Posted on 12/29/2010 7:50:37 PM PST by Coleus
THE BBC has angered Christians with a TV drama in which the Virgin Mary is branded a prostitute and sex cheat. In The Nativity, written by EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan, 15-year-old Mary is attacked by people who do not believe her claim that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph accuses her of “whoring” and even suggests that her pregnancy might have been the result of rape.
The Church of England has described the four-part drama, which goes out before the 9pm watershed from tomorrow, as “a gritty interpretation”. But Stephen Green, of the ministry Christian Voice, said: “There is no justification for any of this in the gospels. They do say Joseph was suspicious, but that was it. “It doesn’t suggest any physical or verbal abuse. “It’s typical of the fertile imagination you need for something like EastEnders.
“The kids that do nativity plays in school will be perplexed that someone has come up with this revisionist, puerile idea. “The BBC can’t help themselves. Three quarters of our population are Christian. At the BBC, this proportion is reversed. “You have a huge proportion of militant, liberal atheists who are keen to dump on Christianity.
“They wouldn’t mock the birth of Muhammad , or anything to do with his life story. They wouldn’t ridicule Hinduism or Sikhism, but Christianity is their big target.” Defending the drama, Mr Jordan, 52, said: “The story is told using modern language and the characters have modern attitudes. “Personally, I believe in the immaculate conception but I think it’s perfectly understandable if people struggle with the concept. I think the questions asked in our drama are the kind that any man watching a prime-time TV drama in 2010 would quite reasonably ask.
“I think it perfectly believable that Joseph should get angry with his betrothed and only agree to take her with him to Bethlehem when she risks being stoned by angry neighbours. “If my own wife came to me and said: ‘Tony, I’m having a baby which isn’t yours but, don’t worry, I was visited by the Angel Gabriel and it’s actually God’s baby,’ I think I would feel more than a little miffed.”
“Don’t forget that those who wrote the gospels were doing so from a distance of 200 years. I am doing the same thing – interpreting an event that took place a long time ago – and I don’t see why my version of the story shouldn’t be valid, too.” Actress Tatiana Maslany, 25, who plays Mary, said: “If you took the names Mary and Joseph out, it could be a story about any two people in love.
“It isn’t so much about the belief in God, but the belief in enduring love, in love that can hold people together even in the most difficult circumstances.” Garrow’s Law star Andrew Buchan, who plays Joseph, said: “Joseph is a real man in our story. He’s like a guy in 2010 who goes away and comes back to find his wife or girlfriend pregnant.
“Of course he’s going to think she has slept with another guy and challenge her.” A Church of England spokesman said: “Tony Jordan’s adaptation presents a gritty interpretation of the events of the first Christmas. “We hope it will bring home the story of Jesus being born in a humble stable to many new viewers.”
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The way to properly deal with the BBC is simply don't watch. They will go away just like media in the United States.
“Don’t forget that those who wrote the gospels were doing so from a distance of 200 years.
I always understood the synoptic gospels were written much earlier with Mark about 45 (Year of our Lord) and Matthew and Luke at about 60 (Anno Domini). Now this means lots of friends and neighbors were still extant.
John (my personal favorite) took more investigative reporting, although I suspect John was a better reporter than anyone hired by the BBC. Anyway, John published his story at about 90, so many of his sources were still first hand.
Simply not a fact. In fact, a bold telling of a big lie that absolutely violates the truth that the gospels were the in-their-lifetime record of the Apostles and/or their amanuensis.
Why in the word is it considered "daring" to denigrate those who will not strike back at you?
Next, we'll hear them applauding their courage for taking advantage of little kids. They, too, can't strike back.
Actress Tatiana Maslany, 25, who plays Mary, said: “If you took the names Mary and Joseph out, it could be a story about any two people in love.Just goes to show you how abysmally stupid the average "actress" is.
The critical date is 49 AD, since Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome (Christian and non-Christian Jews) at that date. John Mark was a Jew so he hardly stayed behind if Peter was expelled at this time. The earliest time for their return was after Claudius died in 54 AD. Apparently the Gospel of Mark is from this period and very likely written in Rome, or at least for Jewish-diaspora Latin speakers since it has so many Latinisms in the text; and was very probably sourced from Pater, for whom Mark acted as scribe.
I am by no means an expert on these details. It's just what I've read.
Just goes to show, without God, they’re lost. If they didn’t have him to attack, what would they do?
They prove his existence more stridently than any timid, ‘I wouldn’t want to insult ________, ‘All ways are the same’, no one will go to hell, fellow Christian brothers and sisters.
The old Talmudic hatred is the only thing being ‘updated’ here.
These asinine words by a church leader, no less, is pathetic on so many levels. Weak, spineless, foppish, fearful and scarcely a statement delivered by a bible-believing Defender of the Faith.
No wonder the Church of England is losing membership head-over-heels. So much so that if present trends continue, by 2050, attendees at Sunday services is predicted to be approximately 88,000.....NATIONWIDE!
And if the Church's timorous leaders had been doing their jobs, the fact that Jesus was born in a humble stable should not be touted as a brand new revelation "brought home" to "new BBC viewers" watching this blasphemous program.
Good grief! Are there no more St. George's left in Christendom?
Leni
The guy misspelled it. That "gr" should be sh.
Somebody (or several somebodies) at BBC should be fired.
Mohamed married his 7 year old girlfriend so, of course it's not OK to call him a pedophile.
Oh, that’s exciting. I didn’t know there were any New Testament texts, even fragmentary ones at Qumran. I was citing the date for the oldest complete manuscripts.
Mousing around a bit, I found this explanation in Wikipedia(Link) (which is no authority either!) which says that the fragment, which is only about the size of a postage stamp and has less than 20 legible letters on it, only "might" be from Mark, and only "might" be that early.
Of course, discoverer Thiede argues otherwise; there are pro's and con's elsewhere on the Internet; and controversy will never cease!
Nice catch on your part. I think that that is exactly what this blithering idiot is referring to. The conception of our Lord is not referred to as the “Immaculate Conception”. I don’t even think that that term was used by the Church until after the miracle at Lourdes for crying out loud!
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