[Eala]

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[eskimo]

Is Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" really anti-Semitic?

Why doesn't someone poll all the Semites and get an accurate opinion?

[Pukin Dog]

I saw the movie yesterday.

The Antisemitism was totally overblown. If anything, the movie was more sympathetic to the Jews than the Bible.

What we are witnessing in the media, from all these detractors is a GUILT SPASM. It is out there, and they don't want to deal with it. They especially don't want what we saw in The Passion affirming our values.

They are afraid that we might just decide to do something about our faith, instead of letting secularism run loose on this nation. We might over time destroy them with our votes.

[Theresawithanh]

I haven't seen the film yet, but people I trust who saw it said it was not antisemitic.

However, to throw in something I find interesting, apparently Mel Gibson's father is on the record as being a so-called holocaust denier, and supposedly, Mel Gibson won't refute his father's views. Anybody else pick this up?

[thoughtomator]

This Jew agrees with you on all counts. I think the movie is actually philosemitic.

[spyone]

Thanks for your thoughtful post!

[Yaelle]

You should see if you can fax this over to Rabbi Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Tolerance in Los Angeles. I like the way you broke the movie down to show where a true antisemite would have made his points. I think he might appreciate it.

In my semitic opinion, Mel was going for accuracy and effect upon the hearts of his fellow Christians and nothing else.

[WKB]

Peter Speaking to the Jews said this:

Acts 3:12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
Acts 3:14 you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
Acts 3:15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

[Urbane_Guerilla]

Great report.

I have looked forward to this movie so much. I am going to wait until dvd.

It is extremely distressing that folks like Krauthammer deem the movie anti-semitic, but even wonderful commentators like Krauthammer can have their idiosyncratic take on things.

It just does not make sense to me, someone who has been closely following this movie for a year, that day by day the movie would gets reviews of being a profoundly moving masterpiece by so many people who are utterly aware of the controversy involved. How can so many people come out of the movie expressing awe at the deep connection the movie made with their most finely attuned sense of humanity? Because they hate Jews? Because they are clueless rubes?

I don't think so.

I am looking at the reviews without having seen the movie. The reviews such as this one strike me as being the more natural, the more considered, the more plausible reviews.

The reviews by Krauthammer, Sullivan, the guy at Powerline -- all of whom I respect and admire -- strike me as having an ax to grind.

The reviews of this movie are fascinating, very telling. But not in a good way ... in a way which is unsettling. Someone is wrong ... very wrong, and wrong in a way which is not good for America, or for anyone who does not want to live under sharia.

This is more than a question of religious belief ... it goes to something deeper and more alarming.

[onyx]

Thought yall might want to read Eala's review.

[ultima ratio]

The only logical interpretation of this movie is that Gibson wanted to indict all of humanity for the death of Jesus. This is why he has an assortment of good and bad Jews in his film. This is why he has Satan tell Jesus it would be too much to bear if he were to suffer for the sins of all humanity. The atonement of Christ for our sins, in fact, is the theological underpinning for all that follows--that Jesus is taking the sins of ALL--and is the only way to make sense of the action. It is why Gibson has his own hand hold the nail about to be pounded into the palm of Jesus. It is why at the pieta he has Mary look into the camera, as if accusing all of us for her son's death. Reading the film as anti-Semitic is inconsistent with its theme and would contradict Gibson's whole purpose in making the film.

[My Dog Likes Me]

I am SO tired of this discussion.

Was the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora," anti-Japanese??

geezzz.

[Liz]

Raquel Welch----yes that Raquel---did an amazing interview on Fox's O'Reilly. Surprisingly, Welch proved to be an articulate, highly intelligent commentator.

Welch said that---despite the stings and barbs of secular Hollywood---many many artists admire Mel and his work.

Welch asserted her respect for Mel and the Passion film and said she had been brought up with values which secular Hollywood tried to destroy. She was apparently not comfortable making some of the films they forced her into.

I recall one article describing her start in Hollywood accompanied by her young child, how frightening it was for her when horny Hollyweirdos used to stalk her.

[sauropod]

Excellent analysis.

[MissAmericanPie]

Gibson bent over backwards to make sure the movie isn't anti-semitic. I assume you missed the part where the henchmen of the priests were rousting their paid mob out of bed in the middle of the night to condemn Jesus and giving the group leaders money to pass out.

Kind of like the demonrats passing out cigarettes and filling their buses with homeless voters.

[tame]

"Is Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' anti-semitic?'" is the wrong question as I pointed out in THIS ARTICLE which someone pulled and placed in the "smokey room" for a reason I cannot comprehend.

[joesnuffy]

Could just be a 'reaction formation' to the collective guilt they feel....But have no reason to feel......

God went to the cross willingly...and if Jesus had not been rejected by the those who rejected him...then He couldnt have come to the Gentiles they way He did....

You cannot nail God to a cross without his express willingness and approval...anyone who believes that Jesus is God...cannot believe that at any time He wanted out...He could have opted out easily...

His followers and many other reliable witnesses saw Jesus ..heal the sick...give the blind their sight...heal lepers...and raise the dead...Jesus is God....and as such...could unmake every living thing on this planet with less effort than a blink of an eye...He could remake every human being into a perfect being...so why does He suffer us...?

The Heavingly dynamics of such a thing are way beyond any man's comprehension...

There is no 'collective guilt'....other than sin.....and ALL HAVE SINNED......and all are in need of a Savior...and the only one who meets the critera of that savior...is Jesus Christ....

It wasnt nails that kept him on that cross and it sure as heck wasnt Jews or Romans either...
It was love...cant be any other explanation....He layed down His life...that He might take it up again...and that who believes in Him might have everlasting life with him...

Born once ..die twice....Born twice...die once...

[elephantlips]

The concept of history, at least to the best degree we know it to have been, being pro or anti, is ludicrous. History is what it is. As long as The Passion makes an attempt to portray history as reported in the Bible, it is more neutral than anything else. Humans can only do so much in trying to be objective and barring any obvious efforts to "slant" the retelling of the story and allowing for visual adaptations, The Passion goes a long way to remaining true to that story. History, in and of itself, is totally objective. Its retelling carries with it the level of objectivity the reteller exhibits. In the case of The Passion, there are literally billions of books available for nearly any human to examine for accuracy in Mr. Gibson's adaptation.

[Eala]

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[ahadams2]

Anglican Freeper movie review Ping.