Posted on 12/24/2025 7:42:46 AM PST by Ciaphas Cain
This week marks the 70th anniversary of the release of "Good Will to Men", directed by none other than William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who went on to create The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and a lot of other classic cartoons.
"Good Will to Men" is basically a remake of the much darker (and hard to find) 1939 short "Peace on Earth".
Thankfully, we are no longer under such dire threat of nuclear annihilation as audiences were in the Fifties. But I thought this was worth sharing all the same. Its themes are more timely than ever before.
"Love thy neighbor."
Click here to watch "Good Will to Men"
“no longer under such dire threat of nuclear annihilation”
Under what metrics is this measured?
Here’s the Douay English translation of St. Jerome’s late 4th century Latin Vulgate:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.”
Luke 2:14
So: The verse is not “Good will to men” or similar.
Just let them rape you, I always say. Let them in every day and no more war.
I shouod make a hippy song with that.
I saw that on a black-and-white TV about 66 years ago. For some reason, probably copyright, the complete original version from 1939 is not available on Youtube.
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Our Authorized Version gives the wrong impression here. The angels did not say, “on earth peace, good will toward men.” What they actually said was, “peace to men of good will,” or “peace among men with whom He is pleased.” ..........
J Vernon McGee
Folks,
There is a nugget to think about. Reading the whole Bible, Vernon makes more sense and many other scholars agree with him.
Here is the rest of Vernon’s comments:
The angels did not make the asinine statement that many men make today which goes, “Let’s have peace, peace, peace.” My friend, “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked” (Isa_48:22). We live in a day when we need to beat our plowshares into swords—not the other way around. We live in a wicked world. We live in a Satan-dominated world, and therefore there is no peace. There is, however, peace to men of good will. If you are one of those who has come to Christ and taken him as Savior, you can know this peace of God. Rom_5:1 states: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When Christ came the first time, this is the kind of peace He brought. At His second coming He will come as the Prince of Peace; at that time He will put down unrighteousness and rebellion in the world. He will establish peace on the earth. But until He comes again, there will be no peace on this earth.
There is a lot of irony here. Church mice surviving to tell a story. They are the weak and usually the first to go. The lines in this cartoon are rich with double meaning — you go to war and hurt yourself, as the walking stick breaks in two, of the mouse that is speaking. Some people back then might claim this is a propaganda film by the communists to get the West to surrender under the guise that war and killing are wrong. I think Hollywood had a lot of communists back then, too. So this is a tangled web of a cartoon that shows one side — the pacifist side — and all violent sides are wrong. The other side, the non-pacifist side, may not necessarily be wrong, but here that question is not addressed. Perhaps the cartoon is pointing to the pain, ugliness, and misery of war as a damn shame. And it is a shame became we are not always men of peace and good will. That seems to be the best and simplest answer.
Thanks for the link, but waaaay too noir for my tastes.
>> So: The verse is not “Good will to men” or similar.
[Luk 2:14 NLT] “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
>> Some people back then might claim this is a propaganda film by the communists to get the West to surrender under the guise that war and killing are wrong.
It did cross my mind that it might be a typical leftist humanist “fake pacifism” propaganda piece. Did you notice that the music is a Christmas carol that left out any mention of Christ?
Myself, I believe in peace through overwhelming strength, and an America that is strong in Christ, understanding that our blessings are from GOD and to be used responsibly, not for gratification of our greed and lust but rather to spread the Gospel of Christ to all the world.
>>”There is, however, peace to men of good will. If you are one of those who has come to Christ and taken him as Savior, you can know this peace of God.”
Good stuff. Thank you. Also:
“Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” Romans 12: 17,18 (NLT)
The Greatest Generation, being predominately practicing Christians, for the most part prosecuted that “Just War” we call WWII with Romans 12 in mind. “As much as was in them...”
FRegards
That’s for sure a better translation than “good will towards men”.
The Linus Soliloquy has it’s charm though.
Can we get an AI update on the soundtrack of the Peanuts Christmas Special, to edit out the error?
>> The Linus Soliloquy has it’s charm though. Can we get an AI update on the soundtrack of the Peanuts Christmas Special, to edit out the error?
Heh... nah, we can thank GOD that Charles Schulz jawboned the secular studio into including the Linus Soliloquy and leave it at that for now!
FRegards & Blessings
You’re right that there is no mention of Christ. Not even a visual of a cross that I can remember. I agree with the peace through strength. It makes sense. All the best!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.