Krauthammer: "Gibson's Blood Libel"

Washington Post ^ | Mar. 5, 04 | Charles Krauthammer

[churchillbuff]

Gibson's Blood Libel

By Charles Krauthammer Friday, March 5, 2004; Page A23

Every people has its story. Every people has the right to its story. And every people has a responsibility for its story. ...[snip]

Christians have their story too: the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Why is this story different from other stories? Because it is not a family affair of coreligionists. If it were, few people outside the circle of believers would be concerned about it. This particular story involves other people. With the notable exception of a few Romans, these people are Jews. And in the story, they come off rather badly.

Because of that peculiarity, the crucifixion is not just a story; it is a story with its own story -- a history of centuries of relentless, and at times savage, persecution of Jews in Christian lands. This history is what moved Vatican II, in a noble act of theological reflection, to decree in 1965 that the Passion of Christ should henceforth be understood with great care so as to unteach the lesson that had been taught for almost two millennia: that the Jews were Christ killers.

[hellinahandcart]

I guess I just don't understand the movie biz. Apparently when a film is released overseas, the producer surrenders all creative control and the distributor can slap on any old subtitles they wish. They can rewrite the whole script if they want.

At least, that is what I am led to believe here. ;D

[Outraged]

How many Christians were killed in the Holocaust?...How many Jews were residing in Germany before the Holocaust?

I ask these questions because I do not know...So inform me please.

[wardaddy]

Christ was not all about meekness at all. He was about faith and obedience to his father and the fact that the way was opened for everyone including Gentiles and a whole lot more than I need to go into here.

I don't mean to be disrepectful but a lot of folks today have saddled Christianity with simply being nice and doing good deeds yet Christ himself says that "good deeds alone are not the entrance to heaven" (paraphrased)

I defend the movie based on my own feelings after seeing it. The fact that most of the detractors are my ideological foes in the culture war is not suprising. I applaud those Jews with the cajones to stand with THEIR CHRISTIAN BRETHREN.

However, in your defense, my wife is not jewish nor a detractor.

[Al Simmons]

"But the conceivable flaming and resultant removal of my statement does not negate the possibility that 6,000,000 may be an inflated number"

In the 1950s, as acquaintance asked Adolf Eichman how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Eichman thought for a minute. "Six million", he answered.

Now crawl back into the hole you came from.

[Seeing More Clearly Now]

No one says that only Jews have suffered from genocide. Because Jews are frightened by this film because every earlier portrayal just like has wrought slaugher of Jews, and now in America can, thank God, express themselves and try to counter possible evil arising from the film, should not lead people to denounce Jews as a group. Jews are not denouncing Christians. They are warning about a film! That Armenians and Cambodians have been systematically murdered has nothing to do with this movie and what it might incite - the hated of this film would be against Jews, not Cambodians and not Armenians. I'm not aware of Jewish mass murder of Christians. Are you aware that the movie has a line that says that Jews will forever have the blood of Jesus on them and that it has a character call for the eternal punishment of the Jews and that Gibson agreed not to have the line translated in its showings in the U.S.?

[drlevy88]

We see Caiaphas shoving off other JEWISH priests who were speaking favorably of Jesus. Caiaphas clearly is putting politics before God. What part of C-O-R-R-U-P-T does Gibson have to spell out before it's sufficient?

[mercy]

See my #194. Answer?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Are you capable of holding any Jewish person responsible for their role in this event, or do you only blame Romans?

Again - Gibson gets it. You are the one who is missing the point.

Christ laid down his life willingly for my sake. For yours. For those who conspired against him, for those who condemned him, for those who whipped him, for those who nailed him to the cross.

Those doing the harm are those who insist on blaming one segment or the other of humanity for what occurred, when some Jews and some Romans were merely the backdrop for the story.

We could do without all the narcissism.

[stands2reason]

And the anger at those who don't like the movie is starting to boil down to bashing and trashing people for not being Christian or not understanding the gospel.

BS. The anger is from those tired of the Christian-bashing. You may think blaming Christians for the Holocaust is just a disagreement about a movie, but I don't.

[Outraged]

So Eichman is your gospel huh?...How many Christians were killed?

[DestroytheDemocrats]

"To blame Christians for Hitler's crimes is much more incindiary than anything I might have said."

Germany was a Christian nation with the heritage of Martin Luther. The Christians in Germany, Catholic and Protestant did not do a damn thing to try and stop Hitler. They praised him and kowtowed to him and went on as if nothing was happening because they were afraid of him. The only denomination that forcefully spoke out against him were the Jehovah's Witness and those that were really vocal were murdered. Read Paul Johnson's History of Christianity. It was disgraceful the way the Christians caved in to Hitler.

[stands2reason]

He did not.

I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you hadn't seen the film. My bad.

[drlevy88]

The count of gentiles was about a million.

[mercy]

Enough to make a guy like Krauthammer happy. I don't have any truck with the commie-rat atheists who just happen to be jewish and hate this movie.

[Sabertooth]

Not stretching even a little bit. See my # 194.

You're stretching a ton, and complaining that Gibson didn't make the film about Jesus you'd have made is the evidence of it.

There are crowds of Jews and individual Jews calling for His Crucifixion.
There are also crowds of Jews and individual Jews bewailing His fate.

Mel Gibson's own hands nailed Jesus to the Cross.

Jews who are looking for a reason to be offended here are being offended with no reason.

I understand that your wife is Jewish, and that you've seen the film with her, and it has upset her, but she is simply mistaken in reacting this way, and her reaction is unwarranted.

[LdSentinal]

So Eichman is your gospel huh?...

He was the chief architect of the "final solution" after Heydrich was assassinated.

How many Christians were killed?

They weren't targeted for extermination.

[Al Simmons]

"So Eichman is your gospel huh?...How many Christians were killed?"

Listen you teen-aged moron, my family fought the Germans - and some died fighting them. My mother watched as the Jews were being marched from Romania through the streets of Belgrade in 1944-45 back towards the death camps because the Nazis put their extermination ahead of even military objectives. People who tried to help them were beaten or even shot on the spot. This is apparently funny to you.

Millions of Christians, and secularists, and others died in WW II - about 60 million total at least.

But the Jews were the only identifiable religious (or racial, as Hitler would have it) group singled out for extermination simply because of their religion/race.

I do not care if the moderator removes this post, but you are a scumbag that I would be very glad to wipe the floor with.

[stands2reason]

How is the film more antisemitic than the Gospel account?

And why won't you answer my questions I have posted to you?

[Texasforever]

He won't last long.

[wardaddy]

How is the film more antisemitic than the Gospel account?

It's not, and that is the real issue.