Bbc : The Passion

[synergy777]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion/

Episode 1: Sunday 16th March 2008 at 20:00 on BBC ONE

timeline of jesus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion/timeline/

episode guide

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion/episodes/


telegraph article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/16/nrowan216.xml

Why the BBC thinks Christ did not die this way

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Last Updated: 2:52am GMT 16/03/2008

With his arms outstretched, his legs straight and his hands nailed to the cross, it is the image of Jesus's crucifixion held dear by Christians for centuries.

The traditional Christ on the cross, performed at an Easter Passion parade

But now the producers of a BBC drama about Christ's final days have challenged the traditional representation, saying they believe Jesus probably did not die that way.

Instead of portraying Christ with his arms out wide and his legs straight down, The Passion will show him nailed to the cross in a foetal position, with his arms above his head and nails through his arms - the way, the producers claim, he may well have been crucified by the Romans.

Leading theologians accused the BBC of "misleading" the public and said it was ignoring the Biblical account of the crucifixion. But the makers of The Passion insist their ideas are based on new historical evidence.

Simon Elliott, the production designer, claimed that they had tried to make the drama as "historically accurate" as possible.

"The Victorian image of Jesus doesn't tie in with the historical evidence," he said.

The BBC's alternative crucifixion position

"He was probably put on a crude wooden gibbet and made to stand in a loose, foetal position. It was fiendishly designed."

While acknowledging that his ideas are likely to upset Christians, Mr Elliott argued that the position so familiar to churchgoers was only one of a range of methods used by the Romans in crucifixions.

"It is a minefield, as everyone has such strong feelings about it. Our portrayal is based on lengthy research." In particular, he said they had been influenced by the discovery of a crucified skeleton, which was found near Jerusalem in 1968 and is the only such archaeological find.

This led them to believe that Christ could well have been crucified on a T-shaped gibbet, with his arms above his head and his legs tucked up and under him so that his chest was crushed and he died of asphyxiation. Instead of having nails through his hands, they could have been driven through his arms.

The Passion has already proved controversial for appearing to exonerate Judas and Pontius Pilate for their roles in the Christ's death.

But Mark Goodacre, associate professor of religion at Duke University, who advised the producers, defended the decision to put forward an alternative representation of the crucifixion. "The Romans used a number of ways to crucify people and this was one of the most common and effective methods," he said.

"The makers wanted something that wasn't the typical image that would surprise the viewers. This is not an attempt to be iconoclastic, but to get people to look again at the events surrounding his death." He added that he thought the Bible did not actually explain in any detail the form of crucifixion employed.

Paula Gooder, a New Testament scholar, said that the traditional image had become important to Christians in understanding what the crucifixion was about.

"They have clearly decided to go for this option because it's unusual and will jolt viewers and challenge them about their assumptions," she said.

"Their portrayal causes a problem as it seems to ignore what the Bible says."

In the Book of John, Jesus says to Thomas: "Put your finger here; see my hands."

Dr Gooder, canon theologian at Birmingham Cathedral, said that the BBC's version would change the image of Jesus "throwing his arms out in a symbol of love".

She added: "There's a lot of significance attached to the traditional image that has been lost in this version and is likely to upset those who don't like a move away from what they're used to."

The Reverend George Curry, who is the chairman of the Church Society, said: "They are misleading people by distorting the facts.

"That's a serious and dangerous thing to do, but sadly utterly predictable and regrettable. Jesus's nails went through his hands, not his forearms. We should be true to history and the events that occurred."

The Passion begins tonight on BBC1. The programme is to be broadcast in four episodes, culminating on Easter Sunday with the Resurrection.

[synergy777]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1243339.stm

Tuesday, 27 March, 2001, 07:13 GMT 08:13 UK

BBC unveils hi-tech Jesus

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5354/1243954jesus300za5.jpg

Son of God "dares to ask surprising questions"

He is one of the most famous people in history but no-one knows what he looked like - until now perhaps.

Artists have traditionally represented Jesus Christ as blue-eyed, with long flowing locks, but now a new image is to be revealed.

The highlight of next season on BBC One is to be a computer-generated image of Jesus included in a new documentary about the life of Christ.

The image will be part of a new series called Son of God, and is to examine traditional Christian stories.

The programme is the centrepiece of BBC One's £253m spring and summer schedule, which was launched Monday by BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey.

BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey took over in November 2000

Ms Heggessey feels that the new series epitomises BBC One under her command.

"It is accessible, modern in its approach and it is not afraid to challenge some cast-in-stone beliefs about what makes a mainstream popular programme," she said.

The series is set to provide an investigative approach to the life of Jesus and will be presented by former BBC Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1243954.stm

Monday, 26 March, 2001, 17:16 GMT 18:16 UK

Looking for the historical Jesus

Is this the face of the Son of God?

By BBC News Online's Alex Webb

He has been the source of faith for billions of people, the inspiration of great art and music, and an excuse for war.

Son Of God is BBC One's new investigation into the life of Jesus Christ, presented by the BBC's former Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen.

Bowen admitted to BBC News Online he brought a certain amount of scepticism to the programme.

I thought you couldn't corroborate anything that was in the Gospels, frankly

Jeremy Bowen

"To start with I didn't know there was a historical character called Jesus - I thought that you had to believe in Jesus the same way as you have to believe in God.

"I discovered that in fact there is a lot of historical corroboration for the existence of this man - for example there's a Romanised Jewish historian who writes about a man called Jesus, a Jew who attained a following of people in his area, who was known as a worker of deeds and who was put to death by the authorities.

Jeremy Bowen has concentrated on the 'history' of Jesus' life

"It's a different question whether or not you believe Jesus was the Son of God and our Saviour - that's a religious question."

The series has used the latest scientific and historical research to reconstruct the main events of Jesus' life.

Gospels

Forensic and archaeological techniques have been used to reconstruct how Jesus might really have looked - from a first century Jewish skull.

"I thought you couldn't corroborate anything that was in the Gospels, frankly - it was all made up by people who were trying to push a point," said Bowen.

"But actually, amidst the fables and literature and poetry in the Gospels there's also history - we've tried to concentrate on the history."

This historical emphasis serves to support some Gospel stories - and question others.

Stable

"There are aspects of the Christmas story which aren't quite what we imagine - there are some biblical scholars who say that Jesus wasn't even born in Bethlehem, he was born in Nazareth.

"He certainly wasn't born in a stable as the picture postcards have it, made of wood with a little manger - it was more likely to have been a cave.

"That's how people kept their animals and still do in the West Bank - we went to places in the West bank where people were giving birth in the same cave as the animals."

Bowen also said his involvement with this series on the Holy Land had influenced his perception of the troubled region today.

Disputes

"No question about it - religion is as major a part of life now as it was then.

"Jesus' disputes with the temple priests are interesting in so far as you can see Jews having huge disputes now in Israel like 'Who is a Jew?'.

"And in a sense that's what Jesus was doing - there were a whole lot of people who weren't able to take part in religion because they were sick, they were lame, they were mentally ill - and he said no, he could forgive them, make them clean and they could then take part.

"These debates are every bit a vivid today as they were then."

The faith of 2 bn people

But Bowen's fascination with his subject hasn't quite gone as far as making him a believer.

"I'd say I'm not religious, really - I wouldn't rule it out.

"The important thing is not what he was or what he wasn't - the important things is what people believe him to have been.

"A massive world wide religion, numbering more than two billion people follows his memory - that's pretty remarkable, 2,000 years on."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1244037.stm

Why do we think Christ was white?

Without a beard, Caravaggio's Christ is not readily recognisable

Light-brown, shoulder-length hair. A slim, bearded and, above all, white face.

Everyone is familiar with the features of Jesus Christ. But a new BBC programme questions this image of the Son of God.

If the bulk of Western art is to be believed, the harsh sun of the Middle East did nothing to colour the skin of Jesus Christ.

Is this the real face of Christ? The BBC's new computer-modelled image

But the delicate, perhaps even equine, porcelain features of the Christ imagined by the likes of Caravaggio, El Greco and Rembrandt have little in common with the latest impression of what Jesus really looked like.

The makers of BBC One's upcoming Son of God series have employed modern forensic techniques to create a model of Christ's face based on the skull of a 1st century Jewish man.

Model good looks

The model's somewhat muscular features have a heartening "bloke down the pub" feel. Full cheeks and a sturdy nose are in marked opposition to the decidedly feminine bone structure of Jesus as depicted since before the Renaissance.

And the skin colour of this "new" Christ? Experts have decided Jesus would have been anything but pearly white. The model has a dark colouring, more realistically suited to desert climes.

Valazquez painted a pale Christ

The traditional image of Christ is perhaps the most recognisable face on the planet. And even as interest in Christianity wanes in the UK, we are still fascinated by the face of the Messiah.

Seeing Salvation: The Image of Christ, at London's National Gallery, was the UK's most visited art exhibition and the fourth most popular show in the world last year.

The 70 portraits of Christ in the show - just a fraction of the national collection's array of such works - hinted at the uniformity of how Jesus was given human form.

Familiar face

Even the lowliest members of medieval European society would have been confident that they knew what Christ looked like.

Images of his face were everywhere, in churches, homes, and on portable altarpieces belonging to rich merchants and diplomats.

Relatively cheap woodcut prints of scenes from the life of Christ even put the image of Jesus within reach of the poorer classes.

Even El Greco's enraged Christ remained delicate looking

But where did this conception of Christ come from? Nowhere in the Bible are we offered a physical description of Jesus. Indeed, the Old Testament makes it quite explicit that God looks most unfavourably on "graven images".

Early Christians contented themselves with symbols to represent their Messiah, such as the fish and the perhaps more potent Cross.

As fears of religious persecution receded, these secret symbols gave way to less oblique images of Christ.

Relying on relics

It has been argued that as Christianity spread it adopted some of the pagan taste for idols. It is also believed that one agreed physical appearance for Christ strengthened the argument against those who denied Jesus had ever taken on human form at all.

For inspiration, religious artists looked to "miraculous" likenesses of Christ. The Turin Shroud (said to have been used in Christ's burial) is the most famous relic bearing his features, but it is not the only one.

Relics were copied by artists

The Veil of Veronica was a cloth said to have been held out to Jesus, and to have taken his image, as he was led to his crucifixion at Calvary. Despite being lost in the 1500s, it still informs our ideas of what Jesus actually looked like.

Paintings based on such "true likenesses" of Christ received a boost when worshipers were told in the Middle Ages they could knock up to 10,000 years off their time in purgatory by praying in front them.

That people in Western Europe were so ready to believe their God was fair-skinned is perhaps of little surprise, especially given the cultural baggage of the Crusades, in which non-whites were seen as non-believers.

Pale imitation

The colour white is also closely identified as a sign of purity. Indeed, the fluffy white lamb (as brought to the manger by the shepherds) has often been used as a symbol of Christ's spiritual purity.

However, the BBC's Son of God model is not the first to question the whiteness of Jesus.

Christ's whiteness is now being questioned

New York's mayor Rudolph Giuliani last month became embroiled in a row over "anti-Catholic" art by taking exception to a black image of Christ.

But Mr Giuliani did not object to Renee Cox's Yo Mama's Last Supper on the grounds of Christ's skin colour. He was less than impressed that Cox herself posed naked as the Messiah.

"Why can't a woman be Christ? We are the givers of life," said Cox.

[greenleaf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1243339.stm
BBC unveils hi-tech Jesus

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5354/1243954jesus300za5.jpg

Lol Syn...so it's deff. not David Shayler then!
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/7789/shaylerxl6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[times7]

The BBC ?


LOL,LOL,LOL

LIARS<LIARS,mainstream media BBC hate the story of Christ,havent you worked that out ?

btw

The BBC agree with gay sex lessons for 5 year olds as well

[synergy777]

discernment times7, taking this approaah then nothing in the media, web, books could be trusted, which then would make even the info we use flawed.

greenleaf, i think shayler could be a shill/strawman used by his ex-employers the intelligence services. they could have mk ultra-d him, and he wouldn't even know it.

[kingmonkey]

i've seen that picture before on another documentary.They did a reconstruction on a skull of the period, like you would on a skull found at a crime scene.

The typical image of a "blue eyed" white jesus was always a bit far fetched. Although I always liked to imagine he looked like Rutger Hauer :D

[synergy777]

i think it was due to the cesare borgia clone, the vatican introduced, also the zeus similarities.

[thirdwave]

The BBC ?


LOL,LOL,LOL

LIARS<LIARS,mainstream media BBC hate the story of Christ,havent you worked that out ?

btw

The BBC agree with gay sex lessons for 5 year olds as well

they are done with it... it run its course.... need a new tool.... and are working on it.

[synergy777]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/15/nosplit/bvtvsatfeat15.xml

A new Passion

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 15/03/2008

Writer Frank Deasy and stars James Nesbitt, Ben Daniels and Joseph Mawle tell Serena Davies about a revisionist retelling of the final week in the life of Christ

Starting on Palm Sunday and concluding on Easter Sunday, BBC1 is retelling the story, in four hour-long instalments, of the last week in the life of Jesus Christ. In this new version, Mary Magdalene isn’t a prostitute, the character of Mary, mother of Jesus, has been inspired by a modern Irish schoolteacher, and Caiaphas – the Jewish High Priest who asked Pontius Pilate to crucify Christ – comes across as a surprisingly likeable fellow.

This big-budget, painstakingly researched drama will convey the Easter story from three different points of view: that of Jesus and the disciples, that of Caiaphas, and that of Pilate. If the characters emerge differently from how they come across in the Gospels, it is because scriptwriter Frank Deasy (the Emmy award-winning writer of the final episode of Prime Suspect) and his cast, which includes James Nesbitt (Murphy’s Law) as Pilate and Ben Daniels (The State Within) as Caiaphas, have been at pains to anchor the story in historical realism.

James Nesbitt stars as Pontius Pilate

“This is the week in which Jesus moves from being a relatively unknown preacher from Galilee to being a defining figure in Western culture,” says Deasy. “It’s quite a tale. And the way we’ve tried to do it is to really explore what was going on.

“Why was what Jesus was saying and doing in Jerusalem so incendiary during that week of Passover?

Why was it politically and theologically so contentious for the Jewish temple priests?

And what was the Roman Pilate’s point of view, as he tried to manage this unruly city state during the busiest religious festival of the year?” The effect of Deasy’s use of multiple viewpoints, says Ben Daniels, is to “take what we know and shine a new light on it. When I first read the script I thought anything might happen. Jesus might not have been crucified. It’s that thing when you watch Romeo and Juliet and you think, ‘Maybe she’ll wake up’. If the story’s well told, you think it can go in any direction.”

Where Deasy has taken a revisionist approach to the characters, it has been carefully thought through. The Gospels never describe Mary Magdalene as a prostitute – that was an interpretation of later eras – and scholars now believe she may have been a wealthy supporter of Jesus instead. While taking into consideration the trials Jesus’s mother endured (Mary is played here by the superb Penelope Wilton), Deasy says he has given her some of the same maternal toughness he sees in his own mother, an Irish schoolteacher.

And as for the much-maligned Caiaphas, historians have discovered that he presided over an exceptionally long era of peace in Jerusalem. Many of his contemporaries would have viewed Caiaphas as a good leader even if, as Ben Daniels puts it, “every other interpretation we’ve seen has pictured him either as a very unreligious sort of man – or virtually satanic.”

At the heart of this production, of course, is Jesus. He is played by Joseph Mawle, a relative unknown compared to some of his co-stars, but an actor who achieved acclaim in BBC2’s 2006 crime thriller Soundproof. Mawle is 33 – supposedly the same age as Jesus when He was crucified.

Understandably, Mawle was somewhat overawed to get the part. He describes the period leading up to filming as, “not quite 40 days in the wilderness, but a couple of months of panic.” Which is not a million miles away from the response James Nesbitt had to the project. “It was exciting to get a chance to retell the story,” he says. “Even if you do have the weight of 2,000 years of history upon you.”

To add to the pressure, the elaborate shoot was filmed in Morocco at the height of summer, with temperatures touching 45 degrees. “On one of the first big days of shooting,” remembers Mawle, “we were doing a scene in the market-place. We had 500 sheep, 300 birds, two camels, 19 main cast, hundreds of extras, 170 crew…” Sadly, not all the stars were cooperative. “We had a lot of trouble with the donkey,” Mawle chuckles. “It had a mind of its own. If it had a voice, I’m sure it would have been Eddie Murphy’s [who voiced the character of Donkey in the Shrek films]. It trod on every single one of the disciples’ feet at one time or another!”

The donkey was evidently unaware of the significance of the story it was helping to tell. Frank Deasy, however, hopes The Passion will restore a sense of holiness to the tale that its most recent celluloid retelling, Mel Gibson’s “brutal” The Passion of the Christ, decidedly lacked. “I suppose if that film influenced me in any way it was to reach for a more spiritual and a more tender Jesus,” he says. “A more loving Jesus.”

“That sounds terribly sugary – and I wish I hadn’t said it now,” Deasy adds, with a laugh. But the the novelty of Deasy’s version of the Passion is confined to subtle shifts of emphasis and characterisation – unlike Gibson’s visual onslaught of blood and guts. And that will strike many viewers as a blessed relief in itself.

The Passion starts on BBC1 on Sunday, 16 March at 8.00pm

[kingmonkey]

"gay sex lessons for 5 year olds" wtf are you talking about? nice incendiary comment to get everyone's moral outrage gushing to the rescue of a completely unrelated issue, ie: Jesus.

[synergy777]

king well said,

after all what the web companies, publishers etc who are involved in the conspiracy stuff directly or indirectly?

[greenleaf]

In the mel gibson film, I read somewhere..[maybe in here].. that the anti-christ was always seen with one eye [horus?].. and jesus was in the film.. is there any truth in this.

[amethyst]

Oh you posted this in two places synergy...i just responded in the "religion" section....interesting

Keeping this in mind....the NWO have highjacked the Jesus story, so they are probably thinking it will work to their advantage.......their "lies" closely parallel that of the real story of the man called Jesus.

Their (the NWO's) "story" would have to be an extremely good replica,....otherwise, it wouldn't fool the masses. It certainly will include all the bells and whistles that go along with it....ie. the possible holographics etc. etc.

[synergy777]

i think they took the life of yashuah/jesus and then added their mystery school/osiris-horus-mithras-sol invictus symbolism onto him.

[kingmonkey]

The antichrist,satan whatever in the flm had two eyes. This is him/her...

http://virtualreligion.net/forum/images/satan.jpg

[synergy777]

i've never seen the gibson film, any downloads!

[peachped]

How come the Bbc jesus doesn't look like the jesus in the passion programme? :rolleyes:

[kingmonkey]

I'm sure ya can get a torrent somewhere. From what I remember it wasn't all that good. It was more a gratuitous account of his torture and crucifiction than anything more involved.

[amethyst]

i think they took the life of yashuah/jesus and then added their mystery school/osiris-horus-mithras-sol invictus symbolism onto him.

Yes, I think you are right.....(you know your stuff, syn :D)


The antichrist,satan whatever in the flm had two eyes. This is him/her...

yeah, in "The Passion' they had the satan character, carrying a baby in it's arms (which isn't in the actual account of Jesus's life)

........I couldn't figure it out untill I realised that the "baby" represents the BIRTH OF A NEW WORLD ORDER :eek:

Representative of Satan's "child".....a coming leader......who will be the ONE...... to carry us into the NEW WORLD ORDER.

Hmmm....so just what is Mel trying to tell us?

[amethyst]

I'm sure ya can get a torrent somewhere. From what I remember it wasn't all that good. It was more a gratuitous account of his torture and crucifiction than anything more involved.

Yeah, I thought it was "over the top" on the torture and violence.

[amethyst]

How come the Bbc jesus doesn't look like the jesus in the passion programme? :rolleyes:

Yeah, James Caviezel was HOT! :D

[kingmonkey]

Yeah, James Caviezel was HOT! :D

Thanks for that Amethyst, couldn't remember who played him.:)

[amethyst]

Thanks for that Amethyst, couldn't remember who played him.:)
;)

[synergy777]

myspace message from Delly Doolittle ♥ Veganified
Date: 19 Mar 2008, 23:13
Subject:
Body:

From: Animal Rights In Spiritualism

From: LIL Hippy( MRS JONES)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Nephesh ~ Animal Rights is a Feminist Issue

----------------------------------------------------------

Undergirding the theory that it was the cheating moneychangers whom Jesus targeted as the culprits in the system of animal sacrifice, is the claim that the whole process had become "too commercial." This is akin to claiming that the institution of slavery had to be dismantled because it had became too commercial. Although both Temple sacrifices and human slavery had a firm economic foundation, it was the inherent immorality of those systems that brought together the historical forces which finally led to their collapse.

Several hundred years after prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Hosea had denounced the sacrificial slaughter of animals, Jesus carried out what is euphemistically called the Cleansing of the Temple. It was just before Passover and he disrupted the buying and selling of animals that were being purchased for slaughter. And because Christian scholars and religious leaders continue to ignore biblical denunciations of that bloody worship, they also try to obscure the reason for Christ's assault on the system.

They have done this by focusing on the moneychangers, although they were only minor players in the drama that took place. It was the cult of sacrifice that Jesus tried to dismantle, not the system of monetary exchange. In all three gospel accounts of the event, those who provided the animals for sacrifice are mentioned first: they were the primary focus of Christ's outrage.

The Gospel of John gives the most detailed account of the event.

"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the Temple, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said: 'Get out of here.

' (John 2:13-16)

Matthew's gospel does not detail the kind of animals that were being sold for slaughter, but it gives the same order of events.

"Jesus entered the Temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 'It is written,' he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer but you are making it a den of robbers.

" (Matthew21:12-13)

The same account is given in the gospel of Mark who, like Matthew, also reports that Jesus accused those at the Temple of making God's house into a "den of robbers." And there is universal acknowledgement that in both gospels, when Jesus said this, he was quoting from the prophet Jeremiah (7:11).

That prophet had hurled the same accusation at the people of his own time, almost six hundred years earlier.

He said it while standing at the Temple entrance, after he had already warned the people "do not shed innocent blood in this place." And when Jeremiah said God's house had been turned into a den of robbers it could not have had anything to do with moneychangers--they did not exist in his time.

In the time of Jeremiah, as in the time of Jesus, there was a great distinction made between "robbers" and "thieves." In contemporary times that distinction can best be understood by comparing the crime of petty theft with crimes of armed robbery by those who violently attack/kill their victims. But in ancient Israel there was an even greater distinction. A thief could be anyone who succumbed to a momentary impulse to steal something, but a robber was someone for whom violent crime and killing was a lifestyle.

Both Jesus and Jeremiah were indignant about the violence of sacrificial worship, not the possibility of petty theft by moneychangers. When they said God's house had become a den of "robbers" the Hebrew word that was used (here, transliterated) was "per-eets'" defined as "violent, i.e., a tyrant--destroyer, ravenous, robber." It was the violence of the system, the killing of innocent victims in the name of God, that they were condemning. The moneychangers operating in the time of Jesus were driven out of the Temple because they were taking part in the process of sacrificial religion, not because they may have been cheating the pilgrims.

The gospel of Mark correlates Christ's attempt to dismantle the sacrificial system with the plot to kill him. Like Matthew's gospel, Mark's account of the Temple Cleansing starts by saying that Jesus "began driving out those who were buying and selling there." It goes on to relate how he explained to the people why he was doing this, by quoting Jeremiah's opposition to animal sacrifice: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a 'den of robbers.'" And in the verse of scripture immediately following that statement, Mark reports that "The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard about this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed at his teachings.

"(Mark 11:18)

It is ridiculous to claim that the religious leaders of Christ's time would have plotted his death because he undermined the function of the moneychangers. Nor would the crowd have been "amazed at his teachings" if Jesus was simply telling them to make sure they were not short-changed when they purchased Temple coins. What the people were amazed at was his condemnation of animal sacrifice; it had been hundreds of years since that kind of condemnation had been heard in Jerusalem. And it would not be allowed.

A few days after he tried to overthrow the cult of animal sacrifice, Jesus was crucified. The religious leaders of his time were determined to preserve the belief that it had been ordained by God, who demanded its continuance.

That determination is echoed in the teachings of contemporary Christian leaders. In spite of Jesus, and in spite of the many biblical denunciations of animal sacrifice they continue to maintain the ancient fiction that it was God who demanded His creatures be killed and butchered as an act of worship.

It is understandable that in the time of Jesus the religious leaders were committed to upholding the system of Temple sacrifice at all costs: it was the center around which their lives revolved and their livelihood depended.

And in biblical times, most people were illiterate and dependant on what their religious leaders taught them concerning the scriptures. But it is not easy to understand why contemporary Christians uphold the validity of the cult of animal sacrifice. In an age of widespread literacy, there is a choice to be made. The bible clearly presents an ongoing conflict between those forces that demanded sacrificial victims in the name of God, and those forces that opposed it as a man-made perversion.

And because there is a choice to be made, it is deeply disturbing to see Christian leaders joining hands across the centuries with their ancient counterparts, in order to validate a system of worship in which the house of God became a giant slaughterhouse, awash in the blood of its victims.

*Jesus was condemned for his action to save the animals he love so much. Jesus was born surrounded by animals and he protected them till the end.

Are we ARA's not condemned by our gov't??

This quote from Wikepedia about the "money changer"

"This event satisfies the criterion of multiple attestation, and scholars of the historical Jesus generally credit this event as genuine and associate it with Jesus' arrest and crucifixion.

[synergy777]

The Passion

Episode 1
Duration: 60 minutes
Atmospheric drama re-telling the story of Jesus's final days. It's Passover in Jerusalem, and the arrival of a preacher from Galilee called Jesus causes great excitement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009kcs6.shtml?src=ip_mlt


Episode 2
Duration: 30 minutes
Atmospheric re-telling of Jesus's final days. Caiaphas is growing increasingly anxious that Jesus's preaching will provoke unrest and bring in the Romans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009kcln.shtml?src=ip_mlt


Episode 3
Duration: 60 minutes
Atmospheric re-telling of Jesus's final days. As Jesus shares his Last Supper with the disciples, Judas slips away to fetch the Temple guards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009kftc.shtml?src=ip_mlt

[synergy777]

myspace message from Delly Doolittle ♥ Veganified

Date: 23 Mar 2008, 21:04
Subject: My Testimony of Jesus and Veganism
Body:

I spent a LOT of my youth in Church. As well as attending services, my mum was the Sunday school teacher and ran a club on a Thursday night, which I also went to. Unfortunately we had some bad experiences, including my mum being judged for not attending Church when she was very ill. So after trying out a few others and finding them no better, we ended up leaving the Church for good. However, my faith in God only got stronger and I learned more of my own truth rather than one which was instilled into me. My time at Church also taught me how to be a good Samaritan, as well as kindness and compassion, and I believe this might have helped me to 'Go Veg' indirectly.

My first encounter with farm animals was at Church. There were cows in the field next door and I would climb the wall to see them; sometimes if I was lucky I would get a sloppy kiss! Then at 8 years old I saw a programme on TV showing a cow being hung up by her legs, her eyes rolling in fear, her throat being slit and left there alone to bleed to death. Not surprisingly I was very distraught.

I made the connection between the food I was eating and the defenceless animal I saw being tortured and with a supportive mum went vegetarian, then progressed to veganism at 11yrs. My mum was also woken up by my moment of realisation and went veg to.

I believe that if the Church recognised that ALL Gods creation is sacred and taught respect for all life, that most Christians would follow and teach the same to others and we would be a HUGE step ahead in creating peace on earth.

Thank the heavens that we have some awakened Christians who see this and for organisations such as Jesus Veg. com and Christian Vegetarian Association

Veganism is non-violence in action. It prevents disease, helps stop climate change, world hunger and of course helps reduce suffering. I can therefore not understand why many supposedly good hearted Christians will not support this.

It is illegal to treat a 'domestic' animal in such a way and I see so many crying out over individual domestic animal cruelty cases.. but please let's not forget the MASSES of farm and other animals being exploited and tortured for food, clothes, pointless experiments and for entertainment purposes every second of the day! They are crying out for our help NOW.

Just because you have always known something to be right, doesn't mean it is.

PLEASE think about extending compassion to ALL sentinent beings ♥

I am sharing the following video in dedication to our fellow 'farm' animal friends. For those who have their hearts open, I am sure it will touch you as it did me.

Animals are God's creatures, not human property, nor utilities,nor resources,nor commodities,but precious beings in God's sight. Christians whose eyes are fixed on the awfulness of crucifixion are in a special position to understand the awfulness of innocent suffering.The Cross of Christ is God's absolute identification with the weak,the powerless, and the vulnerable,but most of all with unprotected,undefended,innocent suffering.

Rev. Andrew Linzey

Teachings of Jesus

And Jesus said unto them....... "Behold, anew I give unto you The Law, which is not new but from old. Even as Moses gave the law to Israel after the flesh, so also I give unto you the law for the Kingdom of Israel after the Spirit. For who are the Israel of God? Even they of every nation and tribe who work righteousness, love, mercy and keep my commandments, these are true Israel of God.

" And standing upon his feet', Jesus spake saying:
Hear O Israel, THE ETERNAL ALL, Thy God is One; Many are My overseers, and My prophets. In Me all live and move, and have subsistence. Ye shall love thy God with all your understanding of the Holy Law. Ye shall love thy neighbor as yourself, even as the law instructs.

Ye shall not take away the life of any creature for your pleasure, nor for your profit, nor yet torment it; ye shall not steal the goods of any, nor gather lands and riches to yourselves, beyond your need or use.

Ye shall not eat the flesh, nor drink the blood of any slaughtered creature, nor yet anything which bringeth disorder to your health or senses , nor make impure marriages, where love and health are not, nor yet corrupt yourselves, or any creature made pure by the Holy One.

Ye shall not bear false witness against any, nor willfully deceive any by a lie to hurt them.

Ye shall not do unto others, as ye would not that others should do unto you.

Ye shall worship One Eternal, the Father-Mother in Heaven, of Whom are all things, and reverence the Holy Name; keeping sacred, Their daily holy communions. Ye shall revere your fathers and your mothers on earth, whose care is for you, and all the teachers of righteousness.

Ye shall cherish and protect the weak, and those who are oppressed, and all creatures that suffer wrong. Ye shall work with your hands the things that are good and seemly; so shall ye eat the fruits of the earth, and live long in the land.

What Happened to the Teachings of Jesus?

About the year 125 AD a process had begun that would later prove to be the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire state religion (the Catholic Church). This universal church would eventually absorb every Christian sect and pagan cult in existence, thus embracing pagan doctrines for the sake of making mass converts quickly. The Old Testament we know today is interpolated. It was rejected by the Essene and by Jesus himself. The Essene were the faithful remnant of Israel that upheld the law given to Enoch and Moses and was garbled by the priests and scribes. The Essene texts of Enoch show that Satan misleads mankind through the three most deadly sins: GREED, ......the basis for every and all sin. Gluttony .....wrong appetite of flesh diet and strong drink.

**Source**

USEFUL LINKS:

* Animal Rights In Spiritualism (A. R. I. S)

* Spiritual Campaign Material

*WWW. BBC. CO. UK/CHRISTIANITY & ANIMALS

*WWW. ALL CREATURES. ORG

*WWW. JESUSVEG. COM

*ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT EARLY CHRISTIAN VEGETARIANS

*Animal Liberation Front-Jesus Veg

*Christian Vegetarian Association

* Christian Animal Rights Effort (C. A. R. E)

*Judaism and Vegetarianism

* Community Essene

Disclaimer: For those who might be offended in thinking I am using Jesus/the bible as a tool to make people go vegan, please ask yourself if you're using them as an excuse NOT to be.

[synergy777]

The Passion

Episode 4
Duration: 30 minutes

Atmospheric re-telling of Jesus's final days. Jesus is taken from the cross and buried, but Caiaphas fears the body will be stolen. Soon after, Mary Magdalene finds his tomb empty.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009nm0h.shtml?src=ip_potpw


also tonight on channel 4, mel gibson's The Passion of Christ on at 10.35pm

[synergy777]

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9564/jesusre6.jpg