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Re: the rasta temptation & the almighty use of words
> i just recently saw the movie this year ("last temptation of christ,"
> that is). i remember when it came out. the christians in southern
> california (and at my church there) were starting rallies and
> picketing the movie theatres and movie company, etc. i was too young
> at the time to even be interested in it. when did it come out?
1988. Sometime before October. I turned 18 on October 1 of that year,
and I know that I was 17 years old when the film came out, and thus had to
sneak into the theatre to see it. (I say "sneak", but all I mean by that
is that the theatre staff didn't check my age at the door. They *did*,
however, check our bags to make sure no one brought any weapons in.)
> anyway, the thing that gets me about the protest about it was that the
> christians were protesting it without even seeing it. this happens all
> too often.
Yup. And the *real* irony is that, deep down, the protestors and the film
were in deep agreement on perhaps the film's most controversial aspect:
for filmmakers and protestors alike, sexuality and spirituality don't mix.
On the one hand, the film promoted the idea that Jesus had to reject the
flesh, including sex and reproduction, in order to fulfill his spiritual
destiny; on the other hand, the protestors were offended at the very idea
that anyone would ever depict Jesus having sex with his wife in a
hypothetical situation. (I began asking people, around that time, whether
they believed Jesus had ever had wet dreams. Physiologically, he'd be a
freak if he never had them, especially if he was a lifelong celibate.)
Me, I think both sides of that particular debate were wrong.
> didn't paul use some strong words in one of his epistles that was about
> the equivalent of "shit"...? i think it gets translated as "dung" or
> something in our english bibles.
That would be Philippians 3:8. The wimpy NIV uses the word "rubbish", but
evangelical commentator Earl Palmer, without quite using the modern
equivalent, is pretty clear that Paul is using strong language there.
Also, in at least one of the gospels, Jesus is quoted using a Macedonian
word which Thomas Cahill (author of _Desire of the Everlasting Hills_ and
_How the Irish Saved Civilization_) translates as "shithole". Other
translations use the word "sewer", while the NIV leaves the relevant word
out altogether. Cahill says Jesus was using a slang word that would have
shocked Matthew's readers; however, given that Jesus almost certainly
spoke Aramaic and not Greek, I doubt that Jesus *himself* used the
Macedonian word in question. Still, either way, it's there in the Bible.
--- Peter T. Chattaway ------------------------ petert at interchg_ubc.ca ---
"I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
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