Digital Background Blog

Yerp. I saw part of Hell House (until I realized how stupid it was). I saw the scene where they were practicing the Roofies bit. "It's like you had too much NyQuil," was the acting coach's explanation because the actors were having epileptic fits pretending to be on the date rape drug. Stupid jackasses.

Religion was obviously invented to control people while alive through fear of the unknown. It does a great job as a memetic brainwashing device and will continue to do so for as long as stupid parents wrongfully believe their kids should be brought up "with religion," so that they have a sense of morality. I hate people sometimes.

Very well said Nate. I remember the date rape drug scene, and he also couldn't even remember the name of the drug, which shows how well informed they are of the evils they are fighting.

I would like to correct something harsh I said earlier:

I hate people all the time. I like cats, though.

I feel the same way, well, not all of the time, but a lot of the time.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I hate cats, too. Meow, meow, meow. >kick< Just kidding, of course!

Yesterday, I read reviews of Mel Gibson's film "Passions of Christ". Several critics claimed it was effective in its violence as far as depicting Jesus' last hours, but that it was too gory and drawn out for even some adults. Like so violent that it traumatized several viewers. Then I read that there are churches and various groups organizing mass viewing of the film and children are being forced to watch it, as form of catechism I suppose. Excuse me, but isn't that more than a little sick and extremely wrong? I think if my parents had sat me down to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the like in order to teach me about the sickos out there, they would have been hauled off for abuse!

I have an annoyingly long thing I've written on Mad Max's Christ-flick. You can tell by the title alone if it's going to piss you off, so please don't read it if you think it might. I can't be responsible for hurt feelings with a caveat like this!

Anyone Who Is Either Upset By or Thrilled By or Surprised By "The Passion Of The Christ" Is An Idiot

by Anonymous Unanimous

What I don't understand is the upset over the "antisemitic"-ness of it. I was even more surprised to hear that people are quoting the Catholic Church's statement in the 40s or 60s or something saying that Jews were not responsible for Jesus' death.

That's not EXACTLY what the Church has said. Unless I hear this new statement people are referring to, this is the official version I know:

"True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ." -- Nostra Aetate IV Vatican II

Did Mel make a movie about modern-day Jews? Nope. Anywhere in the movie, does Mel say that Jews of today should be held accountable for the death of Christ? I doubt it. I think Mel is saying exactly what Nostra Aetate IV said in the opening statement. The movie deals with the final 12 hours of a character's death in a religious myth. It doesn't address the next 2000 years.

The whole concept of Christianity is predicated on the crazy good / evil, turn the other cheek / Holy Crusades, God of Love / God of Wrath (but-not-like-Satan-wrath), Perfect / Jealous God (but not like "jealous" in a bad way, of course).

Am I wrong when I remember that (?):

0. "Jesus Christ" isn't even a real name and the mythical figure known as "Jesus Christ" is ripped off from earlier myths, as is Moses? This isn't conjecture; it's pure fact! (Unless you believe in the "Satanic Time Traveller" conspiracy in which Satan went back BEFORE the birth of Jesus and planted a dozen or so myths that closely resemble "the true" Christian myth in surprising detail.) The man crucified in the Bible was called Yeshua Bar-Josef.

1. The "Messiah" of the Old Testament simply meant "rightful King of the Jews," a la King David, and there was no righteous inference at all implied with the title "messiah". (i.e. The Jews were sick of being pushed around by other races and wanted a Jewish King). Later, the term for "Messiah" was purposely replaced with "Christ," which hails from Greek origin ("Christus") and sun worshippers who actually revived Mithras and Osiris myths within this newly created so-called "Christian" religion. (There's a reason the New Testament isn't anything like the Old Testament; the 2 religions were "grafted" together.) [Also, the term "sun worshipper" is a bit lazy, but for the sake of this nonsense, brevity is key the point.]

2. When the Jews told Pilate to release Yeshua Bar-Abbas rather than Yeshua Bar-Josef (the guy who would later be called "Jesus Christ"), they obviously didn't feel he was a "messiah" (i.e. rightful leader of the Jews) or they would not have asked Pilate to let Barabbas go. Indeed, the Bible even says that when Pilate put a little inscription on Jesus' cross that read: "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS," the Jews corrected Pilate and said (paraphrasing), "Hey, don't write that! Write that this guy SAID he was King of The Jews!" In other words, the Jews were like, "Screw you, Pilate. Our rightful king will come, he is not dead on that cross!"

Or the actual conversation, if you prefer it is this:
"And Pilate wrote a title also: and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. And it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not: The King of the Jews. But that he said: I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.(John 19:19-21)

If the Jews felt that Yeshua Bar-Josef was "the messiah," they would have asked for Pilate to let Yeshua Bar-Josef go, since more than anything, they wanted to rule themselves. They probably thought this Yeshua Bar-Josef guy was an annoying nutjob, which if you think about it, he just might have been.

3. Still, the Jews did ask for Bar-Abbas to be let go. And, to this day, you've got Jews on one hand and Christians on the other. Christians turn the other cheek, but in the end, the Christian faith really condemns any and all who do not accept Christ... unless they've flopped on that, too and now a person doesn't even need to accept Christ to be Christian or maybe they've flip-flopped and decided Christianity isn't really "right" per se, but will still get you in God's good graces... I mean, I really don't know what The Church(es) are saying these days.

With all this known ahead of time, how can anyone be surprised that Jews are depicted in an "anti-semitic" fashion in a movie about Christ which was directed by a man who is head-over-heels about the subject of Jesus? What next? Are the Romans going to stand up and complain, too? The Christian religion is not about making nice with the Jews. Why the shock? How can Jews expect another person's religion?

Let's just recap with 2 quotes:

"And Pilate wrote a title also: and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. And it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not: The King of the Jews. But that he said: I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.(John 19:19-21)

AND

"True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ." Nostra Aetate IV Vatican II

I mean, doesn't that say it all? Where's the surprise factor here?

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