The Arminian view of Calvinism? (humor)

This is a scene from Monty Pyton's The Life of Brian, which (IMO) was actually a quite funny movie and -- although its message is definitely not Christian -- it was not as anti-Christian as I would have expected. Regardless, this decidedly non-Biblical scene is almost a charicature of the Arminian view that some people just don't want to be saved, and therefore shouldn't be saved against their free will.

EX-LEPER: All right, sir. My final offer: half a shekel for an old ex-leper.

BRIAN: Did you say... 'ex-leper'?

EX-LEPER: That's right, sir. Sixteen years behind the bell, and proud of it, sir.

BRIAN: Well, what happened?

EX-LEPER: I was cured, sir.

BRIAN: Cured?

EX-LEPER: Yes, sir, a bloody miracle, sir. God bless you.

BRIAN: Who cured you?

EX-LEPER: Jesus did, sir. I was hopping along, minding my own business. All of a sudden, up he comes. Cures me. One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood's gone. Not so much as a by your leave. 'You're cured mate.'.... Bloody do-gooder.

BRIAN: Well, why don't you go and tell him you want to be a leper again?

EX-LEPER: Ah, yeah. I could do that, sir. Yeah. Yeah, I could do that, I suppose. What I was thinking was, I was going to ask him if he could make me a bit lame in one leg during the middle of the week. You know, something beggable, but not leprosy, which is a pain in the arse, to be blunt. Excuse my French, sir, but, uh--

MANDY: Brian! Come and clean your room out.

BRIAN: There you are.

EX-LEPER: Thank you, sir. Thanks-- Half a denary for me bloody life story?

BRIAN: There's no pleasing some people.

EX-LEPER: That's just what Jesus said, sir.

[ November 29, 2002, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: npetreley ]

 

I'm afraid I don't agree (and I have seen the movie). It's not a Biblical movie, it does promote autonomy over dedication to Jesus, but it makes a mockery of men, not Jesus.

John Cleese once said that their original idea was to mock Jesus, but after reading the Gospels, they decided there really wasn't anything to mock. So they changed the focus of the script. I doubt if any of them ever got saved afterward (not that I could know one way or another), but I find their honest reaction to the Gospels interesting.

 

Well, I agree that their last movie, "The Meaning of Life" was probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen (except for the salmon mousse dinner, which I thought was pretty funny). But IMO the Life of Brian had a lot of extremely clever humor, and some slapstick goofiness that I just happen to enjoy.

(The scene where Michael Palin does Pilate with a speech impediment is classic -- "He has spiwit!" "Uh, what, sir?" "Spiwit! Bwavado! A touch of dewwing do!" "Uh, about eleven, sir.")

It also had some really nasty moments (I find the ending song VERY offensive). So it's not that I recommend the movie, just that some parts are very funny and well done.

 

If I recall correctly, the response was something like, "Well, it's not meant to be taken literally. He's referring to all dairy products."