Sometimes I wish there were a different name for someone who followed Jesus.
Rob Reiner was recently giving an interview on AP Radio. In it, he said that Mel Gibson's apology wasn't enough for the Jewish community; Gibson also had to acknowledge that anti-Semitism showed up in The Passion.
First of all, I've addressed this before, but I'll just say this about the interview itself: I had no idea Rob Reiner was Jewish. You'd think something that important to him - important enough to offend him enough that he felt the need to criticize Gibson to the AP - might have shown up somewhere before this in his career. And, as I said in my previous post, why are we still talking about this? Considering the fact that everyone in Hollywood has done the whole "screw up, apology, rehab, testimony, back to normal" dance, how is Mel Gibson's transgression worse than child molesting Oscar winner Roman Polanski? What Gibson said is inexcusable, but not unforgivable. Hollywood has forgiven much worse, and Christians are commanded to forgive. So let's quit it already with the, "Should Mel be forgiven??? Should he still have a career???" crap.
However, the Mel Gibson controversy isn't why I was prompted to post here. Neither is Rob Reiner. Go to the article. Down at the bottom is a list of blog-style comments. This is a new trend with news sites to allow the average reader respond and prove how dumb the public really is. Start reading those comments. I made it to about 20 before my eyeballs started to bleed. There was not a single comment made that I could identify with, agree with, sympathize with, or anything. There were comments from every side of the issue and many that came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with Rob Reiner commenting about Mel Gibson.
The most offensive ones were the ones made by "Christians." It really is no wonder why people in the world react so negatively to us. To whom do these people expect to represent Christ favorably by saying things like, "The Passion of the Christ portrayed the crucifixion accurately. Read the Bible Rob, and see for yourself. By the way, Robbie, let's not forget the Jesus was a Jew, okay? Another FACT you failed to mention"?
There was nothing of the love of Christ in those comments. There was no gentleness. There was no light. And even the attempts at Christian sincerity come across badly. What benefit can there be from talking to non-believers about Christ as the Paschal Lamb? Who do they expect to convince by insisting that the Biblical account is all that is needed for Mel Gibson's movie to be a documentary to a group of people who don't accept the basic premise that Christian Scripture has any value? What gives them the impression that a comment section of an online news story is a good forum to prove that Christianity is true when that very forum is almost exclusively the playground of people who think they have the solutions to all the world's problems and of those who are educated beyond their intelligence?
It's no wonder people think we're lunatics! And I'm not talking about being 'fools for Christ' or 'resident aliens' or 'saintily odd.' Those should be basic reality not badges of honor. And they shouldn't serve to turn people off from Christ. If you weren't a believer, or aren't, do those comments even make you the slightest bit interested in finding out more about Jesus?
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8 Cachinnations
Bleeding eyes, indeed. When it comes to such "talkback" sections on news reports, I avoid them 99.44% of the time. They always (not usually, but always) go from bad to much worse quickly. The news source provides them as a platform for community discussion (and to keep you involved with their website) but discussion is the last thing that occurs. The basic topic of the story is used as a launching point for various rants, recriminations, name-calling, and bickering. I have yet to see one that involved an actual dialogue rather than a soap box.
And you are also right that it is disgusting that this one (and others I've seen) is done in the name of Christian duty. We are called to reach out to the world, seeking to lovingly bring them to grace. Unfortunately, instead of lovingly winning the sinners it is often us impatiently trying to condemn them.
Posted on 8/28/2006
"Forgive them (Mel Gibson, Rob Reiner, foolish commenters, and everyone else), Father, for they know not what they do."
Posted on 8/28/2006
While there may be some upside to the anonymity provided by the internet, what you're talking about in this case the the blaring downside.
Provide a virtual space, which might as well be a brick wall with a bunch of cans of spray paint and a sign that says "Speak Your Mind!", and you're going to get -- well, pretty much what you see there.
No one stands to account for what they say, nobody feels any sense that their words can be traced back to them, and so the worst part of human nature inevitably takes over.
It's a huge waste of time to read such things, and an even bigger waste if you were to care enough to actually make intelligent comments in hopes of having a real dialogue about the issues. At best, you'd be casting your pearls before swine, and at worst, you'd be showing the ugly and inaccurate side of being a Christ-follower by looking like someone who is more interested in winning the argument than somebody who genuinely loves people and seeks to obey the Lord in earnest.
Posted on 8/28/2006
HA HA HA HA, I got you back!!
and...do you have skype?
Posted on 8/28/2006
These kinds of comments and the idiots "representing" are exactly why I get my news from your blog and your blog alone, Cach. Well, yours and Amy Grant's my space page that is.
Thanks for the education man. :)
Posted on 8/28/2006
Preach it brother. Some of the times they are simply careless comments. There have been times when I have had discussions online with lunatic Christian brothers and sisters and after a bit, they simmer down and start making sense. Sometimes they don't.
I do hate to be negative, and hopefully I won't be nasty here BUT...
There is a creepy, self-righteous, disconnected, aura about American, Fundamental Protestants on the Whole. No Grace, no patience, no listening, to visible works of Love. We speak at all the wrong times and protest at all the wrong places. We start bashing Rob Reiner when we should be doing all that we can to get Robertson off all and any brodcasting formats.
We argue over the most idiotic things. The world watches in disgust. They are waiting to see something different in my opinion. I imagine that they would respond to the love of Chirst ten times over to a Christian raking the lawn of the local Elderly lady WITHOUT PAYMENT rather than showing up to violently picket the local abortion clinic.
Somehow, inspite of it all, God works through us regardless. I just hope we can start to get out of our big Church Mansions and into the world a bit more.
Posted on 8/28/2006
While reading your post, I was reminded of this comment by David James Duncan that I read yesterday:
"To refer to peregrinating Celtic monks and fundamentalist lobbyists, Origen and Oral Roberts, the Desert Fathers and Tim La Haye, Jerry Falwell and Dante, St. Francis and the TV "prosperity gospel" hucksters, Lady Julian of Norwich and Tammy Faye Baker, or John of the Cross and George W. Bush all as Christian stretches the word so thin its meaning vanishes."
Posted on 8/28/2006
I get the feeling Archie Bunker would be rather upset his son-in-law is Jewish.
Posted on 9/03/2006