"The Passion" (Mel Gibson)

[Reba]

Michael is now UNsavaged?

[Symphony]

I had read an article not too long ago that said this movie might ruin his career?? I personally don't see why

Hi, natey.   The purported "anti-Semitism".   A scene where the high priest(or others--I forget where the passage is), says, "His blood be upon us and our children" has apparently been edited, at the request of many, including one of Mel's brothers, b/c of it's  purported adminition that it was the Jews who were at fault(I see it just as humans who're at fault--I think that's Mel's view too).  

The men's smoking club he frequents in Beverly Hills apparently has snubbed him over it, even tho he has removed the "offending" sequence.

[Tibby]

Honestly, though, he is MEL GIBSON. People can stub him all they want, he is still FLITHY RICH. Go a head and boycott it, that will just give him more publicity, and get more people to want to see it.

They way I see it, he is rich and famous, why does it matter what a few back-stabbing friends and some disgruntled ethic group (that happens to ALWAYS be disgruntled) think?

If I was rich, I would be like Mel. I wouldn't care. I have God on my side, and a boatload of cash, too. I'm pull a caddyshack 2, and BUY that smoking club

[Ambassador4Christ]

Man Without a Face

This is very interesting.

Here is a true story by Paul Harvey. Pass it to anyone who you think would find it interesting and inspiring. You will be surprised who this young man turned out to be. (Do not look at the bottom of this letter until you have read it fully.)

Years ago a hardworking man took his family from New York State to Australia to take advantage of a work opportunity there. Part of this man's family was a handsome young son who had aspirations of joining the circus as a trapeze artist or an actor. This young fellow, biding his time until a circus job or even one as a stagehand came along, worked at the local shipyards which bordered on the worse section of town.

Walking home from work one evening this young man was attacked by  five thugs who wanted to rob him. Instead of just giving up his money the young fellow resisted. However they bested him easily and proceeded to beat him to a pulp.

They mashed his face with their boots, and kicked and beat his body brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead. When the police happened to find him lying in the road they assumed he was dead and called for the Morgue Wagon.

On the way to the morgue a policeman heard him gasp for air, and they immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital. When he was placed on a gurney a nurse remarked to her horror, that his young man no longer had a face. Each eye socket was smashed, his skull, legs, and arms fractured, his nose literally hanging from his face, all his teeth were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his skull.

Although his life was spared he spent over year in the hospital. When he finally left his body may have healed but his face was disgusting to look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that everyone admired.

When the young man started to look for work again he was turned down  by everyone just on account of the way he looked. One potential employer suggested to him that he join the freak show at the circus as The Man Who Had No Face. And he did this for a while. He was still rejected by everyone and no one wanted to be seen in his company. He had thoughts of suicide. This went on for five years.

One day he passed a church and sought some solace there. Entering the church he encountered a priest who had saw him sobbing while kneeling in a pew. The priest took pity on him and took him to the rectory where they talked at length. The priest was impressed with him to such a degree  that he said that he would do everything possible for him that could be done to restore his dignity and life, if the young man would promise to be = the best Catholic he could be, and trust in God's mercy to free him from his torturous life.

The young man went to Mass and communion every day, and after  thanking God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of mind and the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes. The priest, through his personal contacts was able to secure the services of the best plastic surgeon in Australia. They would be no cost to the young man, as the doctor was the priest's best friend. The doctor too was so impressed by the young man, whose outlook now on life, even though he had experienced the worse was filled with good humor and love.

The surgery was a miraculous success. All the best dental work was  also done for him. The young man became everything he promised God he would be. He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife, and many hildren, and success in an industry which would have been the furthest thing from his mind as a career if not for the goodness of God and the love of the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly.
The young man was and is:

 Mel Gibson.

His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie The Man Without A Face." He is to be admired by all of us as a God fearing man, a political conservative, and an example to all as a true man of courage. And to think I admired him before I knew any of this!

[ebia]

Here is a true story by Paul Harvey.

No it's not.  See:
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/noface.htm

Why do people never bother to check?  

[Tibby]

Hey, come on, A4C was just about to give some props to Catholic, and you have to up are mess with it

[NateyCakes]

Thanks Symphony for that

[LMarsh]

I really didn't think I could and would go to this movie in the movie theater.  I believe it is going to be a heartwrenching, personal emotional experience.  But I have decided to forgo my doubts and instead of waiting for the video.....go see it in the theater.  I believe it is a chance for us Christians to go out and support one of our own!  Lets shake Hollywood up a bit and have them think twice about what they are putting on the movie screen and television.  We DO have a voice.  Collectively we can show our strong numbers in this country.
God Bless You!
LMarsh

[Ambassador4Christ]

Here is a true story by Paul Harvey.

No it's not.  See:
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/noface.htm

Why do people never bother to check?  

NO WAY

[Ambassador4Christ]

Hey, come on, A4C was just about to give some props to Catholic, and you have to up are mess with it

ROFLOL

[Symphony]

Matt Drudge this evening on his radio program, saying that people are already planning to see the Passion again--and they haven't even seen it the first time yet.   Speculation on the movie's gross--he asked, What If--What If it breaks box office records??

A movie about Jesus' last moments, breaking all records!!??

   

Opens in two more days...

[The Crusader]

Matt Drudge this evening on his radio program, saying that people are already planning to see the Passion again--and they haven't even seen it the first time yet.   Speculation on the movie's gross--he asked, What If--What If it breaks box office records??

A movie about Jesus' last moments, breaking all records!!??

   

Opens in two more days...

And Counting...

[JudgeNot]

It's all about hating Catholics
By Barbara Simpson
Posted: February 23, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

I am furious! No, I'm livid! I've had it and I'm finally going to vent!

It's a good thing I was alone when I read the latest Catholic insult by Abe Foxman.

The steam from my ears and the sparks from my eyes would have been shocking! It's a good thing Abe wasn't there or more than his ears would have burned from my wrath.

Abe is Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Nice title. Nice perks. It gets him nice headlines and fawning media attention.

He shows up for interviews with a serious demeanor, wearing his yarmulke, and pretends to be concerned and thoughtful, fair and wise.

The truth is, he's engaged in nothing more than dirty, street fighting. It's an insult to his targets and to good Jews who allow him to speak for them!

In his role as "defender" of all things Jewish, Foxman gets warm media reception even though his words and actions lately have not only been out of order, they've been mightily insulting to another religion and one particular member of that group.

The religion is Roman Catholicism and the man is producer-writer-actor Mel Gibson. Gibson has a new movie set to open on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday, one of the holiest days of the year for Catholics.

The film is "The Passion of the Christ," a graphic and explicit portrayal of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, the last 12 hours of His life, from His trial to His death. In Catholicism, that period of time is called the "Passion" and it refers to Christ's suffering.

Gibson bases the film on the four Gospels in the Bible, using the words in the original Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles. It's not a sanitized version. It's graphic and bloody, based on what is known of that form of capital punishment. Mel Gibson admits it's brutal and says that if people don't want to see violence, don't see the movie.

Foxman's problem is that he thinks the movie will incite anti-Semitism. He objects that the words of the Bible are spoken in the film. He says it appears that Jews encouraged the killing of Jesus.

Many in the secular media voice the same accusations, most often without having seen the film. I doubt they've read the Bible. But they don't let the absence of facts keep them from attempting to destroy something they despise. Abe Foxman's in that group

Ultimately, what they despise isn't necessarily Mel Gibson or his film. They hate his religion, the Bible, the story it relates and, they especially hate the Catholic Church because it's founded on intrinsic right and wrong, good and evil.

Foxman not only rails against the film, he actually met with Vatican officials this week, urging them to challenge Gibson and tell him that the film contradicts Catholic teaching. Can you imagine? He thinks he knows more about Catholicism than the Vatican! How contemptible.

Talk about chutzpah! He has it in spades. He ought to be ashamed and Catholics should be angry. I'm afraid, though, they've been so busy turning the other, but wrong, cheek that they're getting kicked in the rear again and don't even know it.

Interesting, isn't it? Foxman and others who are so concerned with protecting the opinion of moviegoers about Jews, are consistently silent when Catholics, their rituals or their beliefs are ridiculed and demeaned.

Where were they when a crucifix submerged in urine was called art? A picture of the Virgin, smeared with elephant dung was also called art. Where were the demands for script changes in movies portraying Jesus as homosexual, or married, or promiscuous? How about books or theatricals depicting priests or nuns in the most insulting and fabricated situations that pretend to reality?

Where was their outrage in artistic desecrations of the Sacrament of Communion, the invasion of Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral by condom-tossing "gay" activists, the radio stunt of a couple having sex in that same Cathedral during mass.

I'm also fed up with denigration of Catholics who are shocked and offended by the excesses of Vatican 2 and prefer the traditional Latin Mass. Mel Gibson is one of them, and he practices those traditions. That's his choice and his prerogative.

To hear the critics, you'd think that was heresy. It isn't, and Gibson isn't alone. There are thousands of Catholics like him, furious at the changes in their Church over which they have no apparent control.

They hate the revised rituals of Catholicism that have nothing to do with the religion. The so-called reforms reflect a zealot clergy anxious to force on everyone 'Catholic-Lite' and create 'Cafeteria Catholics.'

The recent scandals, diminishing vocations and smaller congregations are visible results of this attack on the Church from within, spurred on by hateful non-Catholics and fallen-away Catholics who delight in dragging down what they once believed.

It disgusts me. I'm tired of it being socially acceptable to dump on Catholics and blatantly suggest how the religion should be changed. It's done without compunction yet if the same were done to Jews or Muslims or any eastern religion, it would be denounced.

How about a movie joke about Islam or one with a Muslim murderer? I dare you to produce a movie about an adulterous rabbi or a slapstick Torah. Anyone for criticizing Orthodox Jews for discriminating because men and women worship separately? How about suggesting a revision of Islam because of its treatment of women, to say nothing of "non-believers," the infamous infidels.

It wouldn't happen – and we all know why. Catholics, indeed Christians, are fair game. At the least, it's discriminatory. But, in and of itself, it's a sin.

Barbara Simpson, "The Babe in the Bunker" as she's known to her KSFO 560 radio talk-show audience in San Francisco, has a 20-year radio, television and newspaper career in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

[Symphony]

     One more day.

Time Magazines review....

A R T S / M O V I E S
The Goriest Story Ever Told
Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is a well-made film. That doesn't mean you'll want to see it
By RICHARD CORLISS

http://www.time.com

[Tibby]

Judgenot, link please