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Dave Armstrong
Network Apologist
| Joined: | Fri Nov 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Melvindale, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 1868 |
| First Name: | Dave | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Evangelical (1977): Diverse Protestant Influences / Catholic in 1990 |
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 04:05 pm |
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My friend Stan Williams alerted me to another remarkable joint project of Catholic-evangelical cooperation, in his article that will be published at Catholic Exchange:
During this same period, in 1970, Bright organized an effort to make a movie about Jesus. The result was The Jesus Film, released in 1979 by Warner Brothers and co-directed by veteran filmmakers John Krish and Peter Sykes. An Evangelical missionary to Rome, Rev. Martin Lombardo (Jesus Cares Ministry), who every day kneels in front of St. Peter's and prays for the pope and the Catholic Church, handed a video copy of The Jesus Film to a Vatican prelate he had befriended. Within a year the Vatican had ordered thousands of copies for worldwide distribution and helped translate the film into hundreds of languages. Thanks to the Catholic Church, Bill Bright's Jesus film is the most watched film of all time, and has been reportedly translated into over 1,000 languages. Today, this Campus Crusade produced film that came out of Bill Bright's personal vision over 50 years ago, is distributed by the Vatican, and strongly supported by the American Catholic bishops (Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit is the Ecclesiastical Advisor). It is available through Millennium Films International of Ann Arbor, MI.
[my emphasis added]
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I'm happy to offer whatever theological & personal assistance I can. My blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, contains 2000+ papers & web pages (absolutely free) & 16 apologetic books (for sale):
http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/
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EMarshallBuckles
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| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 656 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 05:00 pm |
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Well, regarding the Jesus film, I would kind of tend to doubt the part of it being the "most watched film of all time". However, apparently Southern Baptist missions organizations, other evangelical organizations and, of course, Campus Crusade for Christ among others, have caused it to be fairly widespread. I have seen the film and feel that while it sort of presents a "G" rated (or whatever the rating for all audiences is these days) view of the what happened on Good Friday, it does seem to me to provide a fairly good, very basic introduction to who Jesus is and why He did what He did for us. No, it's not going to cause people to head off immediately for the Roman Catholic Church, however, it can sort of "plant the seed' for people to come to faith. Currently, I "leave open the door" that the Roman Catholic Church may well be THE church PERIOD. I am not debating that. I simply humbly, respectfully submit that sometimes I have seen evidence that our Heavenly Father may well let some things happen, at times, to help "shepherd" people to Christ. I certainly think that He DOES work through the Roman Catholic Church (a point I would argue with some evangelicals who hold the opposite point of view - you all ARE our brothers and sisters in Christ, no doubt about that in my mind or heart), even so, I do see much evidence that God is also what some evangelicals have called, using descriptive imagery, "the Heavenly Hound', so to speak, who will continue to seek us, to bring us to Himself up to the very last nanosecond of life or, at least, close to that very last time in life. I do think that, as a popular Christian song says, "Our God is an AWESOME God...!!!" By the way, I had not been aware of Rev. Lombardo praying in front of the Vatican every day. I think that his efforts could and should be much better spent elsewhere.
Oh well, all this just in my humble opinion, of course! Respectfully, Marshall
Last edited on Fri Nov 30th, 2007 05:03 pm by EMarshallBuckles
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Dave Armstrong
Network Apologist
| Joined: | Fri Nov 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Melvindale, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 1868 |
| First Name: | Dave | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Evangelical (1977): Diverse Protestant Influences / Catholic in 1990 |
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 05:13 pm |
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According to The New York Times and BBC News, it is indeed the most watched film in history; seen by over two billion people. See the Wikipedia article on the movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(1979_film)
____________________
I'm happy to offer whatever theological & personal assistance I can. My blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, contains 2000+ papers & web pages (absolutely free) & 16 apologetic books (for sale):
http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/
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EMarshallBuckles
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| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 656 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Sat Dec 1st, 2007 01:28 am |
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Dave Armstrong wrote: According to The New York Times and BBC News, it is indeed the most watched film in history; seen by over two billion people. See the Wikipedia article on the movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(1979_film)
O I C  ! I stand corrected! Whoa! Two BILLION people! And I still think that the Rev. Lombardo needs to go pray somewhere else like maybe for the Italian government or someone who really needs it!
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Credo Catholic
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| Joined: | Sat May 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Greenville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 1479 |
| First Name: | Marsha | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Sat Dec 1st, 2007 04:24 pm |
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| When my son visited a local Baptist church with a friend, he filled out the usual visitor's card. Later in the week, two church members knocked on our door asking for him but he wasn't home. They left him a "goodie bag" containing The Jesus Film video, a bag of microwave popcorn, and a bulletin and other material about their church, including available activities, and said how they would love for him to return to attend their church. I have said before there are good valid reasons that the catholic church doesn't hunt down visitors each week (Catholics often visit other parishes for different reasons, not looking for a church home). But this Baptist church was doing some good evangelization.
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Dave Armstrong
Network Apologist
| Joined: | Fri Nov 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Melvindale, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 1868 |
| First Name: | Dave | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Evangelical (1977): Diverse Protestant Influences / Catholic in 1990 |
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Posted: Sat Dec 1st, 2007 05:34 pm |
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And I still think that the Rev. Lombardo needs to go pray somewhere else like maybe for the Italian government or someone who really needs it!
If you believe prayer can be retroactive (apply to the past), then it is still relevant.  I wrote about that somewhere once . . . But the pope and the Catholic Church can sure use all the prayers for it that are graciously offered by our Protestant brethren.
____________________
I'm happy to offer whatever theological & personal assistance I can. My blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, contains 2000+ papers & web pages (absolutely free) & 16 apologetic books (for sale):
http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/
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EMarshallBuckles
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 656 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Sat Dec 1st, 2007 07:26 pm |
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Credo Catholic wrote: When my son visited a local Baptist church with a friend, he filled out the usual visitor's card. Later in the week, two church members knocked on our door asking for him but he wasn't home. They left him a "goodie bag" containing The Jesus Film video, a bag of microwave popcorn, and a bulletin and other material about their church, including available activities, and said how they would love for him to return to attend their church. I have said before there are good valid reasons that the catholic church doesn't hunt down visitors each week (Catholics often visit other parishes for different reasons, not looking for a church home). But this Baptist church was doing some good evangelization.
Cool! A movie and popcorn, ha, ha! Love it! Oh yeah, I understand about not hunting down visitors. Sometimes that can result in just ticking off people. Amusing story - when my wife and I moved to the Richmond, VA area, in 1979, we ended up joining First Baptist Church which has somewhere around 3,000 members. Frankly, at the time, we were busy with our jobs and new to the "big city", we knew that if we joined a smaller church, they would likely be after us to be active and we were just not comfortable with that at the time. Anyway, we had heard that sometimes First Baptist was not good about follow up with visitors or new members but did not really mind that nobody came to visit or follow up with us after we joined. However, imagine our great surprise when, one evening in 1986, we heard a knock on our door. Opening the door, we found standing there an elderly gentleman who introduced himself as "Bud", a Deacon from First Baptist (Baptist Deacons, as you will recall, are more like the committee who oversees secular affairs for a Catholic Church or for churches of other denominations). We invited him in and were greatly startled, as well as greatly amused, that "Bud" was there to pay us our "New Member, Welcome to First Baptist visit"! Yep, SEVEN YEARS later they had finally gotten around to it! Ha, ha! We all had a good laugh and a nice visit. We still smile and shake hands with Bud when we see him when we are at First Baptist. He's in his 90s now and still gets around!
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EMarshallBuckles
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 656 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Sat Dec 1st, 2007 07:31 pm |
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Dave Armstrong wrote: . . . But the pope and the Catholic Church can sure use all the prayers for it that are graciously offered by our Protestant brethren.
Oh, I certainly frequently remember all my good Catholic brothers and sisters in prayers, including His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, thanking God for you all and asking His continued blessings upon you all! I am grateful for all that you all do in service to our Lord Jesus Christ!
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Dave Armstrong
Network Apologist
| Joined: | Fri Nov 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Melvindale, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 1868 |
| First Name: | Dave | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Evangelical (1977): Diverse Protestant Influences / Catholic in 1990 |
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Posted: Mon Dec 3rd, 2007 02:22 pm |
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What a marvelous attitude of charity. Good for you! We should have such zeal to pray for our Protestant brothers and sisters . . .
____________________
I'm happy to offer whatever theological & personal assistance I can. My blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, contains 2000+ papers & web pages (absolutely free) & 16 apologetic books (for sale):
http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/
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