Christopher West on ABC's Nightline!

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Tezza said:
I only hope they don’t edit him out of context.:tsktsk:
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According to the Theology of the Body Institute over 8 hours of interview were taped, and it was edited down to 7 minutes.
Over eight hours of taped interviews were edited down to seven minutes. We ask for your prayers through the intercession of John Paul II that the message of The Theology of the Body will be presented authentically.
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tobinstitute.org/announcement.asp?AnnouncementsID=22
 
I agree I hope they didn’t cut it down to edit him out of contest! It will be great for this to be presented on televison worldwide. This is a good step for America to see and hear! Let the truth be known!!!
 
I didn’t see the interview but I read the write up and I was extremely disappointed in Christopher West. Steve Kellmeyer who also is a guest speaker on Theology of the Body and had to correct some of what Christopher West was saying.

Now I know that the MSM will distort what West said but West is incredibly stupid for evening mentioning Hugh Hefner. What does the owner of a porn magazine have ANYTHING to do with Theology of the Body?

Read Steve Kellmeyer’s comments here:

culturewarnotes.com/forum/content/what-does-john-paul-ii-really-say-about-sex
 
Well, how could Hugh Hefner be any sort of hero to Catholics?
 
Scoobyshme said:
Well, how could Hugh Hefner be any sort of hero to Catholics?
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Christopher West goes into detail in his book, A Love That Satifies, the motivation behind Hugh Hefner’s sexual revolution, i.e. rejection of “sex is bad” mentality because Hefner was brought up in such a puritan environment. That’s the extent of the acknowledgement that CW gives to the sexual revolution–Hefner is lookin’ for love in all the wrong places. He further develops JPII’s point that, you’re right, sex isn’t bad, it’s HOLY!!! To say that CW views Hefner as a hero, which he doesn’t, is a stretch of Nightline’s imagination. He pities Hefner because he understands his desire for intimacy, intimacy that was always intended to lead to God, not self-gratification.
 
I saw the Nightline interview and West did, in fact, drop the ball. I’m a fan, mind you. But he made the classic mistake christians make with the media of making long and complicated points that were then chopped, pulled out of context and generally used to make him look like an idiot.

West is RIGHT about Hefner in context. GK Chesterton said it best when he said (paraphrase) “Reformers are usually right about what is wrong, but almost always wrong about what is right.” That describes Hugh Hefner precisely. He got popular because he accurately exploited the genuine unhealthy sexual attitudes and beliefs common in America ("sex is a necessary evil - type of attitude). Hefner then used the natural human repugnance to such error, combined it with fallen human concupisence and POOF, you get Playboy.

But West should have seen Nightline coming a mile away. That kind of line works well in a 2 hour seminar when you have people’s full attention. It does NOT work well when you will NOT have control over the edits that take place before broadcasting. Hopefully, he learns from the experience and does better next time.
 
manualman said:
I saw the Nightline interview and West did, in fact, drop the ball. I’m a fan, mind you. But he made the classic mistake christians make with the media of making long and complicated points that were then chopped, pulled out of context and generally used to make him look like an idiot.

West is RIGHT about Hefner in context. GK Chesterton said it best when he said (paraphrase) “Reformers are usually right about what is wrong, but almost always wrong about what is right.” That describes Hugh Hefner precisely. He got popular because he accurately exploited the genuine unhealthy sexual attitudes and beliefs common in America ("sex is a necessary evil - type of attitude). Hefner then used the natural human repugnance to such error, combined it with fallen human concupisence and POOF, you get Playboy.

But West should have seen Nightline coming a mile away. That kind of line works well in a 2 hour seminar when you have people’s full attention. It does NOT work well when you will NOT have control over the edits that take place before broadcasting. Hopefully, he learns from the experience and does better next time.
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One has to wonder if it’s even possible to do an interview like this in main stream media. Should it be avoided altoghether? Or is it possible God will use it somehow? I’m sure Christopher took time in prayer to discern whether he should do the interview or not in the hope that the message would reach a wider audience.

What could he have done differently, I wonder? If they were invited to his seminar (which they were) they could’ve clipped out anything he said and it would’ve sounded scandalous. He usually makes a statement and then says, “let me explain” and breaks it down for the audience. Any of those statements could’ve been used.

IMHO, it could’ve been much worse.

The fact that West writes about Hefner in his book, “The Love That Satisfies” means ABC had access to CW’s thoughts on the matter prior to him being interviewed about it. ABC chose the hookline that Hefner is one of CW’s heroes, which he isn’t. They never asked him, “why is Hefner a hero to you?” If they had, I’m sure West would’ve said, “Whoa! Back up. I never said he was a hero.” Of course, they would’ve edited that out 😉

I posted a thread on the follow-up interview CW gave to CNA.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=336970

Peace in Christ,
Teri
 
West’s response is excellent and thorough. But 98% of the people who saw Nightline will never see it.

Surprise statements like what he said about Hefner work GREAT in live public speaking. They get attention, they wake people up and make them think, then listen. They are a terrible idea when talking to video media because only the shock line will get aired, not the full explanation.

For TV, he’d have done better by making an oblique reference to porn and the reason it appeals to so many people. Not as interesting, but not as abusable either.

Since I’m sounding VERY Monday morning quarterback, let me clarify and say I could never do as well as he does in getting this word out! Go Chris!
 
manualman said:
West’s response is excellent and thorough. But 98% of the people who saw Nightline will never see it.

Surprise statements like what he said about Hefner work GREAT in live public speaking. They get attention, they wake people up and make them think, then listen. They are a terrible idea when talking to video media because only the shock line will get aired, not the full explanation.

For TV, he’d have done better by making an oblique reference to porn and the reason it appeals to so many people. Not as interesting, but not as abusable either.

Since I’m sounding VERY Monday morning quarterback, let me clarify and say I could never do as well as he does in getting this word out! Go Chris!
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Go, Christopher, indeed!

When I went to his Head and Heart Immersion Course he was always qualifiying his statments, “Please, be careful in how you present this…” or something similar. He went on to explain the amount of backlash and criticism he has received from others, especially other Catholic theologians. You could hear the pain in his voice as he loves JPII and the message of ToB.

That week, Fr. Thomas Loya, who was the spiritual director for the course, gave a passionate homily about how priests are supposed to be Christ to the Church, their bride. By not preaching on sin, including the sin of contraception, they, in a sense, were contracepting with they’re congregation by witholding truth. (I though that was very interesting!)

After hearing that message, Christopher came back and said, “You know what? Fr. Loya is right. I can’t be afraid. I need to trust the Holy Spirit. Go spread the message of ToB!”

Anywho, just my 1 cent (that’s all I can afford right now :D)

I hope your Monday gets better.

Peace,
Teri
 
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