Posted on 12/04/2006 7:52:47 PM PST by Pyro7480
'The Nativity Story' Movie Problematic for Catholics, "Unsuitable" for Young Children
By John-Henry Westen
NEW YORK, December 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A review of New Line Cinema's The Nativity story by Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the United States, points out that the film, which opened December 1, misinterprets scripture from a Catholic perspective.
While Fr. Geiger admits that he found the film is "in general, to be a pious and reverential presentation of the Christmas mystery." He adds however, that "not only does the movie get the Virgin Birth wrong, it thoroughly Protestantizes its portrayal of Our Lady."
In Isaiah 7:14 the Bible predicts the coming of the Messiah saying: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." Fr. Geiger, in an video blog post, explains that the Catholic Church has taught for over 2000 years that the referenced Scripture showed that Mary would not only conceive the child miraculously, but would give birth to the child miraculously - keeping her physical virginity intact during the birth.
The film, he suggests, in portraying a natural, painful birth of Christ, thus denies the truth of the virginal and miraculous birth of Christ, which, he notes, the Fathers of the Church compared to light passing through glass without breaking it. Fr. Geiger quoted the fourth century St. Augustine on the matter saying. "That same power which brought the body of the young man through closed doors, brought the body of the infant forth from the inviolate womb of the mother."
Fr. Geiger contrasts The Nativity Story with The Passion of the Christ, noting that with the latter, Catholics and Protestants could agree to support it. He suggests, however, that the latter is "a virtual coup against Catholic Mariology".
The characterization of Mary further debases her as Fr. Geiger relates in his review. "Mary in The Nativity lacks depth and stature, and becomes the subject of a treatment on teenage psychology."
Beyond the non-miraculous birth, the biggest let-down for Catholics comes from Director Catherine Hardwicke's own words. Hardwicke explains her rationale in an interview: "We wanted her [Mary] to feel accessible to a young teenager, so she wouldn't seem so far away from their life that it had no meaning for them. I wanted them to see Mary as a girl, as a teenager at first, not perfectly pious from the very first moment. So you see Mary going through stuff with her parents where they say, 'You're going to marry this guy, and these are the rules you have to follow.' Her father is telling her that she's not to have sex with Joseph for a year-and Joseph is standing right there."
Comments Fr. Geiger, "it is rather disconcerting to see Our Blessed Mother portrayed with 'attitude;' asserting herself in a rather anachronistic rebellion against an arranged marriage, choosing her words carefully with her parents, and posing meaningful silences toward those who do not understand her."
Fr. Geiger adds that the film also contains "an overly graphic scene of St. Elizabeth giving birth," which is "just not suitable, in my opinion, for young children to view."
Despite its flaws Fr. Geiger, after viewing the film, also has some good things to say about it. "Today, one must commend any sincere attempt to put Christ back into Christmas, and this film is certainly one of them," he says. "The Nativity Story in no way compares to the masterpiece which is The Passion of the Christ, but it is at least sincere, untainted by cynicism, and a worthy effort by Hollywood to end the prejudice against Christianity in the public square."
And, in addition to a good portrait of St. Joseph, the film offers "at least one cinematic and spiritual triumph" in portraying the Visitation of Mary to St. Elizabeth. "Although the Magnificat is relegated to a kind of epilogue at the movie's end, the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is otherwise faithful to the scriptures and quite poignant. In a separate scene, the two women experience the concurrent movement of their children in utero and share deeply in each other's joy. I can't think of another piece of celluloid that illustrates the dignity of the unborn child better than this."
See Fr. Geiger's full review here:
http://airmaria.com/
"HarleyD, that is a beautiful Bible you are carrying.
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
If you give me that Bible I will let you choose between Door #1 and Door #2
Johnny, tell Harley D what is behind ONE of those doors...
Harley D. Just imagine the look of love in your wife's eyes and the look of envy in your neighbor's eye when you come driving down your street in ..
A NEW POPEMOBILE
Harley...it gets MORE THAN EIGHT MILES A GALLON AND YOUR DEER HUNTING BUDDIES CAN GET DRUNK AND FIRE THEIR RIFLES AT IT AND THEY WON'T EVEN PUT A DENT IN THE WHEEL-WELLS.....
(And then Johnny goes on with the commercial for Catholicism :)
Aleichem shalom.
Bear with me, I'm not getting this? Is a different way of looking at theosis sanctification?
What are divine uncreated energies?
Well, had it been a Reformation or Geneva Study Bible I would have gone for it. :O)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, uarrels, dissensions, sects, Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
*That is what the 16th century protestant revolutionaries have wrought. Soley the works of the flesh - such as their Sacrifice-Free services. Innumerable attacks against orthopraxis and innumerable denominations and endless quarrels over what Scripture means.
But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity.
*Do you see anything there saying the Holy Spirit will be given to every individual reading Scripture so their private interpretation will be truthful? I don't.
Perhaps that is why we are witnessing first one protestant disagreeing with another over the meaning of scripture and each of them disagreeing with the third protestant and on and on and on. Yet ALL claim to read Holy Writ guided by the Holy Spirit. That makes the Holy Spirit the Source of disunity, disagreement and denominations. It makes the Holy Spirit Satan
I'm also having a might bit of trouble seeing how the fruit of the Holy Spirit applies to Luther...
I gotta jet for awhile....
Martin Luther March 3, 1519 writes this to Pope Leo X.. "Before God and all his creatures, I bear testimony that I neither did desire, nor do desire to touch or by intrigue to undermine the authority of the Roman Church and that of your holiness"
Martin Luther March 13, 1519) he writes this..."I am at a loss to know whether the pope be antichrist or his apostle"
**Tell me that those two letters, written so close together (TEN DAYS), do not reveal an absolute lunatic who can't decide whether it is day or night -
I'm sure he (Luther) went through some trying times.
I'm also having a might bit of trouble seeing how the fruit of the Holy Spirit applies to Luther ...
I'm having a bit of trouble seeing how the fruit of the Holy Spirit applies to Alexander ...
OK, I suppose it is one possible interpretation: that the totality of the discourse and especially the part about ascending to heaven where He had been before, that compelled them to leave. But you have to admit that the only thing they questioned openly was the Real Presence, which they understood as a suggestion of cannibalism, and also that Christ did nothing to explain it in symbolic terms and instead reiterated the physicality of the eating, to the point of "gnawing".
Christ's suffering is what we go through. Hence the Crucifixion. "We preach Christ crucified".
Mary shows obedience and grace. She is a role model. You do not have to pray to her. Do you go to art museums?
But I would not object to strict Protestant art. It was, for example, a disgrace that they removed the Ten Commandments monument and only a lawyerly meneuver saved the Mount Soledad Cross.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven
Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God
Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven
Blessed are you when men reproach you and persecute you, and speaking falsely say all manner of evil against you for my sake
Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in Heaven
Everything here is in the futre. BD, unless one fits this profile he or she ain't saved. They shall not inherit the earth, they will not be satisfied, they shall not receive mercy (!) and they sahll not see God. Pretty clear and biblical.
You can believe your redemption theology of man Luther that says be sinful and muderous and God will forgive you. Beatitudes spell it out for you. It doesn't get much clearer than that.
Let us say you as a married Christian are tempted with adultery and your pastor tells you "go ahead, and sleep with her, boldly". Do you think it will be helpful to you?
Likewise many non-Christians today do not think much of sexually sinful behaviors. For example, the neopagan culture goes out of its way to teach that homosexuality is but another choice of life style. Do you think that gay propaganda is helping or hurting or is indifferent to bringing people to Christ? Who is more likely to respond to an altar call at your church, one practicing homosexuality or one used to resisting temptations?
*When the going gets weird the weird turn pro
It only makes sense when you think about it
Of course, that makes Luther more untouchable and free from criticism than Scripture,but, that IS his status amongst some who unquestioningly echo the oral traditions of the 16th century demigod.
The meaning of scripture is up for grabs. Luther? Not so much...
"the divine uncreated energies of God
Clarify, please."
The quick answer is "grace". All we can perceive of God are the results of His divine energies and generally, except for those in a very advanced state of theosis, or maybe even complete theosis, we can't perceive those uncreated energies themselves. But everything good in creation, indeed creation itself, is a manifestation of those divine energies. The essence of God is ineffable, unapproachable and not perceivable for man. One of the Fathers likened them to the rays of the sun which a blind man cannot see but senses because of the heat they generate. Orthodoxy believes that these energies are an attribute of or a sort of "emination" from God and as such are of necessity uncreated. Roman Catholicism, generally holds, or at least did, that these energies, grace if you will, are creations of God. This has certain implications for an understanding of the sacraments. At any rate, it is with these uncreated divine energies that we come into perfect union with when we reach a state of theosis. This theology is generally best presented by the writings of certain of the Cappadocian Fathers, +Symeon the New Theologian and, of course, +Gregory Palamas. Here's what Palamas wrote:
"Three realities pertain to God: essence, energy, and the triad of divine hypostases. As we have seen, those privileged to be united to God so as to become one spirit with Him - as St. Paul said, 'He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with Him' (I Cor. 6:17) - are not united to God with respect to His essence, since all theologians testify that with respect to His essence God suffers no participation.
Moreover, the hypostatic union is fulfilled only in the case of the Logos, the God-man.
Thus those privileged to attain union with God are united to Him with respect to His energy; and the 'spirit', according to which they who cleave to God are one with Him, is called the uncreated energy of the Holy Spirit, but not the essence of God"
"The grace of deification thus transcends nature, virtue and knowledge, and `all these things are inferior to it.' Every virtue and imitation of God on our part indeed prepares those who practice them for divine union, but the mysterious union itself is effected by grace. It is through grace that `the entire Divinity comes to dwell in fullness in those deemed worth,' and all the saints in their entire being dwell in God, receiving God in His wholeness, and gaining no other reward for their ascent to Him than "God Himself." St. Gregory Palamas
And others:
"The Son of God has become Son of Man in order to make us...sons of God, raising our race by grace to what He is Himself by nature, granting us birth from above through the grace of the Holy Spirit and leading us straightway to the kingdom of heaven, or rather, granting us this kingdom within us, in order that we should not merely be fed by the hope of entering it, but entering into full possession thereof should cry: our 'life is hid with Christ in God.'." St. Simeon the New Theologian
"It is my opinion that our intellect does not have a natural power to be moved to the divine vision of Divinity. And in this one deficiency we are the peers of all the celestial natures, for both in us and in them grace moves that which is alien by nature both to the human intellect and to the angelic. For divine vision concerning the Godhead is not to be numbered among the other kinds of divine vision. For we possess divine vision of the natures of things through participation in their twofold nature, because there is a portion of all things in us. But we do not have a portion of the nature of the Divine Essence, and so neither do we have by nature divine vision of it." +Isaac the Syrian
These energies are sometimes manifested as a sort of Light without any apparent source. The Light on Mt. Tabor is an example of this, but The Church has many stories of saints being surrounded by this Light (+Symeon the New Theologian for example, or +Mary of Egypt). The vision of the uncreated Light is a result of a life which has been spent holding tight to God, so tight that that person is taking on a great similitude to Christ, in other words, arriving at that "likeness" of God which we lost in The Fall.
"Thus the deifying gift of the Spirit is a mysterious light, and transforms into light those who receive its richness; He does not only fill them with eternal light, but grants them a knowledge and a life appropriate to God. Thus, as St. Maximus teaches, St. Paul lived no longer a created life, but "the eternal life of Him Who indwelt him." Similarly, the prophets contemplated the future as if it were the present." St. Gregory Palamas
"Can a man take fire into his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?' (Prov. 6:27) says the wise Solomon. And I say: can he, who has in his heart the Divine fire of the Holy Spirit burning naked, not be set on fire, not shine and glitter and not take on the radiance of the Deity in the degree of his purification and penetration by fire? For penetration by fire follows upon purification of the heart, and again purification of the heart follows upon penetration by fire, that is, inasmuch as the heart is purified, so it receives Divine grace, and again inasmuch as it receives grace, so it is purified. When this is completed (that is, purification of heart and acquisition of grace have attained their fullness and perfection), through grace a man becomes wholly a god." St. Simeon the New Theologian
"He as God of all gave strength to me, weak as a mortal, as He said: 'Hold out your hand and I shall give you strength.' For how would I have had the power unless the very thing happened which He said would take place? How would I have had the ability to baptize the abyss, Since I am mortal, Had I not first received and claimed power from on high? For I realize now that He is standing by me That I am greater than I was formerly. I am something different, I am changed, glorified, As I behold and baptize The unapproachable Light." St Romanos the Melodist
"Bear with me, I'm not getting this? Is a different way of looking at theosis sanctification?"
Some of the terms you folks use confuse me! :) I doubt theosis is the samething as what you call theosis. Theosis, we believe, is our original created purpose, the result of which is perfect union with the uncreated energies of God. In other words, it don't get no better in this world or the next.
"What are divine uncreated energies?"
See my post #4056 to Blogger.
I find it fascinating that there is an idea out there that Christ, when preaching the Beatitudes, meant the people in front of Him. I guess I had never ever thought that. For Holy Orthodoxy, the Beatitudes are nearly the ultimate didactic sermon. In Slavic Orthodox Churches, as Kosta will testify, the Beatitudes are chanted as the Gospel is carried in procession around the nave early on in the Divine Liturgy in what is called the Little Entrance.
The Fathers greatly admired the Beatitudes and wrote extensively on them. Here are three examples, the first from the Cappadocian Father +Gregory of Nyssa and the next two from, you guessed it, +Gregory Palamas.
'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' Now I know that in many passages of the Divine Scripture holy men call the Divine Power merciful; as does David in the Psalms, Jonas in his prophecy, and the great Moses frequently in the Law. If, therefore, the term 'merciful' is suited to God, what else does the Word invite you to become but God, since you ought to model yourself on the property of the Godhead? For if the Divinely inspired Scripture calls God merciful, and if the Divinity is truly blessed, then it should be clear how the following is to be understood. It means that if a man is merciful, he is deemed worthy of the Divine Beatitude, because he has attained to that which characterized the Divine Nature."
After first calling blessed those who gain imperishable wealth because of their poverty in spirit, God, Who alone is blessed, next make those who grieve partakers of His own blessedness, saying, `Blessed are those who grieve, for they will be consoled' (Mt. 5:4). Why did Christ thus join grief to poverty? Because it always coexists with it. But while sorrow over worldly poverty induces the soul's death, grief over poverty embraced in God's name induces the `saving repentance that `saving repentance that is not to be regretted' (2Cor. 7:10). The first kind of poverty, being unsought, is followed by unwished-for grief; the second, being freely embraced, is followed by grief freely embraced. Because the grief here called blessed is linked with the poverty embraced in God's name, necessarily issuing from it and depending on it as its cause, it too possesses a spiritual and voluntary character."
"For this reason the Lord calls blessed those who are opposed to worldly possessions, saying: `Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Why to the words, `Blessed are the poor,' does He add, `in spirit'? So that by this would be shown that He considers blessedness to be the humility of the soul. Why did He not say, blessed are the poor-spirited - and thus would be demonstrated the humility of thinking - but rather He says, `poor in spirit'? By this He wants to teach us that bodily poverty is also a blessedness, in that through this one can receive the kingdom of heaven, when it is done for the sake of the humility of the soul. This is the case when bodily poverty is united with the humility of the soul and when it is for the person the principle of the humility of the soul. Having called blessed `those poor in spirit,' He demonstrated in a wonderful way what are the root and cause of the visible poverty of the saints - that is, their spirit."
" Of course, that makes Luther more untouchable and free from criticism than Scripture,but, that IS his status amongst some who unquestioningly echo the oral traditions of the 16th century demigod.
The meaning of scripture is up for grabs. Luther? Not so much..."
And yet the irony of it all is that in its traditional and conservative manifestations, Lutheranism shows many similarities to both Orthodoxy and the Latin Church...light years more so than other Protestant groups. Perhaps this is because at least arguably, some parts of Lutheranism likely qualify as part of The Church in a way which, to my knowledge, no other Protestant group does or could.
"Taste and See..."
I quoted the Psalm, HD, because the Psalmist is asking his listeners to "experience" God. I know you've already taken a look at Orthodoxy so, frankly, I wasn't suggesting you take another look. You've made your decision for reasons sufficient to you and I guarantee I have no problem with that. If you were sitting here I'd just offer you another piece of baklava and leave it at that! :)
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