So the first part of the big wedding saga aired last night.
For those of you who don’t know, Matt (the oldest brother) has had a whirlwind romance and courstship with Sara who just happens to be a Jew. Matt is a ‘Christian’ whose father is a minister. Sara’s father is a Rabbi (played by Richard Lewis)
The two of them secretly eloped awhile back but now is the public wedding. A nice Jewish wedding officiated by her father. MAtt has been taking Jewish religious classes and is considering Converting. Sara’s father basically blackmails him into having to convert right before the wedding (They are reform Jews so the process can get fast tracked) MAtt is willing to do it for Sara. Matt’s father is of course against it.
This whole thing causes the marriage to be called off by the fathers and a larger rift torn between Father and Son.
But, NOT ONCE did they ever bring up Jesus! Never in any of the arguments, cajoling, or discussion about conversion was the basis of Christianity, Jesus, brought up. And a big ol’ bone of contention between Jews and Gentiles.
The Minister never said "You know to convert to Judaism you will be effectively saying that Jesus wasn’t very special.
It it REALLY that taboo for white people to talk about Jesus on a channel other than TBN?
I saw the episode too, though I haven’t watched in a while.
Just to nitpick: the Rabbi makes a point of saying that they’re Reform Jews, not Orthodox, not Conservative, so the conversion process can be fast tracked. But, if they’re Reform Jews, why does Matt need to convert? Isn’t it okay for a Reform Jewish girl to marry a Gentile? And why does the rehearsal dinner need to be Kosher?
I may be under a gross misapprehension here, but I thought that the rules for Reform Jews weren’t as strict as those for Orthodox Jews. Can someone help me out here?
The idea is that in several network TV shows you can hear Black people often shout “Praise Jesus!”, sometimes sincerely. White people for some reason do not make mention of Jesus at all, even in religious shows. The exceptions of course, include Linus Van Pelt’s recital in A Charlie Brown Christmas, which when shown for teh first few times generated some controversy.
Well, never having really gotten involved with show in question (I think I caught 5 minutes of it once) I can’t comment on the particulars but it seems to be your typical Aaron Spelling pretty people with problems potboiler. The absence of “Jesus” as a point of discussion in the context of the plot you described is incredibly absurd in a real world sense, but what do you expect for the type of show it is? It’s a hell of a lot easier and safer to talk about teen suicide and other angst issues that everyone can identify with than fundamental religious differences.
With respect to the issue you mentioned, do you really think any prime time drama is going to get into bedrock religious issues and beliefs with a show geared to teen and young adult audiences? I think your expectations of the show are a little too high.
his Christian upbringing, Matt doen’t believe in the divinity of Jesus. I hope he, at least, still believes in God. Or maybe he and his pre-med wife just believe in a scientific world view, without any spiritual values whatsoever.
Does Ruthie remind anyone else of The Abomination from Dune?
I think that Jesus isn’t mentioned in this episode because the show does not want to produce an unbridgable rift between the two families. This is just a WAG of course.
astro, the show is a religion-angled show. It’s preachy, the dad’s a minister, etc. The fact that the main family is Christian is not incidental, it’s very central to the theme of the show. It’s not quite in the same vein as other prime-time dramas you mentioned, so yes, expectations for this show as far as discussing religious issues are a little higher.
Ruthie has indicated that she is inconspicuous and sneaky, too.
Therefore, she is usually able to know everything or at least to figure it out. She’s smarter than anyone else, too.
I rarealy watch the show… in fact, I haven’t seen it at all in two years, probably. But I’m not surprised.
Look, fact is, MOST shows that are perceived as “Christian” never mention Jesus and rarely dwell on him. “Touched By an Angel” may mention Jesus, but never when I’ve seen it. Frankly, I’ve never seen ANY “Christian” TV series rise above upbeat fortune cookie philosophy and generic religious platitudes like “God loves you.”
Even when shows revolve around Christian clergymen of one stripe or another, Christ is treated as an afterthought, if he’s give any treatment at all.
Touched by an Angel isn’t Christian… They have made a huge point of NOT being christian. Just because it is religious doesn’t mean it is necessaily one faith. Seventh Heaven on the other hand HAS said they are chrisitans.
I believe Ruthie found out because she walked into the room where MAtt and Sara were calling eachother Mr. and Ms. Camdem and thye failed to play it off like a joke so Ruthie figured out they were already hitched.
Actually, there was an episode a few weeks back where they had dinner with Sara’s family, and Matt’s dad did bring it up. (That was when it was all sort of sprung on him by surprise, right there at the dinner table.)
He looked at Matt and said something to the effect of “Did you give any thought to the things you’ve been taught since birth, like, oh, maybe the divinity of Jesus Christ?”
Yes, Joe, I HAVE seen “Little House on the Prairie,” and based on the few epsiodes I saw, it too falls into the category of “upbeat, vaguely religious, but not particularly Christian.”
Over the years, there have been a host of wholesome, “family” shows that non-Christians ASSUME are blatantly Christian, but rarely treat God as anything more than an amiable abstraction, and pretty much ignore Jesus. “Little House” was one, “The Waltons” was another. “Dr. Quinn” and “Touched by an Angel” fall into that category, too.
As I said earlier, I rarely watch “Seventh Heaven,” but the few times I saw it, Christianity was downplayed, in favor of warm, fuzzy, generically “positive” messages. The platitudes I heard sounded more like Ward Cleaver than like Jesus.
If the show was USUALLY this non-denominational, if Christianity was ALWAYS treated as an abstraction like this,small wonder the minister’s kid was unaware that Christianity and Judaism aren’t the same thing.