I would never blast you for sharing this experience with us. Heck, I didn’t even know you had a son until today! There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting your son to know what the crucifixion is all about. The difference in what you did and just allowing him to watch the movie was that you talked him through it. You answered his questions so that it would help him understand.

You know your son the best, and if you felt he couldn’t handle it, you wouldn’t have allowed him to watch it.

Firstly, he is your child and you know what’s best for him. At no time have I ever even remotely thought of you as a bad or inadequate parent.

Having said that, were he my child and I chose to raise him without being subjected to television violence, I would have chosen Jesus Of Nazareth which is always on this time of year and is one of the most moving and beautiful movies I have ever watched. If it comes on in your area, I highly recommend you watch it and not just because the actor portraying Jesus is a total babe.

I have never seen The Passion of the Christ but I have heard much about it. I don’t think you are parenting carelessly. Only you know what your child can handle.

Were I catholic (which I spent way too many years being one) and I wanted to teach my child, I would think carefully on what shows I would let my child watch. I think you did think it over carefully and di the right thing.

While I think your post here is well thought out and very moving. You know me, I would not crucify you for your choices.

But, I agree with Miss Ann and think I would have chosen a movie with less violence. Regardless of the truth involved I think that kids under 12 should be given a more sanitized version until their minds can really comprehend without the fear of nightmares and other emotional duress. Aside from the importance of the holiday and the significance of the day, we are talking about inflicting emotional duress in some form.

That being said, another commenter noted, “I have always, myself, made exceptions for movies of cultural or historical significance…”

Cultural and historical significance is a good point here. Simply because suffering was inflicted in the name of religion does not make it any less important or impactive on the human spirit and the human race as a whole.

Therefore, one might also want to consider “Schindler’s List” “300″ and “The Color Purple” because all are accurate portrayals of historical events that impacted the human race.

OMG, Schindler’s List. I cannot watch that movie without blubbering like a baby. I’ve seen it a dozen times and still I cry. That movie is incredibly powerful.

OK…not really. I just felt the need to leave a negative comment to be different. You know me…gotta be the dork.

I don’t think it’s such a big deal to let him see that movie. I personally wouldn’t but that’s just because I don’t buy the Jesus thing. We watched something kind-sorta out there at AWANA last week. The kids just watched and went with it…it didn’t have any negative effects.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but my husband and I are watching it with our kids tonight; for the same reasons you did.

Good for you. I’d rather have them watch “The Passion” than something like “Die Hard” anyways.

It’s in 2 or 3 parts. I forget. I think you can get it through blockbuster…the whole thing. You would love it.

I never watched The Passion. Mostly because, if I wanted to watch someone get bludgeoned for two hours, I would have gone with my ex when they jacked that guy for his amps.

Does Easter mean that Jesus is the world’s first zombie?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Happy Easter (really!).

I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t comment… I should probably see it. As a jew-turned-catholic, I’ve been hesitant… but I probably should get my own opinion.

But, as other folks have said, when you take the time to consider a thing like you have, it’s harder to find fault, you know?

And no. Jesus isn’t a Zombie. All that’s left behind is the Advocate, otherwise known as The Holy Spirit. See my right shoulder for iconography.

:-)

People shouldn’t blast others for how they raise their kids. And besides that I think that your argumentation is very solid.

I squeezed out a bucketful of something today when looking at donkey porn, but I don’t think it was common sense. Tasted saltier than that.

I trust myself to solve my own issues. Someone who needs to be saved from his own issues is a worthless human being.

You let your kid watch The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre??

I have no judgments and no real comment… I just wanted another chance to drop that chainsaw crack.

Greetings,

I saw the movie, and I wouldn’t let my eight year old see it… a bit too graphic for her just yet.

As has been said, this was a fictionalized charcterization of the Crucifiction (we don’t know exactly how it went down), but I thought it was good that I saw it.

You have to do what is right for you and your kids.

Bitterroot, I’m sorry. You must think that I give a flying fuck what you have to say. Fuck off, k? (Yeah, I know this is Britt’s blog, but since you felt the need to address me specifically, I’ll do the same)

Bitterroot, I was fine with your disertation until you came to the ‘pray for and on behalf of’ part.

To that I say: Pray for your own damned self, ok? I don’t need your prayers nor do I want them.

What’s next? Are you going to make me lose my fucking mind entirely by “FORGIVING” me?

My faith or lack thereof is no less important than your own, ok? My faith or lack thereof is none of your goddamned business and it is not your business to make an attempt at ’saving me.’

So please save your prayers for ypur 9 yeal old when he or she has a mental breakdown.

Thanks and stfu.

Wow, talk about holier-than-thou. It’s no wonder I hate people like you.

*sigh* Okay…

Actually, Amy, the Gospel of Matthew is believed to have been written as early as A.D. 50, (and attributed to the Apostle by the same name, no less) but certainly before A.D. 115, since Ignatius had quoted the Book of Matthew in his own writings sometime before that year, which is when he died. There are other, more telling signs to date the Gospels, including the absence of any mention of the destruction of the Temple, which was in A.D. 70.

History, my dear.

So the “hundreds of years” thing doesn’t hold water. Sorry. The Gospels are considered by the Catholic Church to be, essentially, “eyewitness accounts,” NOT historical estimations. I’m pretty sure that it is on this assumption that the filmmaker based his work, and why it was so bloody. The crucifixion itself was hardly, by Gospel and historical accounts, a sanitized “Jesus of Nazareth” production, though I don’t knock that version for its simple, broad-brush Sunday School message. I have it on VHS on the shelf behind me, next to The Passion. But that’s not the movie Mr. Gibson wanted to make. Mel wanted to intimate the darkest hours - to focus on one thing and one thing only. The Passion. The last twelve hours of our Lord’s human existence. His pain. His humility. His sacrifice.

As to the brutality of the film, besides the Gospels and other historic records, there are solid, substantial archaeological relics that clearly illustrate the savagery of the Romans’ methods even before the time of Jesus. They didn’t just wear scarlet capes and bark orders and expect people to do what they said. Rome was a conqueror. You don’t conquer and enslave whole peoples with mere harsh language and a few dirty looks.

Do I believe it’s a minute-by-minute accurate account? Hell no. But I do believe it’s closer to fact than anything previously from Hollywood. And while I wouldn’t *at all* allow a five or even seven year old see it. Hell, probably not most 9 or 11 year olds, for that matter - I know my children and I took the time to experience it through them and help them understand why we have to spend that “boring” hour at Mass and other works of service and sacrifice.

I NEVER said that doing something in the name of religion makes it “automatically right”. I was merely siding with Miss Britt. My wife and I viewed the film, and THEN we ascertained, based on our knowledge of our kids, whether or not they would be allowed to see it. They were given the OPTION of seeing it or staying with their “fun” Grandma. Every one of them chose the movie, even *after* our threats of a “family sit-down discussion,” to which they usually roll eyes and moan.

I apologize if you interpreted it as ME “taking ownership” of the crucifixion “as it pertains only to Catholics.” Dear, I was speaking from the only perspective I know intimately, which happens to be Catholic. And I never professed to be a very damn good one, at that! What I did try to convey is 1.) the fact that Catholics are often derided for such frequent and seemingly (to outsiders) “obsessive” use of what appears to be a “gruesome” or “violent” image. We don’t see it that way at all - it’s beautiful. And 2.) It’s a depiction of the breadth and depth of our Lord’s profound LOVE for us. Not “us” as in “Catholics” - us as in each one, individually, in our personal relationship with Him.

As for the “two people” I “singled out” being Catholic, unless you count Miss Britt, whom I already understood to be Catholic and for whom I expressed my own sorry-ass, misguided form of support (My apologies, for *all* this nonsense Miss Brit - I intend to end it here…) or the all-inclusive “y’all” reference, the only people I “singled out” by name were avitable and MAT. If either or both of them are Catholic, it wasn’t apparent, especially with the allegedly ‘humorous’ “zombie” comment. Frankly, I’d be as surprised as likely avi would be to find out that he has much, if anything in-common with the Magisterium!

But the real reason I singled-out avitable (though I never followed through in my original post) was for this comment to Paul:

I trust myself to solve my own issues. Someone who needs to be saved from his own issues is a worthless human being.”

(Emphasis mine) I never addressed it. That much was my brainfart, and I’m pretty sure avi had no idea why my long rant seemed to point to him specifically. Again, my apologies, for not writing MORE (God forbid, eh?), but I had every intention of addressing the “worthless human being” comment as being particularly mean-spirited and uncalled for. And if I were Paul, I’d probably have muttered in reply something to the effect, “I’m sorry. You must think that I give a flying fuck what you have to say. Fuck off, k?”

But I’ll just go on faith that Paul is far too much a gentleman…

There’s a difference between being Catholic and believing Catholic, evidently. There are a good many I’ve met and a whole lot more who declare the “Catholic” title as a badge of merit, like it’s a war-ribbon pinned to their chest for some horrific past experience (I went to parochial school too. I “get it” and I’ll be the first to agree, it was horrific!) - and yet they seemingly have virtually nothing at all in common with the faith, either in their expressions or ideals. Their only connection to the term “Catholic” is to lay claim to some sort of “victimization” based on the fact that they were baptized as infants “before they had a voice.” Their problem - not mine - to fix. Again, I don’t pretend to be able to “save” anyone.

And before you or anyone else crawls up my ass, I freely admit I don’t know them or their personal circumstances (nor you mine), so it’s not an accusation of individuals, it’s a generalization of the many folk out there who share a commonality of the “Catholic Victim” status. I’ve seen it used time and time again as an attack platform against the Church - and which I have experienced from many, many individuals to draw my own, perhaps misguided conclusions. So sue me!

I’m not independently wealthy, so all I can offer anyone are my prayers. If prayers offend you - sheesh! Again, that’s your damned problem. I think it’s hysterical, in perhaps a tragic way, that whether someone says “I’ll pray for you” or “I’ll sacrifice a chicken for you”, people get all bunched-up and whiny.

Considering that nothing that *anyone* says to and about you can hurt you if you don’t validate it yourself in your own mind, I think the problem is obvious.

I’ve long gotten over it. I grew up Catholic in Utah and was told every day I’d never see heaven unless I wore funny underwear and handed over my income tax records to the local bishop for an assessment of my tithing. (Fuck them, we had the only swimming pool in the neighborhood. The same ones who “couldn’t play with me” came running with their whole miserable families when it was 105 in the shade!.) Now I live in the Deep South™ where I get essentially the same thing from the folks who stand on street-corners and shout my damnation and carry a huge mural of HELL back and forth in front of the window of my favorite pub on Friday nights. It’s hysterical! “I’ll pray for you” is as much a joke as it is a promise ’round here, I’m afraid. Laugh it off, for pete’s sake.

If my last post was snippy, with the rosary thing, yeah it was meant to be, and I apologize. And “bless your heart” is as much a Southernism for “Fuck You,” if you’re unaware. (Yeah, yeah, I’ve already decided I’ll be in confession for that later.) I was blasted with a chorus of “FUCK YOU” and “Shut the fuck up” and mock pity for my nine year old child, so I essentially replied in kind - with genu-wine Southern Charm™ to boot.

I meant what I said originally:

“What I’ve come to realize is that every faith seems to take a part of the Truth that they can identify with or wrap their minds around. No one religion is going to satisfy every population and culture.”

I understand completely that not everyone will or can fit one mold for or even BELIEVE IN “salvation” - hell, I’ve been all over the map since my parochial school daze, but I found my way back to where I’m most comfortable. For me and perhaps a few hundreds of millions of others, is a comforting, glorious place, and I don’t mind sharing. The invitation is there, but I don’t mean to cram it down anyone’s throat.

“It’s a Catholic thing, y’all wouldn’t understand,” was a poke at the amazing misconceptions that people have about the true beliefs of the Catholic Church, like the vampire thing. Idiocy like “The Da Vinci Code” has fueled even more, so I have and will continue to earnestly offer to help clarify any distortions or misunderstandings of the truth. (Please note, “truth,” not “Truth” - uncle!) Not that I’m that great at it, as evidenced here, but I know where to go for most of the answers…

Was the “I pray” bit over the top? Sure. Bad attempt at humor, but with a touch of genuine sincerity. I suck. I didn’t mean it to come off as judgmental, but I see how easily it did. When I sincerely pray for someone, I pray for what’s best for them - to lift them up, not nail them down.

I’ve walked some shitty roads and I’ve found some peace. If you feel the need to condemn me or my religion, go right ahead - be my guest. But be forewarned: it’s a burden you have to carry, and the line is pretty long, I hear.

Good luck. Whoever you are, I’ll still pray for you. And I sincerely hope there are some out there who will do the same for me - Lord knows I need it, especially from the looks of what I stirred in here… (I know, I know, “don’t count on it.”) Heh.

And save your breath - oh, hell, don’t bother. Feel free to “fuck you” all you want in my general direction. I know when to pick up my toys and go home.

Avitable - no hard feelings, but fuck you just the same. I have a feeling that if we were to ever meet, we’d probably beat the living shit out of each-other then eventually laugh while nursing a few beers (or Jaegers) past our resulting missing teeth - only to do it all over again the very next time. I’ve oft been told I don’t come across in writing anything like I am in-person. And that’s a scary thing… In life, I’m a much bigger asshole.

Here Miss Brit thought she was opening herself up to crucifixion. Heh. Happy to have carried the cross for you, even for this relatively short-haul, sister!

Jesus Tittyfucking Christ.

Both MAT and I are former Catholics, you ignorant reprobate.

Next time you decide to make assumptions, sit back, think for a second, and then go stick something long and hard up your ass instead. I’ve got a suggestion - just go give your wife some Viagra, bend over, spread ‘em, and let her go to work.