by Michael P. Carroll
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/
LOL.
True.
I enjoy Biblical Numerics too. It's really fascinating how they play out in the Bible. Just another confirmation of it being Divinely Inspired. Another point here is that those 7 (spiritual perfection) churches were laid out in a circle on a map, representing the world.
last i checked there's no problem insulting outright the teachings of othe 'faiths', nor is clinging strong to the words written in the Bible as opposed to assertions like 'probably'.
well good thing we ain't all judging eachother then.
It appears that the most fitting response is
GTTM
That is a fascinating comparison, GC. Thank you for posting it. Let those with ears to hear and eyes to see know the truth.
INDEED. The servant is not about his Master.
Nor, I'd think, is the servant's mother above her Master. LOL.
Which was scandalous for a list of reasons! LOL.
You mean she wasn't drying His feet with her hair THROUGH a hat or doily?
What horror!
indeed, she must have been quite busy pondering how to take Christians and convince them that condoms, abortion, gay sex, and war were perfectly Christian activities.
Kawaii:
Apostasy is complete rejection of Christian belief. Heresy is teaching false doctrine as if it were Christian doctrine. It is not apostasy. Repeating what someone's pastor said is usually not heresy but mere ignorance. Schism is lack of ecclesial unity. It is not at all heresy.
Gamecock:
The offer stands. I am here to answer questions, and have been for near 10,000 posts.
all as in many not every.
= = =
I think I'm getting confused.
I thought we were supposed to get all fussed up about precision in wording.
Must have missed another memo.
Thanks to both of you. Interestingly I am being accused of starting flame wars by some camps.
I have asked them to show me where I am misrepresenting any group, but doubt I'll get an answer....
good point. though it seems that our 'baptist' gay bus driving pals in the pic i posted would still fit the bill of heretics not apostates, and i should have said in as much as protestants are heretics (as opposed to saying they're apostates)
Or perfection, but good find Ping-Pong!
Actually, folks are welcome to assault my beliefs and Biblical interpretations 24/7.
God is my judge and protector. I'm quite up for the fray.
However, there's a decidedly certain bent hereon toward assaulting Protesties and making it significantly over the line of personal or very nearly so with great venom.
If Protesties post things 1/100th that assaultive, then the others run SCREAMING, wailing to the RM.
That's not very impressive to a lot of the Protesties, I know.
I doubt it even thrills the RM that much.
Some reasonable amount of vigorous back and forth and forceful, even fierce wording is somewhat understandable, reasonable and even often fitting . . .
but the dripping venom; the self-righteous lofty assaultive judgmentalism COUPLED WITH A FIERCELY THIN SKINNED DOUBLE STANDARD [which on the one hand judges and sentences all Protesties to aposticism, satan's work . . . and on the other wails at anything above pablum criticizing their own camp]
frankly stinks.
Let me introduce the concept of
A STRAW DOG.
The rest of us hereon are pretty good at recognizing
STRAW DOGS.
This
STRAW DOG
is getting so old, tattered, smelly and worthless, perhaps the rest of us just need to 100% ignore all mention of the silly thing.
dog.
wolf.
coincidence?
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