Dobson: Gibson tirade has nothing to do with "one of finest films of era"

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: James Dobson Lends Support to Mel Gibson
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 11, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Focus on the Family ministry founder James Dobson spoke in support Thursday of Mel Gibson and his film, ''The Passion of the Christ,'' saying Gibson's drunken tirade during a traffic stop had nothing to do with ''one of the finest films of this era.''...

***

Dobson said in a statement that ''we certainly do not condone that racially insensitive outburst,'' but added ''Mel has apologized profusely for the incident and there the matter should rest.''

''Mel has also indicated his willingness to seek help to overcome his alcoholism, and has asked the Jewish community for forgiveness,'' Dobson said. ''What more can he do?''

Gibson has had a troubled relationship with Jewish organizations since his violent 2004 blockbuster about the crucifixion, which some criticized for portraying Jews as responsible for Jesus' death. Supporters, including Dobson, say the movie followed the Gospel story.

''Our endorsement of it stands as originally stated. We did not believe it was anti-Semitic in 2004, and our views have not changed,'' Dobson said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Mel-Gibson-Dobson.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. If there is

... such an entity that us Catholics refer to as Purgatory. That is, if Dobson isn't immediately spirited to Hell: In Purgatory, he will be strapped down in a chair, with his eyes taped open, and FORCED to watch South Park's "The Passion of The Jew" for EONS. NOW that is one excellent visual. :rofl:

[Donnachaidh]

2. they re-aired that the other night

first time I'd seen it :rofl:

[raging moderate]

5. Gibson's film ignored the eleventh chapter of John's Gospel

and thus resurrected the whitewash of the Roman governor Pilate. The eleventh chapter of the Gospel according to John describes the Jewish Sanhedrin in a desperate meeting trying to figure out how to avert a massacre. They had just learned from their intelligence sources that the Roman occupation force (that would be Pilate) is planning to use the street preacher Jeshua (that's Jesus) as the excuse for a general massacre (apparently the crowds who listened to him were making the Romans uneasy. Now, you have to realize that Jesus and his followers at that time were mostly Galileans (read Hillbillies), so the term translated as "Jews" refers to the Jerusalemites (read "Washington"). There was some friction between these two groups, but Johonon (whom we call "JOHN" because the Greeks couldn't pronounce those long Middle Eastern names any better than WE can) clearly agreed with the Sanhedrin that the Romans were indeed planning this massacre. The eleventh chapter of John's Gospel quotes the Sanhedrin leaders frantically asking each other, "What else can we do? We can't doom our entire population just to save one man!" It kind of throws a whole new light on Pilate's crafty efforts at crowd manipulation to get Jesus off the hook, doesn't it? The vicious imperial scumbag! I am frightened by the increasing tendency of many people in this country to identify with the Roman imperialist aggressors, conveniently forgetting the trail of blood and horror and suffering which they created everywhere they went. Furthermore, it may be that some of them did do some good in places like Britain, teaching how to build decent aqueducts and roads and arrange social welfare distributions. But the Israelites already knew how to do those things. A good underground aqueduct had saved the population during an earlier siege, and the Jews had various systems for helping poor people (including the Jubilee debt cancellation and distribution of some of the temple sacrifices).

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Interesting that he even felt the need to respond to this.

[noonwitch]

4. I didn't think "The Passion" was anti-semitic

Any more than any other story of the death of Jesus. All the characters, good and bad, except the romans, were jews. The movie even has a scene that makes it clear that it is an element of the high priests who want Jesus' death, and they forcibly remove all those who voice objections.

Jesus was killed by the Romans at the insistence of a small group of jewish religious leaders. If he hadn't been killed, he couldn't have been resurrected. It does no good ultimately to blame anyone, because if the basic story is the foundation for one's religious faith, the whole thing was God's plan the entire time.

[mr_hat]

6. Which "race", exactly, was Gibson "insensitive" to?

[raging moderate]

7. The ROMANS crucified Jesus - and a BUNCH of other people!

Whatever ANY of those Sanhedrin leaders might have done, they DID NOT invade a weaker country so they could bully and repeatedly massacre its citizens to force them to give up food and other goods which they could ill afford to give. The plaintive little scene in which Pilate says that Rome will be angry with him if his troops massacre Israelites is a TOTAL fiction; the Roman occupation forces frequently killed bunches of people in most of the places they occupied. It was the ROMANS who were the bullies and the villains in this story, as in all the countries where they imposed their "Roman Peace." All of the Jews were the victims, and whatever ANY OF THEM did must be seem in light of the daily 24-hour nonstop horror they were forced to endure during the Roman occupation. It is NOT TRUE that the Jewish leaders were only acting out of jealousy. As the Gospel according to John clearly states, they had NO good choices open to them.
Of course, it IS true that Jesus told his followers, "No man is taking my life away from me. I am giving my life." And he also insisted that all of the people who were involved in his death are forgiven, since they did not know what they were doing.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. What's Dobson's other "finest film" pick? "Halloween"?

Gory snuff films are so full of "art".

[leesa]

9. My Jewish friends thought it was anti-semitic. They didn't like being

blamed for killing Jesus. I never saw it. Can't stand blood and guts movies.