I only post this because of the relation Mel Gibson had with Ray Bradbury, and the involvement with 'Fahrenheit 451'. Hopefully the film will get into full production by other able hands.

About Gibson's film, I post a few interesting web-sites:
http://www.thelife.com

( movie-clips ) http://www.buzzplant.com/passion/
http://www.sharethelife.com http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/newsletter065.htm http://www.thepassiontoolbox.org/ http://www.passionofchrist.com/

"I only post this because of the relation Mel Gibson had with Ray Bradbury..."

Nard,
I hope you don't feel that you need to explain your actions. There's no rule that says you can only post "Bradbury" topics on this site. About "The Passion of the Christ", I have heard many good things about this movie, and I can't wait to see it. It looks like there are several movies to look forward to in the coming months. This movie is definately one of them.

I can't wait to see this film, Nard. Jim Caviezel, the actor that plays Jesus, was on Sean Hannity's radio show last week and said, having just came from Texas, that multiplexs there are sold out from morning until night. He also seemed very disappointed that the Vatican retracted the Pope's statement about the film. It shook me when he said that he was actually struck by lightning while filming. I think he said another guy on the set got struck too.

Ought
Not

I heard about that lightning event, not too long after it happened. It's one of those things that people, on 'either side', can take 'either way'. (1 ) God was angry at the making of the movie, or (2 ) the devil is trying to stop the movie from being made....

And many others as well...
��people that say, just a Coincidence,
��and the weathermen have their say ��scientists
� and the casual bystander, that shrugs their shoulders and smiles, thankful no one got hurt...
� etc.

The largest Protestant Church in Chicago area, (holds 15,000 on Sunday) bought thousands of tickets for theaters nearby... And there are many news items like that. around the country. There will not be THAT many theaters that the movie will open at, however, from what I understand, so box office receipts may be less than one might anticipate... (Gibson has decided to go ahead with the subtitles, however).

My pastor at Church was among 5,200 pastors and teachers in Orlando Florida last week, that saw the entire movie, and the report was that it brought tears and out and out crying to many people... Also that it is very biblical, and portrays the "sinner", not the Jew only... as being responsible for the crufixion of Jesus.

Mel Gibson used his own hand in the filming of the first nail that is hammered. He said he did this to fully remind himself that Christ died for the sins also of ...Mel Gibson.

Caviezel said he believed that it wasn't just a freak accident though he didn't expound on what he meant by that. He said he didn't understand the controversy by some Jews because Jesus was a Jew as were His disciples. The only problem I see is people viewing Mel Gibson as some Christian extremist and equating his passion with someone like say Bin Laden, only seeing Gibson as worse. That's the view of a lunatic, but I would say it is very plausible that some few people see it this way and yell and protest to make themselves seem bigger than they are. The hatred of this film by people that haven't even seen it is astounding.

Oh Oh!
Now some AMC theaters do not want to run the trailer for the Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion", because it is... "too Christian."

Okay. Here we go... ... !!

Wow. What are they afraid of? That people might see some truth in all the confusion that is society?

Yestermorrow:

Afraid !!??
No. No. Never.

"Too Christian...!"

I do think we are about to witness a great collision of "beliefs" in the upcoming months with the release of this picture...
This will be no small event !

From what I have read and heard, JP II may may have said something to this effect (below), but is not wont to give thumbs up on what he has viewed. So, a bit of Vatican spin to the contrary may be circulating now. Nonetheless:
http://www.tldm.org/News6/MelGibsonsPassion.htm

I do think we are about to witness a great collision of "beliefs" in the upcoming months with the release of this picture...
This will be no small event !

I agree, Nard. How exciting, huh?

groon:

'The Chicago Tribune' today has a front page article on Mel Gibson's 'The Passion''. Here's the sub-headline:
��Mel Gibson says his new film is a literal interpretation of the Gospels; Jewish leaders say THAT'S the problem �

Anyway, the article goes on and on...but one comment made me really laugh. It's from Jeffrey Carlson, dean of the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences at Dominican University in Chicago. "I believe the Christian communities have not confronted the anti-Jewish nature of their own texts."

To that I say, Good Grief! This guy is talking as if this is a new revelation. Take a look at Thomas Jefferson. He did just what Carlson says Christian communities are NOT doing. In fact, he crossed-out anything that offended him as well. You ever see a 'Jefferson Bible'? He decided to have published his own version, with all the deletions in place. I had one a few years ago. And it is a very, very thin...thin volume. Very inoffensive. Someone should send an edition to this Carlson professor.

And, yes , ��censorship � is getting to Mel Gibson. He has been forced to delete at least one scene so far. 'The New York Times' reported this week that Gibson had deleted the scene that Jews found most insulting. That scene is the one in which the Jewish high priest Calaphas calls down a curse on the Jews by saying of the Crucifixion: "His blood be on us and on our children." The quote is from Matthew 27:25.

Asked if this cut will help, Marvin Hier, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said...
"It gives me some comfort. But if you ask me, are we satisfied? Not at all."

Note:
Personally, as a Christian, I am as guilty as any Jew ... and I am as guilty as any of those who pounded in the nails. I am as guilty as the people in the crowd who demanded Christ's death. Scripture makes it clear that " I "..2,000 years later... had an intrinsic connection to His crucifixion. And I am not Jewish !



[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 02-06-2004).]

...per that 'censored' line in
"The Passion"....

Those who attended more recent screenings said the line was back in...
Gibson publicist Alan Nierob said he couldn't confirm that the line had been deleted because the movie is ..."not locked yet. It's not done."
But he acknowledged that the line had gone out and in on various prints.

I havent seen the film yet, I look forward to seeing it, I will wait until I have seen it and judge it for myself - based on its merits, not on what everyone else in peer group has decided for me.

Just because someone has been offended by Mel Gibson (or by anyone) does not mean that Mel Gibson (or that anyone) is offensive. We are quick to react and throw up our lines of defense without thinking about whether or not we really need to.

As for the lightning striking Jim Caviezel -It's interesting and I'm sorry he got struck by lightning but, and I may be wrong, I don't remember the Christian God ever using lightning to punish people and I don't think that Zeus was throwing lightning bolts at him from Mount Olympus for portraying Jesus Christ in a dramatic production. If fire and brimstone had rained down on him, if he had turned into a pillar of salt, if a plague of locusts had consumed him, etc. - then maybe.
David Janssen limped from a bad knee during his stint as Dr. Richard Kimble on the television series "The Fugitive," and Harrison Ford injured his knee on the first day of shooting and limped from a bad knee during his stint as Dr. Richard Kimble in the film "The Fugitive." Did God have something to do with that?

From
Greentown
Illinois

When the Ark of the Covenant ...was breached in terms of God's demands...thousands were killed...by lightning? Scripture seems to say it was something of the sorts. (Spielberg picked that up in his first Indiana Jones movie.

As far as God having anything to do with small things like an injury... His presence is, as one poet aptly said it... God is found in the 'details'...

I found the cover story of this weeks Newsweek (about 'The Passion')...written from a seemingly sometimes secular viewpoint. I found the article by Jon Meacham disturbing in some of its 'facts'....

Wonder if Ray is up to going to movies lately...and if so, will he see this particular movie from Mel Gibson, who ALMOST did 'Fahrenheit 451'....

Greentown:

I'd say a injured knee is a tad more common than being struck by lightning. Now if The Fugitive was about a god whose descended son had a bum leg, I'd agree with you. As Nard has said, folks can take the strike in many different ways. It all depends on your personal beliefs, needn't be religious, on how you look at the situation. This movie is highly charged without the lightning strike. It is something that I would never think would be made and be on such a scale as it is. The question could be asked why this film has some people and org.'s like the ADL infuriated. With all the disgusting and terrible lifestyles promoted on the screen these days why would just this one film be singled out as a harm to society? Why is the Christian religion treated as it was when Christ walked, a dangerous fringe movement, when as a country it is the major religion? I don't understand it.