New film about Mr. Rogers

Here in the United States, we don't allow tax dollars to fund religious Proselytising, (for good reason) and Mr Rogers Neighborhood was a publicly funded program on a government-run TV channel.

Once we allow ONE religion to be pushed by our government, we must allow equal time for all others, since we equally tax people of all religions..

Is that what you would have preferred? Mr "Christain" Rogers show followed by Mr Mohamud's Muslim Neighborhood, Mr Finkelstein's Jewish Culdesac, Mr Lee's Zen World, Mr Teslas Atheist playhouse, and Mr Lucifers Wiccan wonderland ?

Really?

parousia70 said:

Here in the United States, we don't allow tax dollars to fund religious Proselytising, (for good reason) and Mr Rogers Neighborhood was a publicly funded program on a government-run TV channel.

Once we allow ONE religion to be pushed by our government, we must allow equal time for all others, since we equally tax people of all religions..

Is that what you would have preferred? Mr "Christain" Rogers show followed by Mr Mohamud's Muslim Neighborhood, Mr Finkelstein's Jewish Culdesac, Mr Lee's Zen World, Mr Teslas Atheist playhouse, and Mr Lucifers Wiccan wonderland ?

Really?

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Nope. And I believe very strongly in the separation of Church and state. Please go back and read my previous posts if you want to know where I am coming from with my concerns.

There is a message being sent in the media, Christians would do well to pay attention..

amariselle said:

I’ll answer your question with a question: if you were given the opportunity to share the Gospel (especially as an minister of the Gospel) would you do so?

See, it’s not difficult to say to people, “I know we don’t agree on who or what God is, so let’s just put all that aside and come together in “love.” Everyone (for the most part) agrees that we should be kind to one another.

You’d better believe this is happening. It is in fact the overall message of “unity” today.

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His program on PBS was not such an opportunity.

derpytia said:

I'm not sure it's totally good to debate over a Christian man's contributions in the past like this after he is already passed on.

I grew up watching Mr. Rogers and he did a lot more than just teach children to be kind and considerate. There were quite a few episodes where he spoke to his child viewers about hard subjects that weren't talked about openly in the past like death, being sad, treating people of other races with love and respect, and being okay with differences such as looks and even severe disability. And he treated each hard subject with care and kindness and explained it in a child friendly way so that it could be understood and dealt with healthily in real life.

I can't go to the theaters and see this new movie but somehow I know that it will either be rife with political undertones which is not what Mr. Rogers was about or it will gloss over his contribution to PBS without really digging in to the actual person he was including his Christian faith.

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From what I'm hearing about the movie, your fears may be unfounded.

RDKirk said:

His program on PBS was not such an opportunity.

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As I said, you can go back and read my posts. I believe I have very valid concerns, given that he was a Presbyterian minister. (By choice).

The overall message going out to the world is definitely one of humanism and Godless unity. (And it is very present in the Church as well).

In any case, I have shared my concerns, respectfully, and everyone here is entitled to their opinion on the matter.

amariselle said:

The overall message going out to the world is definitely one of humanism and Godless unity. (And it is very present in the Church as well).

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Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself ?

A_Thinker said:

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself ?

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No. I have spoken against loving our "neighbour".

amariselle said:

No. I have spoken against loving our "neighbour".

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Who is "our neighbor" ?

A_Thinker said:

Who is "our neighbor" ?

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29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

amariselle said:

As I said, you can go back and read my posts. I believe I have very valid concerns, given that he was a Presbyterian minister. (By choice)..

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I'm not a Presbyterian, but most of the Presbyterians I know, seem to be pretty good Christians.

My favorite line from him growing up "I like you just the way you are".

I think he was the closest thing to Jesus in the modern day...

Here is his closing goodbye statement from when he ended his program.

amariselle said:

I’m just curious what you mean by “doing the will of God?”

Obviously God wants us to be kind, and to treat others with love, dignity and respect, but at the expense of the Gospel?

I mean, so many religions and atheism also are by and large in agreement with “the Golden Rule”, so that’s not the issue. If you take away the Gospel, however, you can very quickly be left with a “feel good” message of good works and humanism that may endure for this life, and may bring many together in some kind of “unity”, but at the expense of the only message that truly saves and offers lasting hope.

That article I shared earlier says it well, cautioning against Christians “replacing the cross with the Golden Rule.”

Just some thoughts.

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Jesus not only said to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and your neighbor as yourself. He said all the law and the prophets boil down to those 2 commandments. Now, there are many who claim to believe in the golden rule, but few actually live it. They live by eye for an eye and survival of the fittest. This is where Christians should out shine others. Christians should be showing others how Jesus transforms our hearts to live out what others only say. This is where Christians should emerge as authentic.

So, if Christians only say it, but don't mean it, like everyone else, then you are right that we are just part of the crowd. But the problem isn't that we share the golden rule as an ideal. The problem is when it does not prove out to be our way of life. The problem is when we don't define ourselves as closest to actually doing it.

akaDaScribe said:

Jesus not only said to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and your neighbor as yourself. He said all the law and the prophets boil down to those 2 commandments. Now, there are many who claim to believe in the golden rule, but few actually live it. They live by eye for an eye and survival of the fittest. This is where Christians should out shine others. Christians should be showing others how Jesus transforms our hearts to live out what others only say. This is where Christians should emerge as authentic.

So, if Christians only say it, but don't mean it, like everyone else, then you are right that we are just part of the crowd. But the problem isn't that we share the golden rule as an ideal. The problem is when it does not prove out to be our way of life. The problem is when we don't define ourselves as closest to actually doing it.

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I never once said Christians shouldn’t live out the “Golden Rule” or love our neighbour. That was never my point.

The point is this, the Greatest Commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength, and the second is like it, to love our neighbour as ourself.

I truly believe that one cannot actually love their neighbour unless they first love God, which is the Greatest Commandment. And I would seriously question whether one loves God of they don’t share the truth of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ/encourage brothers and sisters in the faith.

Many religions are very good at humanitarian works, but they do not know or care about the true God, they either do not know or care about the Gospel. In fact, almost all of the world religions are works based in their idea of salvation/the afterlife. This ideology can truly cause people to become zealous for good works, but not from a heart that knows or loves God.

And, the danger with false unity and agendas like “coexist” is that it really is quite attractive to suggest that the “Golden Rule” and having love for our neighbours is all that humanity needs. So, since we cannot agree on God, let us put all of that aside and just come together in “love.” And this is in fact happening in our world.

As Christians we must understand that if we don’t even heed the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, what kind of love is it that we are showing our neighbour? Is it okay to do humanitarian works and forget about the Gospel?

And as for the “Golden Rule”, I don’t know about you, but I am immensely grateful for my parents, who raised me to know my Lord and Saviour, Jesus, and for all my brothers and sisters in Christ who have encouraged me in the faith over the years. So, I want to do unto others as I would have done to me. Honestly, how is it love to withhold the only Hope this dying world has, the Gospel?

If I hadn’t already been told the truth about Jesus, I would sure hope someone would tell me. After all, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Yes we should absolutely care for the physical, mental and emotional needs of others, but let us not forget their spiritual needs as well.

amariselle said:

I never once said Christians shouldn’t live out the “Golden Rule” or love our neighbour. That was never my point.

The point is this, the Greatest Commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength, and the second is like it, to love our neighbour as ourself.

I truly believe that one cannot actually love their neighbour unless they first love God, which is the Greatest Commandment. And I would seriously question whether one loves God of they don’t share the truth of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ/encourage brothers and sisters in the faith.

Many religions are very good at humanitarian works, but they do not know or care about the true God, they either do not know or care about the Gospel. In fact, almost all of the world religions are works based in their idea of salvation/the afterlife. This ideology can truly cause people to become zealous for good works, but not from a heart that knows or loves God.

And, the danger with false unity and agendas like “coexist” is that it really is quite attractive to suggest that the “Golden Rule” and having love for our neighbours is all that humanity needs. So, since we cannot agree on God, let us put all of that aside and just come together in “love.” And this is in fact happening in our world.

As Christians we must understand that if we don’t even heed the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, what kind of love is it that we are showing our neighbour? Is it okay to do humanitarian works and forget about the Gospel?

And as for the “Golden Rule”, I don’t know about you, but I am immensely grateful for my parents, who raised me to know my Lord and Saviour, Jesus, and for all my brothers and sisters in Christ who have encouraged me in the faith over the years. So, I want to do unto others as I would have done to me. Honestly, how is it love to withhold the only Hope this dying world has, the Gospel?

If I hadn’t already been told the truth about Jesus, I would sure hope someone would tell me. After all, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Yes we should absolutely care for the physical, mental and emotional needs of others, but let us not forget their spiritual needs as well.

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Who said we had to?
I'm not saying to heap praise on other religions. I'm not saying let's ignore our differences for the sake of unity. I am saying that when someone lives their life in a way that reflects well on the ways of God, it is a major aspect of ministry. This is not to say that we should never share the gospel. Rather it is to say that we want our behaviors to align with the scriptures so that we are a credible example of why our religion is worth following. Someone who is nasty towards other people and preaches the gospel, hurts the message. Someone who does good works without establishing that they are Christian also hurts the gospel because there is no association between the behavior and the beliefs. That person fails as an ambassador. But not every person has to preach the gospel every waking moment. Otherwise it would seem that we only behave the way we do to get others to become part of our religion. It was not unreasonable for mr. Rogers to not try to preach the gospel on his show when he was being paid to a specific job which was not to preach the gospel. When you mentioned something about him not saying Jesus was the way when asked about it, that was very disappointing.

akaDaScribe said:

Who said we had to?
I'm not saying to heap praise on other religions. I'm not saying let's ignore our differences for the sake of unity. I am saying that when someone lives their life in a way that reflects well on the ways of God, it is a major aspect of ministry. This is not to say that we should never share the gospel. Rather it is to say that we want our behaviors to align with the scriptures so that we are a credible example of why our religion is worth following. Someone who is nasty towards other people and preaches the gospel, hurts the message. Someone who does good works without establishing that they are Christian also hurts the gospel because there is no association between the behavior and the beliefs. That person fails as an ambassador. But not every person has to preach the gospel every waking moment. Otherwise it would seem that we only behave the way we do to get others to become part of our religion. It was not unreasonable for mr. Rogers to not try to preach the gospel on his show when he was being paid to a specific job which was not to preach the gospel. When you mentioned something about him not saying Jesus was the way when asked about it, that was very disappointing.

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I don’t think we actually disagree for the most part. Just to bring it back to the topic of the thread, the movie about Mr. Rogers, I do believe my concerns are valid in regard to one of the overall messages promoted by it. (At least according to the trailer). As I pointed out in my initial post, Focus Features also released “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word” last month, and it seems both movies have a very similar message. A message of healing and uniting this broken world with “love.”

It’s not a new message, but it seems to be more and more forcefully presented.

You’ve heard of the song “Imagine” by John Lennon? That’s a pretty good example of what I’m concerned about.

amariselle said:

As I pointed out in my initial post, Focus Features also released “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word” last month, and it seems both movies have a very similar message. A message of healing and uniting this broken world with “love.”

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amariselle said:

It’s not a new message, but it seems to be more and more forcefully presented.

You’ve heard of the song “Imagine” by John Lennon? That’s a pretty good example of what I’m concerned about.

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"Imagine" was pretty cynical in that the responsibility for the evils of the world were placed upon religion, in particular. The premise of the song was imagining "no heaven", "no religion", "no countries", etc., ... and that the elimination of these ideas and institutions would usher in a time of peace and an equitable sharing of the world's resources between its people.

These latest movies feature men of God, whose lives are presented as examples of the love of God. These are men, who are clearly documented to have represented the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.

And these men are not only presenting their ideas, beliefs, and convictions for life, ... but are also ACTING to show forth the love of God into the hearts of those in the world.

A somewhat justified criticism of the Church is that, at times in the past, it has minored in showing forth the very love it claims to represent (resulting in the proliferation of ideas such as those presented in the song "Imagine").

I would think that the love shown by Pope Francis, Mr. Rogers, and many others would result in some people giving christianity another look ....

A_Thinker said:

"Imagine" was pretty cynical in that the responsibility for the evils of the world were placed upon religion, in particular. The premise of the song was imagining "no heaven", "no religion", "no countries", etc., ... and that the elimination of these ideas and institutions would usher in a time of peace and an equitable sharing of the world's resources between its people.

These latest movies feature men of God, whose lives are presented as examples of the love of God. These are men, who are clearly documented to have represented the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.

And these men are not only presenting their ideas, beliefs, and convictions for life, ... but are also ACTING to show forth the love of God into the hearts of those in the world.

A somewhat justified criticism of the Church is that, at times in the past, it has minored in showing forth the very love it claims to represent (resulting in the proliferation of ideas such as those presented in the song "Imagine").

I would think that the love shown by Pope Francis, Mr. Rogers, and many others would result in some people giving christianity another look ....

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I encourage you to do more research into the terrible things Pope Francis has said about Jesus and the Christian faith, if that is your view.

As I said, there is no true love without the truth.

(Also, you may want to research Catholicism, and the Ecumenical Movement)

amariselle said:

I encourage you to do more research into the terrible things Pope Francis has said about Jesus and the Christian faith, if that is your view.

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Why not save me the trouble of googling "terrible things Pope Francis has said about Jesus and the Christian faith". What, in your view, has been so terrible ?

I am fairly conversant on the subject of Catholicism ... and about efforts to achieve more unity within the Church.

I'm not a Catholic, ... but I think that Francis is a breath of fresh air ...

A_Thinker said:

"Imagine" was pretty cynical in that the responsibility for the evils of the world were placed upon religion, in particular. The premise of the song was imagining "no heaven", "no religion", "no countries", etc., ... and that the elimination of these ideas and institutions would usher in a time of peace and an equitable sharing of the world's resources between its people.

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That would be North Korea. Doesn't sound so great to me.