Photo from "The Passion"

CNN ^ | 2/24/04 | Icon Productions

[Robert Teesdale]

I can't wait to see the film. Anyone who thinks that being put to death by the Romans was a clean, well-groomed exercise in peaceful passing to the next world, is an absolute idiot.

I suspect that people who complain that the movie is too violent, are somewhat ignorant of the facts of life. I want to ask them, what do you think you'd look like after a few hours of scourging and crucifixion?

[FormerLib]

Bring back the public gallows and watch the crime rate instantly drop.

If only it were that easy. I remember reading how the public spectacle of a pickpocket being hanged was one of the most likely places to find pickpockets plying their trade.

It is the certainty, not the severity, of punishment that deters crime.

[ElisabethInCincy]

Im going to the movie sunday , and i guess with all the former jesus movies in my mind this will be a shocker AND THE REAL DEAL.

[Jaded]

But if the person being crucified lived too long the legs were broken to expedite things.

[airborne]

A friend of mine saw an early private screening of the movie. He told me that he was sppechless for some time afterwards, and that saying the rosaries would never be the same for him. He highly recommended it to me.

[Johnny Gage]

Can Free Republic get any SLOWER?

I wonder if it's all the newbies posting useless vanities all day today.

[beckysueb]

He died fast because He had fulfilled Gods plan and God saw no reason to let him suffer any longer. When he said My God my GOd why hast thou forsaken me, God let him die. As I recall, it was highly unusual for Him to die so fast. That in itself was part of the miracle. Also they usually broke their legs to hasten death and it was foretold in the Old Testament that his bones would not be broken. And they weren't. Praise His Holy Name.

[elbucko]

Anyone who thinks that being put to death by the Romans was a clean, well-groomed exercise in peaceful passing to the next world,..........

...will understand from where the inspiration came that compelled the Founding Fathers to prohibit "Cruel and Unusual Punishment".

[marty60]

What gets me is that ole Bill Oreally thinks it;s just tooooviolent for him. I wish Mel had said. Well Bill Crucifixion IS violent,bloody and cruel. But of course the PC version would have not a drop of blood

[concerned about politics]

They must not have seen Saving Private Ryan then

Yeh. That half a body being dragged to safety makes Gibson look like a softy.

Let's not even talk about "The Chainsaw Massacre."

[Robert Teesdale]

Really good point.

[theFIRMbss]

> I want to ask them, what do you think you'd look like after a few hours of scourging and crucifixion?

If life seems jolly rotten,      *
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle. That's the thing.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistling]
Always look on the right side of life,
[whistling]

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow.
So,...

Always look on the bright side of death,
[whistling]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
[whistling]

Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke. It's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And...

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistling] . . .

------------------------------------------------------------------
* And for the people
who want to wallow in the
grief and blood and pain,

remember "Gospel"
means good news and Jesus said
we should be happy:

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, "I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, "I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe."

[John 14:27-29]

[elbucko]

....multi-religious empire that spanned from Scotland to the Danube to the Sahara.

I beg your pardon, the Romans never subjugated the Scots.

[DestroytheDemocrats]

"And if people choose not to see violence it's their right as well."

Thanks for that. I am not going to see this movie. Violence I can sort of handle. Shoot somebody, stab somebody, it's quick. But 100 minutes of watching torture? Uh uh, can't watch it. I hope the movie is a success though.

[KantianBurke]

Centurion: You know the penalty laid down by Roman law for harboring a known criminal?
Matthias: No.
Centurion: Crucifixion!
Matthias: Oh.
Centurion: Nasty, eh?
Matthias: Could be worse.
Centurion: What you mean "Could be worse"?
Matthias: Well, you could be stabbed.
Centurion: Stabbed? Takes a second. Crucifixion lasts hours. It's a slow, horrible death.
Matthias: Well, at least it gets you out in the open air.
Centurion: You're weird!

[EggsAckley]

THANK YOU for the Python lyrics! That has to be one of the funniest, most irreverant scenes in the history of film.

[Spok]

"I suspect that people who complain that the movie is too violent,"

...have never heard of Quentin Tarantino, or they only approve of violence when it's gratuitous and totally pointless.

[Modernman]

I beg your pardon, the Romans never subjugated the Scots.

Parts of it, they did. In any event, the Scots certainly would have been better off as part of the Empire than as dirty painted savages.

[savedbygrace]

Capital punishment is not a deterrent; it's an eliminator. It eliminates crime by eliminating the criminal.

[eastsider]

In any event, the Scots certainly would have been better off as part of the Empire than as dirty painted savages.

Stop inciting violence against the Scots!!! </sarcasm>

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

&***I beg your pardon, the Romans never subjugated the Scots.***

What was it Gibbon(Fall of the Roman Empire) said about the reason Rome didn't want Scotland? I seem to forget.