'It Is as It Was' (Peggy Noonan on the Pope's Viewing of "The Passion)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/17/2003 | Peggy Noonan

[Pyro7480]

'It Is as It Was'

Mel Gibson's "The Passion" gets a thumbs-up from the pope.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003 1:06 p.m.

Here's some happy news this Christmas season, an unexpected gift for those who have seen and admired Mel Gibson's controversial movie, "The Passion," and wish to support it. The film has a new admirer, and he is a person of some influence. He is in fact the head of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church.

[A.A. Cunningham]

More revisionism and yes, you are wrong again. You need to quit swallowing everything Jack Chick writes. Even the English Douay-Rheims predates the abridged and heavily edited KJV.

[diamond6]

This coming from a man who is rumored to be a mystic"

Really! What kind of mystic?

[SuziQ]

Our daughter saw a preview for it last week. She said it was very powerful!

[cgk]

Thanks!

Peggy bump!

[Ant_biter]

"Put your trust in a man on earth and you will be decieved."

Matthew 10:41 "Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man's reward."

Do you trust the ministers of your church? Please do not forget that you yourself is also a "man" with limited knowledge. Just trust yourself and the bible alone is quite an arrogant and egotistic attitude and certainly is not the bible's message. Even Peter, Paul, Barnabas argued and came to a better understand of God's will.

Besides, if you do not trust others, how do you expect others to trust you?

[Aquinasfan]

Sorry to tell ya, but the KJV is not an abbreviated version.

Let me put it to you this way. How do you know which books belong in the Bible and which don't? By what authority?

[Aquinasfan]

That's because the Latin Vulgate was the only "bible" the middle-century-dark-ages-catholic-church would allow the public to have, and most couldn't even afford or understand it.

In the years prior to the invention of the printing press, monks toiled night and day to produce by hand as many Bibles as possible. Nevertheless, Bibles were scarce. A complete Bible cost the equivalent of three years' wages or around $100k today. Generally, people were illiterate. Why? Because there was nothing to read. At $100k a whack, books were being thrown around like manhole covers.

That's why churches were adorned with stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible. It was for the time a "high tech" solution to the problem of educating the illiterate.

There's an old canard about Bibles being chained to the pulpits of Catholic Churches, supposedly because the Church wanted to keep the Bible out of the hands of the masses. The truth is, churches couldn't afford to replace $100k Bibles very often.

The invention of the printing press made Luther's (previously unknown) doctrine of "The Bible Alone" practically possible. The printing press was invented in 1440, about eighty years before Luther invented his unbiblical doctrine of "the Bible alone."

Interestingly, the inventor of the printing press, Johan Gutenberg, was a Catholic. The first book that came off of his press? The Bible.

[GirlShortstop]

BUMP

Thanks to VisualOps for the graphic.

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S

[Aquinasfan]

What the hell does "It is as it was" mean? That the movie captures the historical and spiritual significance of the passion?

One logical possibility.

How does anybody know THAT, if in fact that is what it means?

If you take the statement literally, then the pope must have received a private revelation from God.

A third possibility is that the pope is speaking figuratively, basing his judgement on his knowledge of Scripture, Tradition and private revelations given to canonized saints.

[Skooz]

Enthusiastic endorsements from the Pope and Billy Graham. Not bad, Mel.

I cannot wait to 1) see the movie and 2) buy the DVD.

[fish hawk]

You nailed my tag line.

[fish hawk]

Boy do you "generalize", "no catholic thinks...." and "catholics read the whole bible..."

Evidently you don't know most catholics. They are just like most Baptist and most what-ever-else. There are the good the bad and the ugly. By the way, at a little baptist church I used to go to, one of the nuns used to come to our bible study. She said she just wasn't getting fed over at the Catholic church.

[RottiBiz]

"It is as it was."

A profound endorsement by Pope John Paul II.

I am so happy that Mel Gibson's courage to make this movie and his dedication to scripture have resulted in "The Passion" receiving the seal of approval from the highest authority in the Catholic Church.

I usually just rent videos, but this DVD I will buy.

Thanks for the ping, Pokey. Peggy was eloquent, as always.

[pctech]

Why does everyone always equate these statements with Jack Chick??? Has anyone ever heard of John Ankerberg, David Hunt, Avro Manhattan, among others??? Jack Chick isn't the only one who know about the errors of the catholic church.

[pctech]

And besides, I know of a dominican priest who confirmed the stories of the inquisitions to me. If even their priests confirms this, what does that say for the catholic church???

[sasafras]

Oh come on - are you really as ignorant as you sound? Do I consider the pastor of my church the "holy father"? Not! He is a person, a man, who is esteemed but not worshiped like a god. Do you catholics really believe that a priest or the pope serves as God's incarnate on earth - to pardon your sins and forgive your tresspasses from others? Where in the bible does it give these powers to a priest or the pope? Forgiveness of sins comes straight from Jesus not a priest. Oh and one other point - where in the bible does it say that you should pray to "saints" or the virgin Mary? It seems that Catholics have lost the idea of who the savior is and are caught up in the Catholic reliance on relics, religious routines, and folklore.

Mt7:15-23
Lk6:43-45

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them...Many will say to me on that day 'Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!'

[Gritty]

I'm not a Catholic, but am pleased the Pope gave his opinion on the movie. His positive opinion carries a lot of weight with a lot of people.

Mel Gibson is also a Catholic. He is perfectly capable of rendering Biblical truth, just as is the Pope.

The Bible speaks the Truth for itself if it is faithfully portrayed, and apparently it is in this instance.

[A.A. Cunningham]

I'll bet you quote Richard McBrien and Helen Prejean, too. Lots of CINOs running around out there masquerading as priests and members of religious orders. Even talker Sean Hannity, a self professed authority on Catholicism, knows little about the Catholic faith. You are oh for two.

[Urbane_Guerilla]

The bottom line being ... Noonan is absurd. She is always absurd. She has latched onto conservatism and developed a ridiculous tone in her banal expositions of what is conservative. The most incredible writers out there are conservative ... but Noonan is not one of them.

[Bob J]

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