Is Mel Gibson's film passion for Jesus misplaced?

The Boston Globe ^ | 7/22/03 | Alex Beam

[Aquinasfan]

HE didn't die so we can quit thinking.

Besides being Scriptural, the idea stands to reason. You have to know, at least to some degree, that which in you're putting your faith.

[lawgirl]

This movie must be really powerful for Satan to be this worked up about it.

[Aquinasfan]

This movie must be really powerful for Satan to be this worked up about it.

Yup. You just knew it wasn't going to go over well with him.

[Captain Kennit]

Slightly off-topic, but if you haven't already, and if you have some spare time, I would urge you to pick up a copy of Patrick Buchanan's "The Death of the West". The rationale behind your comment about having a difficult recognizing the nation in which you grew up (a feeling I share) is given detailed analysis in Buchanan's book. You are not alone, and Buchanan addresses this in great detail. It will be interesting to hear Buchanan opine (and you can bet he will) on the demonization of Gibson's movie.

[VOA]

Besides being Scriptural, the idea stands to reason.

Just curious, but does this mean you're a fan or familiar with "Stand To Reason"
(www.str.org)?
(please don't be offended if you check them out...I do believe their foundational
belief would be Reform Theology...I presume an "Aquinasfan" would most
likely at least lean to Roman Catholicism.)


You have to know, at least to some degree, that which in you're putting your faith.

Well, I got that point due to a bit of inter-faith cross-pollination.
IIRC, it was from Jewish commentator Dennis Prager quoting Catholic writer
Chesterton to the effect that (my imperfect quote) that "when people stop
believing in religion, they don't believe in nothing".

Just for myself (and even more after 9-11 and learning more about Islam and some
other religions/moral-systems)...Christianity make more emotive AND intellectual sense to
me that just about anything.

[Aquinasfan]

Just curious, but does this mean you're a fan or familiar with "Stand To Reason" (www.str.org)?

I wasn't, but I think their creed is great.

(I presume an "Aquinasfan" would most likely at least lean to Roman Catholicism.)

Yup.

"when people stop believing in religion, they don't believe in nothing".

Maybe his best line.

Just for myself (and even more after 9-11 and learning more about Islam and some other religions/moral-systems)...Christianity make more emotive AND intellectual sense to me that just about anything.

You're right. And it will make greater sense to you as you learn more, because The Truth was a person, Jesus Christ. The most surprising thing that I've learned in my search for the Truth is that the truths regarding God are the most certain.

Are you familiar with Aristotelian/Thomistic thought? It's indispensible for intellectual growth.

This site is the best, most concise introduction to Thomistic thought that I've found on the web: Thomistic Philosophy.

The pages regarding Substance and Accidents, The Problem of Change, The Four Causes, Identity of Knower and Known, Body and Soul, and Essence and Existence are worth their weight in gold. Absolutely essential.

Once you understand the terminology and the philosophy, you can move on to the Summa.

The gold standard in Christian Apologetics remains The Handbook of Christian Apologetics.

[VOA]

Thaks for the website and book references.
My conservative, moderately fundamentalist (an oxymoron?) schooling didn't
dis-respect these sources of philosophy...they just devoted their study to
slightly different flavors of religious thought.

[Aquinasfan]

Scott Hahn was one of the "Christian leaders" given the opportunity to view Mel Gibson's "Passion." An exerpt of his comments:

"What Michelangelo's Pieta did for the medium of sculpture, Mel Gibson's 'The Passion' has done for the art of movie-making. It just takes it to a whole different level... This is going to grip an entire generation."

Audio link here. July 24 program. His comments begin at the 3-minute mark.

[Mr. Silverback]

Bump!

[spunkets]

" flirts with absurdity."

The Boston Globe is the realm of the absurd and Alex Beam is one of it's absurd minions. Crap is just what they love to play with.

[Mr. Silverback]

I could spend all day going to town on this clown ,but I'll keep it short.

I love where he refers to the Jesus Seminar as serious Bible scholars. They are serious Bible scholars in the same way that I, a fierce anti-communist, would be a serious Marxist-Leninist scholar if I spent my life studying the Communist Manifesto and it's effect on the world. In fact, that analogy still doesn't quite amke it, because if I studied Marx and Lenin I'd be looking for truthful information about my subject, not looking for a license to ignore all those inconvenient "Thou Shalt Nots."

People who are "Christians" for reasons unrelated to believing in a real and risen Christ who heads the church today are without a doubt the single dumbest group of people on Planet Earth. Why follow a religion if you believe that it's founders were lying when they took down historical events? How is such a "faith" a moral guide in any way? And if Beam digs Christianity for the beauty of the story, why not start a church that worships the firefighters and cops who died on 9/11? Their story is full of beauty, love and sacrifice, and nobody from the Jesus Seminar is going to tell you it's only 18% accurate.

Why would Beam never do such a thing? Because he knows that if he did follow his logic to it's conclusion (perhaps even founding something slightly less extreme, like founding "The Church of Really Cool and Beautiful Stories and Other Nice Stuff") the vast majority of humanity would look down on his foolishness with the same disdain that he has for those of us who believe in the real Christ.

[Mr. Silverback]

Whether or not Hutton Gibson is a crackpot I wouldn't know, but judging from this article, it appears that Alex Beam certainly is.

Hutton is a crackpot. However, his son has repudiated the old man's views, repudiation that the media conveniently fails to come across when doing basic due diligence research.

However, Beam is a real and true idiot. Hutton Gibson may be an anti-Semite, but at least he doesn't go to church to knowingly worship a man who never existed, who founded a church built on a foundation of lies. Beam believes that's what Christianity is, yet he pats himself on the back for spending time every Sunday participating in such bilge. Christ is real and risen, Beam's brain is small or fictional.

[Mr. Silverback]

I can't even imagine the outrage if there would be a Mohammed Seminar...

Heh-heh! There actually was, this past spring. Two big differences from the Jesus Seminar, though:

1. It was just me.

2. I was looking at the facts, something the Jesus Seminar never let get in their way.

If you want a copy of the paper, freepmail me your email address.

[johnb838]

[johnb838]

We're 8 months before the movie's release and there's an article a day somewhere trashing the movie

I know! And it's got me wishing they'd release it early. Now I've GOT to see this movie.

[johnb838]

The author literally knows nothing about the faith.

Unfortunately, he's probably Episcopalian _{like me :(}