5,000 pastors cheer Mel Gibson's 'Passion'

Washington Times ^ | 1/22/04 | Julia Duin

[FormerLib]

...and he used his Roman citizenship to his benefit, too, to avoid being scourged.

Didn't they then beat him with rods? I always believed that he asserted his citizenship not to escape the punishment but to affirm the fact that he was a Roman.

[FormerLib]

Where would Christ have learned Greek?

From the Hellenized Jews that were all around him.

Jerusalem would have been the only place where Greek was spoken fluently.

Huh?

[DallasMike]

Actually, there are two Popes in Alexandria at present; the Pope of the Coptic Church and the Orthodox Christian Patriarch of Alexandria (also known as the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria).

You're right and I should have caught that glaring error because the Pope of the Coptic Church visited the church just 2 blocks from where my brother lives in Houston a couple of years ago. He said that the traffic jam there was tremendous.

[cyncooper]

Perhaps that was her gentle way of asking you to cease disseminating deceit regarding the movie and, I note, about Gibson himself.

I know, you'll claim you possess the "truth" and everybody else is wrong. Doesn't make it so.

[Wallace T.]

You could be right about the Roman captain learning some Aramaic. However, I understand that Nazareth was something of a trade crossroads in Galilee, so it is possible that Jesus was exposed to Greek through the traveling merchants. Since Jesus and his stepfather, Joseph, were carpenters, they may well have traded with these merchants for repairs of carts, axles, wheels, etc. Additionally, since Jesus was able to converse intelligently with the teachers at the Temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12 (Luke 2:46), he certainly would have had the mental capacity to learn Greek.

However, this is just guesswork. Jesus' message during His lifetime was directed to the Jews primarily. You could therefore argue that He would have needed only Aramaic and Hebrew.

[Gumdrop]

The film is NOT based on the private revelations to the mystic, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. Her book, The Dolorous Passion of Jesus Christ, was the inspiration for Mel to make the movie. In other words, Mel completed his conversion to a truliy Christian life and a personal relationship to his Savior, Jesus Christ after reading this book. However, the film is reputably based entirely upon the four gospels.

[Dubya]

bump

[Destro]

What I meant is just as in Islam where they do such scourging the number of whacks is prescribed-10 whacks for this offense - 20 for that offense, etc. It was logical to assume the order came to scourge Jesus with a set number of hits. Of course the Romans in mocking him may have went beyond that. I concede the point that the Romans may have gone beyond that. They did mock him with a crown of thorns.

[Destro]

It is ridiculous for you to think otherwise.

[Eva]

I guess Destro is one of the aliases for John Galt, note the tag line. I know he posts under about four names, but I never remember what they are.

[Destro]

Greek was spoken in Judea several centuries before the birth of Christ. A tradesman would have had to have know Greek-especially if he and his family lived in Egypt.

[traumer]

I cannot wait. Usually I try to see the matinee - but this time I may pay the whole price.

[Ciexyz]

Go Mel go! My friends and I are planning to see this film.

To the leftie pregressive church fringe who initially panned it: Nanny nanny boo boo, the film will be a success in spite of all of you.

[Ciexyz]

Greek was the lingua franca of the Roman world at the time of Jesus. It was the language of trade and the marketplace. Aramaic was the language Jesus would have used to converse with his disciples, the people, and presumably the Jewish religious officials.

I'd be interested to see how the film uses the Latin language. Why wouldn't the Romans use Latin among themselves and in their legal dealings?

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Wow, you really know the Assemblies of God (the Denomination of the host church and of many participants), don't you? There is nothing "anti-Papist" about my denomination at all. Yes, we oppose a dead gospel that unfortunately dwells within many churches of every creed and doctrine, but to say we are "anti-Papists" is flat out wrong.

Sowing division is not contructive nor Christian.

[ZULU]

Since Pilot apparently didn't KNOW what Christ did which inflamed the crowd, we don't really know what happened.
To Pilot, they were all just a bunch of trouible-making foreigners he couldn't understand with a weird religion and odd God. But I see your point.

Pilot recently had his wrists slapped by the Central Government in Rome for causing some kind of problem vis-a-vis his new charges. Whatever he did, certain leading Jews with connections in Rome ratted on him to the Emperor. COnsequently, whatever the issue was, Pilot was extremely reluctant to do ANYTHING which might lead to futher disturbances in Jerusalem and result in his tranfer to an even less appealing place, if such existed. I believe he ended his days as governor of Noricum at Vienna, probably the Roman equivalent of Viet Nam in the 1960s.

[Destro]

anti-Papist means you are against the concept of the Pope. Sorry if the term sounds harsh. Protestants are not for the Pope or into Catholic mysticisim, or did I miss something?

[Ciexyz]

I still remember, with a considerable amount of disgust, how Hollywood pushed "Last Temptation of Christ" down the public's throat and then maligned those who criticized it as right-wingers attempting to stifle free speech. They attacked Pat Robertson and insisted that the protestors were bigots and "how can they attack this movie when they haven't even seen it?"

Hollywood hasn't come out with a venerable and sympathetic portrait of Jesus Christ since the Max Von Sydow film of the mid-60's. (TV did a credible version in 1977 with Robert Powell as Christ and Olivia Hussey as the Virgin Mary.)

[Destro]

I am just saying the scourging as shown is so intense that it it seems more severe then the crucifiction itself which is actually more of a torture then being scourged but is not as visual. It is a minor complaint and one of taste based on how I remember the history of such things. This is not a hill I am willing to die on and will readily admit I may be innacurate about this point. I am not really slamming Mel's movie-the net makes word sound harsher then they would be if spoken. I have not seen the movie. I will see the movie. I hope it is as accurate to history as I would like it to be or as I would have made it if I had Mel's talent and money.

[ZULU]

On what basis do you claim that Greek was the "Lingua Franca" of the Roman Empire?? Latin was. The ruling class was Roman and the Romans spoke Latin and they made every effort to assure that subject people knew that language. All official documents were written in Latin - everywhere.

In some instances, as in the eastern part of the Empire, some official documents, like the inscription over Christ on the Cross, may have been written in Greek, but that inscription was also written in Latin and Hebrew or Aramaic - I can't remember which.

Probably, as an educated Roman, Pilot also spoke Greek, but I doubt his soldiers did. As I said, commands in the Roman Army were given in Latin, the men understood it, the officers understood it, even though they may have also understood their native Language like Thracian, Gaulish, or Celt-Iberian.

The educated Jews may have known Greek and Latin as well as Aramaic and Hebrew, but I doubt of the average Jew knew anything but Aramaic and possibly Hebrew.