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/
Mennonites are truly a God loving; people loving precious people.
Not that they have arrived in all respects, by any means!
Individuals are susceptible to greater error of self-delusion. The Church serves as checks and balances. We don't know why some people recognized Christ and others didn't. The Reformed will tell you because God said so. Then it has nothing to do with individuals or groups, does it?
Well gents..... it's high time I get to bed.... it's almost 2am my time and I've gotta see the CG tomorrow bright an early!
The word used is actually charisma. If anything, undeserved mercy is a closer translation. As such, I am not sure it is unconditional. God pardons us, but with a caveat.
While I did not find the two words "free gift" together so much, I did find the word "gift" all over the place in the Douay-Rheims, and in the correct context. For example:
Eph. 2:8 : 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; ... DR
So, if gift means free gift, and I think we agree that it does, then how could this be an invention of the KJV?
There is a vast difference between reformers who thought (wrongly IMHO) that Mary was pure than those who venerate before statues of her in public places and would like to see her picture at every bus stop. One would hope people could tell the difference.
I'm 15 minutes from there
Sorry Dear Brother ,this is just the TRUTH
NO! A thousand times NO! That is most definitely NOT the TRUTH.
Many popes, cardinals, bishops and others wholesale violated Scripture right and left in MANY centuries to the bloody abuse and obliteration of many saints.
I'm shocked anyone would assert such nonsense in the face of such history. Mind boggling.
Absolutely right!
But not all who claim to be 'saved' are saved. In His Church, not all are equal. Some are apostles, some are prophets and teachers, etc. The Bible says that Satan sometimes appears as the Angel of Light. We have no guarantee that what we believe we believe is truly what is true. Self-test is no test.
God bless you Captain, take care
Try Ramstein, there are over 20,000 Americans there, I'm certain there are plenty of priests.
"Whoever wants his kids to "learn" that junk should pay for it himself."
Hear hear!
We homeschool our precious little ones.
Sola Scriptura is merely a method of discerning the truth by using scripture as the final authority.
This "final" part is not in the scripture, so it is a superstition: belief in an supernatural quality of a object contrary to logic or divine revelation. Most certainly the scripture is an authority, and that is how I use it extensively on this thread. The final authority on the interpretation of the scripture belongs to the Church.
No it belongs to the Holy Spirit. People, fallible people make up the church. You in effect, worship yourselves.
I am fine with that. The knowledge of Christ crucified is the knowledge of the saints, the hermits and the martyrs. The issue I have is in the superstitious belief that all the knowledge of Christ is contained in the scripture.
Amen.
OK. It's been enlightening as always.
Good night gentlemen and may God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ bless YOU ALL. Thank you again.
Aaron
God bless you for that.
The redundancy is the invention of the KJV. A gift is only a gift if it is free, even Dr. E agrees with me on that one (miracle!). :)
There is no NEED to specify it as 'free' as it would imply that there is such a thing as non-free gift. Verbosity comes to mind.
But either way, the word used in Greek is "charisma." If that's what God inspired the Apostles to use, then we should not change them, should we?
Yeah, you should get some sleep, it's awful late over there.
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