRAHAM, NOAH if it was not from the TANAKH, I do not beleive we should be blasphemous when making a movie about G-d's Holy Bible that's what was so offensive about "The Last Temptation of Christ" No one has a right to dispute the GOSPELS unless it is G-d himself.

If the Christians believe a big lie as some claim it's not in there job description (Human Being) to tell us it's wrong. it's G-d's job and from my knowledge he hasn't given his job away.