Was Jesus just a dude?

"That famous Jew..."
...words of the Pardoner, from The Pardoner's Tale,
Geoffrey Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales.

VeeJay says, "What's all the bru-ha-ha about Mel Gibson?"
$30,000,000?
Mottai nai. Japanese equivalent of, "Waste not, want not."
Debate has been raging for months over "The Passion." Mel Gibson's movie ultimately has no meaning, ultraconservative Christian passion notwithstanding. The uproar among the Jewish orthodoxy ultimately has no meaning. Mel experienced some considerable difficulties in getting it distributed to theaters. The movie looks set for a moderate to good opening in mid-February of 2004. The $30 million question -- will Mel be able to recoup his $30 million cost? We'll see. Actually the movie was considered quite a gamble since the movie is not in English although there are, of course, English subtitles.

Vatican Endorses 'The Passion'
Vatican, September 18, 2003
"Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion' has won another Vatican endorsement, with a top cardinal rejecting suggestions the movie may offend Jewish sensibilities and promote anti-Semitism. 'Anti-Semitism, like all forms of racism, distorts the truth by putting an entire race in a bad light. This film does nothing of the kind,' Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos said in Thursday's La Stampa newspaper."
Story ...

ADL Concerned Mel Gibson's 'Passion' Could Fuel Anti-Semitism if Released in Present Form
August 11, 2003
The position of the Anti Defamation League is that Gibson's film reinforces, "the notion of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus."
"An ADL representative was present at a private screening of 'The Passion' at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. 'The film unambiguously portrays Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob as the ones responsible for the decision to crucify Jesus,' said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. 'We are deeply concerned that the film, if released in its present form, could fuel the hatred, bigotry and anti-Semitism that many responsible churches have worked hard to repudiate.' The version of Gibson's film, as previewed by Rabbi Eugene Korn, ADL Director of Interfaith Affairs, contained a number of troubling themes and images, all raising the specter of 'deicide,' or Jewish complicity in the death of Jesus."
Anti-Defamation League press release, August 11, 2003.
adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/4291_12.htm

From the front page of the ADL website on September 19, 2003
"In an interview in The Jewish Week, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said 'Recent statements by Mel Gibson paint the portrait of an anti-Semite.'"
Gibson, the perennial quixotic crusader, is making an anti-Semitic statement? Hmm... That sounded interesting. We clicked on the link. We found two quite astonishing exagerations* to start the article off. There is a back and forth, back and forth rehash of the same old Red Herring, namely, who killed or was responsible for killing the big cheese. The final sentence, a quote from a Sister Boys, makes the most sense.
Foxman: Gibson Spewing 'Anti-Semitism'
"Mel Gibson's mouth has turned into a lethal weapon."
"Interfaith critics instead have focused on the bloody movie, saying that by promoting the 2,000-year-old charge of Christ killers against Jews, the film would fuel anti-Semitism around the world. It would come, they say, from people who were never taught that the Vatican officially repudiated the deicide charge against Jews nearly 40 years ago at the Vatican II conference called Nostra Aetate. But Foxman says it is clear now that the 47-year-old Gibson, an ultra-conservative Catholic who does not accept the Vatican reforms, is spouting "classic anti-Semitism.'"
"Sister Boys said. 'We really have to find ways to educate them about interpreting Scripture more thoughtfully.'"
thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8445

Was Jesus just a dude?

"That famous Jew..."
...words of the Pardoner, from The Pardoner's Tale,
Geoffrey Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales.

Interpreting Scripture more thoughtfully?
What a novel idea!
Are plutocratic wirepullers anywhere near getting ready for interpreting Scripture more thoughtfully? Just what is Mel Gibson spewing? Well, heck when you get sick and tired of the same-old-same-old nonsense,
Is there Hope?
Dr. Yitzak M'an
thehope.org/
How could Jews and Christians put the end to their silly same-old-same-old bickering?
Click here.
mc.maricopa.edu/~tomshoemaker/hebrew/genesis3/firstfarmers.html

First Farmers
An opportunity for an exciting new Weltanschauung?
The Bible in Hebrew; the original interpretations of Genesis: "The story of Adam and Eve--or more accurately, the human and its division into husband and wife-is the most considered story of the Hebrew Bible. From the theological explorations of St. Paul, Augustine and the Talmudic rabbis to John Milton's Paradise Lost to the division of evolutionists and creationists, it is a story of highest significance. Or is it? Is it possible that the most consistent reading of the story has been ignored for twenty centuries? If we carefully withdraw from our understandings of the story what is not actually in the story, we are left with a narrative that can hold together without the interpretive strictures and weavings of either Rabbinic Judaism or Apostolic Christianity.
It is true that the resulting narrative reading would not be consistent with those religious traditions, but it allows the reader to incorporate all the elements of the narrative-a goal that cannot be realized within the traditional readings."
A list of ten important things that the original Hebrew of the biblical story of Adam and Eve does not include?
1.any of the following words: "tempt" (jSn); "temptation"; "sin" or "sinless"; "paradise" (sdrP); "Fall"; "judgment"; "perfect" or "perfection";
The other ten items are listed and discussed at:
mc.maricopa.edu/~tomshoemaker/hebrew/genesis3/firstfarmers.html

Main Entry: ex-ag-ger-ateFunction: verb
Etymology: Latin exaggeratus, past participle of exaggerare, literally, to heap up, from ex- + agger heap, from aggerere to carry toward, from ad- + gerere to carry Date: circa 1587
transitive senses:
1 : to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth : OVERSTATE
2 : to enlarge or increase especially beyond the normal : OVEREMPHASIZE
intransitive senses:
to make an overstatement
m-w.com/

Has Mel started a fad?
Maybe that would be an exaggeration. But you can just imagine what Pat Robertson will say about this. We used the word "will." He wouldn't let this kind of opportunity slip past. Pat has been sounding the alarm about those unholy New Yorkers for decades.
100 Men in NYC Seek Right to Wear Skirts
February 8, 2004, AP
"About 100 men in minis, midis and even tutus took to the streets of Manhattan to call for an end to the tyranny of trousers. 'We're not transvestites, homosexuals or cross-dressers,' David Johnson told the New York Times for Sunday editions. 'We don't want you to call us Jean or Sally. We're men. Men who want the right to wear a skirt.' Johnson, a retired teacher from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and the other pants opposers walked several blocks from the Guggenheim Museum to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they visited an exhibit called 'Bravehearts: Men in Skirts.' Their presence attracted confused looks from a few fellow visitors. Ingemar Johnsson, 39, came from Sweden to join the march Saturday. He told the Times that men in Europe often wore skirts and pantaloons until the time of the French Revolution, when pants became the expected masculine attire. Others pointed out that Scottish men have donned kilts for centuries."
Story ...

Mel Gibson Breaks Hollywood's 10 Commandments
Mar 18, 2004 , by Martin A. Grove, Reuters
"As 'The Passion of the Christ' races toward $400 million at the North American box office, Mel Gibson is reaping the benefits of breaking the Ten Commandments -- Hollywood's Ten Commandments of movie marketing and distribution."
reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4599614
"Gibson, however, apparently has the best of both worlds. With his investment in 'Passion' having paid off, he can now finance the production and marketing of any similar scale movie he ever wants to make. By doing so, he'll once again be the sole owner of his movie. If he can get lightning to strike again at the box office, he can take in another ton of money -- like the $350 million to $500 million in profits 'Passion' seems likely to bring him -- and have the satisfaction of having done it on his own terms."
reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4599614&pageNumber=2

Foreign TV Biz Gets Religion
April 4, 2004, by Scott Roxborough, Reuters
"The surprise box office success of Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' has begun to convert international television executives to the potential of religious-themed programing. "
reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4720867

Die Erfindung Gottes, The Invention of God.


You may click the magazine icon to go to Der Spiegel online to view a short description of this article, Die Erfindung Gottes, The Invention of God.
They have a lot of interesting articles. Archived articles are pay per view but well worth the nominal fee.
spiegel.de

Reaktionen auf Jesus-Film:
"Normalerweise wird nicht nur ein Typ fertig gemacht"
"Das Leiden Jesu als normales Kinoerlebnis: Die von der Kirche bereit gestellten Seelsorger hatten wenig zu tun, als Mel Gibsons 'Die Passion Christi' gestern Abend in einem Hamburger Kino anlief. Viele der vorwiegend jungen Zuschauer konsumierten den brutalen Religionsfilm wie einen gewöhnlichen Horror-Schocker." 19. März 2004, Von Markus Brügge
mehr...
spiegel.de/kultur/kino/0,1518,291382,00.html

Sometimes, you can feel like you are in limbo in La-La-Land. Wasted away again in Margueritaville. Or some such feeling. Like maybe you've missed the boat. A note of disclosure might put things in better perspective for the reader.
Are we Christian? Not really. Are we Jewish? Not really. So now you're wondering what are we then? We are almost Jewish. Due to a series of events totally beyond our control which took place several decades ago, we wound up being neither Jewish nor Christian. Something in between. Almost Jewish. It's a rare limbo state which we wouldn't wish upon anyone.

A friend, a Jewish friend at that, read about Mel's big Bruhaha. This person didn't think it was at all silly, cute or funny. That carries more significance than what a cardinal or a rabbi might have to say on the subject. We include those thoughts here.

"Ahhhh, the Mel Tome... Passion of THE Christ. I hear it is extremely violent and that Jews are placed in a bad light. Without seeing it, I can only make a limited deduction based on what I've read. Having said that, as Mel is a member of an extreme Catholic sect called "Holy Family" which has distanced itself from the main body of Catholicism and is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese, I see an issue with him stating that 'the film will lay the blame for the death of Christ where it belongs.' On the other hand, there is Mel's father who dismisses historical accounts of the Holocaust as impossible and denies that the September 11 terrorist attacks were perpetrated by Al Qaeda hijackers. They were done by remote control. Further, Dad believes that the Second Vatican Council was a Masonic plot backed by the Jews and that all popes going back to John XXIII have been illegitimate 'anti-popes'. I have a very uneasy feeling that the film will fuel the anti-Semitism that is currently raging around the world. Just note that the hatred and persecution endured by Jews over time has made many of them (us) understandably hyper-sensitive (to a fault) to our depiction in this part of world history. I am bracing myself for what will come!"

What was Mel's motivation in making this movie?
Either of two things seems likely.
1) Mel Gibson has an puerile desire to recieve a divine pat on his head and a special invitation to enter heaven. In which case his may actually be seeking to fuel the fires of ignorance and bigotry. All the while percieving his actions as having some sort of divine purpose.
2) Mel Gibson wishes to stir up controversy in such a way that will deal a final death blow to the absurd animosity between the Jews and the Christians.
In short, is Mel a bad guy doing bad with "good" intentions? Or is Mel a good guy who is misunderstood?

Was Jesus just a dude?

"That famous Jew..."
...words of the Pardoner, from The Pardoner's Tale,
Geoffrey Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales.

Was Jesus just a dude?
There are simple truths which should eventually rise to the surface.
The most famous Jew was a man called Jesus. The Jews were and are Jews. Jesus was a Jew. Jesus had a few bones to pick with Jews but he never refused to be a Jew. Therefore it seems intuitively obvious that Christians are Jews. Whether they have sense enough to know it or not.
Nit picking about who to blame for the dude's death is pointless; completely irrelevant.
What is relevant?
What is the one and only sin which Christians consider unforgivable?
John 3:16 jelly bean.

Was Jesus just a dude?
This is the real sticking point. The only real problem between the religions. That Jews strip Jesus of his immortality. Because that completely eviscerates Christianity as a religion when literal interpretation is an absolute precondition. Even though interpretation is arbitrary.

What will be the ultimate solution?
This is the real simple part. The Bible, starting with the Genesis Story
AS IT WAS WRITTEN.
Not as it has been hijacked over the centuries to make it more useful to countless successions of plutocratic wirepullers.

Yes, the following is a tautology.
Interpreting Scripture more thoughtfully?
What a novel idea!
Are plutocratic wirepullers anywhere near getting ready for interpreting Scripture as it was written? Well, heck when you get sick and tired of the same-old-same-old nonsense,
Is there Hope?
Dr. Yitzak M'an
thehope.org/
How could Jews and Christians put the end to their silly same-old-same-old bickering?
Click here.
mc.maricopa.edu/~tomshoemaker/hebrew/genesis3/firstfarmers.html

"Hey, sign me up!"
It may be anecdotal but ...
We asked a group of 12 men and women to read print-outs of The First Farmers. There were Islamists, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, atheists and others in the group. They read and discussed the material. What did they think?
The typical reaction was, "Hey, sign me up!"

Caveat:
A reading of the Bible as written. What a novel idea. Unfortunately it does not serve the interests of hegemonists, theocrats, autocrats, plutocrats, aristocrats and other elitists.
It works for almost everybody else.

Key Word.
dude
The dictionary defines this word as:

Was Jesus just a dude?
This phrase asks whether Jesus was just an ordinary person, not a deity or god.
If Jesus were a mere mortal, that would pretty much pop Christianity's balloon.

Aufstand der Makkabäer:
Gibson plant neue Bibel-Verfilmung Nach seinem umstrittenen Jesus-Film "Die Passion Christi" plant Regisseur Mel Gibson schon die nächste Bibel-Verfilmung. Diesmal soll es um den Aufstand der Makkabäer gehen. Die Geschichte der jüdischen Rebellion gegen die Unterdrückung sei "wie ein Western" sagte Gibson amerikanischen Journalisten.
mehr...
spiegel.de/kultur/kino/0,1518,291741,00.html

Is Mel Gibson clever?
His next film may not have the box office drawing power of the first movie. But the story is one which is very dear to Jewish hearts.

If you get tired of the bru-ha-ha you could read about Engelke's new show at Der Spiegel.
spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,291778,00.html