Posted on 03/10/2004 2:42:00 PM PST by ambrose
Some Jews are having "delusions of grandeur" in thinking THEY are responsible for Jesus' crucifixion because in reality WE ALL ARE...ALL PEOPLE, not just Jews!
Well, no. Cal Thomas mentions in passing that Frank Rich was at the performance, and his significance is as a drama critic. As a political columnist, Frank Rich is the worst of the worst, and he is to be mentioned only to be condemned.
I too dispute that "the jews" (and "the romans") killed Jesus. Some Jews, and some Romans. Not "the".
This is always the sticking point I have with Passion detractors. They can't seem to tell the difference between "some" and "the".
And I happen to know he and Cal Thomas are friends. They are both theater junkies. Cal Thomas wrote glowingly of a book on theater that Frank Rich wrote years ago.
That's the thing about grown-ups. They can respectfully disagree on some things, still be friends, and not hurl invective at each other like so many schoolyard brats.
And the persecution of innocent English has resonated ever since, great point.
(ducking out for cover now)
Typical.
This guy is a "writer" of 14 books, but he doesn't understand the meaning of words.
Conservatives "ability to protest" has not been compromised at all, especially severely. The point he may be trying to make, wrong as it is, is that their credibility to protest that has been compromised.
Schumley's writing skills have been severely compromised.
Good advice...for Frank Rich. Have you read any of his collumns attacking this movie, those involved and those who support it personally going back a year and a half?
I can link you to Frank Rich collumns if you were unaware of the infantile meltdown this writer has published for the world to see.
The use of the word 'authentic' is a dead give-away - that's one of the favorite words of the marxist left.
Nothing bad has happened, despite the hysterically hyperbolic predictions of Foxman and crew. Nothing bad will happen, notwithstanding hypocritically pious sanctimony like Boteach's. Nobody's going to pay any more attention to any of these bunch of losers.
Clearly Jews who feel hurt do not accept the truth of that. Manifestly, no Jew accepts the divinity of Christ, that he died for ALL our sins. Without that interpretation, The Passion of the Christ is nothing more nor less than the old charge of deicide. Jews have been persecuted and died as a result of Jew-hatred and/or the deicide charge.
Jews, who do not subscribe to the divinity of Christ, and who have a long history of being the victims of pogroms and persecutions, view this movie differently from those of us who understand Jesus as a blood scarifice for all mankind. It is not out of malice, but simply from their different view of history.
Christians viewing this movie cannot understand why Jews don't understand that we view the people in Jerusalem as an emblem for all mankind, and that Christ took our place in order to save us from our sins.
Both sides need to make an honest attempt to understand the other side. When Mona Charen and Charles Krauthammer, who have been loyal allies in the cultural and political wars, are trashed because of their opinions on this movie, those of us who are Christians need to stop and ask WHY they have that opinion.
And people like Charen and Krauthammer need to ask themselves why many of their loyal readers love this movie.
It is obvious to me that the Jewish community carries fears handed down from generations of persecution. It is also obvious that those of us in the Christian community don't understand Jewish thinking on this.
Rather than getting into a full-blown war with our friends, I think we should each make an effort to explain our differences and our similarities, and also attempt to maintain respect and civility. Calm discussion will do more to assuage fears of the Jewish community than attacks. And calm discussion from the Jewish community will do more to make friendship with Christians than attacks on the movie.
1. Christian conservatives whose ability to protest violence in Hollywood films has now been severely compromised.No, for any number of reasons. I will give one practical (and not particularly worthy), and one logical.
On the practical level, if Christian conservatives do protest violence in Hollywood films in the future, they (we) will be accused of hypocrisy.
So what else is new? That is always what we are accused of. Dog bites man, film at 11.
And the logical reason- Christian conservatives have always spoken out about gratuitous violence. Violence depicted as cool, or fun. The glorification of abhorrent behavior. The Passion does not depict violence as cool. Or fun. Or admirable. It depicts it as man's fall.
2. Mel Gibson, who emerges as a talented fanatic at best and a full-blown loon at worst.And the millions who have gone to see his work are fanatics and full blown loons? While part of me wants to say there is no way that so large a proportion of America are nuts, part of me remembers that a large proportion of America thinks Al Gore would have made a fine President.
3. Jewish conservatives, many of whom now feel alienated from their Christian colleagues and are wondering who are their authentic allies.I'll admit, having read Krauthammer, Masons, Charen, Frum and a few others, that they probably do think this way. The question is, should they? They warned about the antisemitism and where it would lead. Where is the evidence? Where is the vandalism, the violence against Jews, anything? If there has been any, it hasn't been above what there normally (and tragically) is.
Jewish conservatives feared the worst of their Christian allies. They should be realizing that they underestimated us.
4. Jews for Jesus.There was no coherent argument made for this one, and as such I can provide no defense.
5. The Christian faith. The biggest loser of all, tragically, is the Christian religion, which is now portrayed as a religion of blood, gore, and death rather than of blessing, love, and life.I wish the writer would make up his mind. I thought the film was antisemitic because it portrayed Jews as bloodthirsty. In reality it shows the Christian religion to be bloodthirsty? Who knew?
OK, here's my list of losers.
1. Anti-Christian bigots.
End of list.
Words of wisdom
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