Zeitgeist - Part 1: The Greatest Story ever told

(Re: Story Of Jesus)

Part 1 of Zeitgeist makes numerous direct challenges and contradictions to common Christian beliefs. Its thesis can easily be summed up in a sentence near the end of this segment:

The reality is, Jesus was …was a mythical figure. It was the political establishment that sought to historize the Jesus figure for social control…. thus began a long history of Christian bloodshed and spiritual fraud. And for the next 1600 years, the Vatican maintained a political stranglehold on all of Europe, leading to such joyous periods as the Dark Ages, along with enlightening events such as the Crusades, and the Inquisition….Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age.

Clearly such words will outrage devout Christians while appealling to many anti-Christians.

The basis and origins of part 1 comes from a very narrow interpretation of religion and mythology that not only flatly denies any legitimacy to church canon, but also denies the very existence of Jesus even in the historical sense. The context of their arguments is usually accompanied by considerable disdain for the church itself and reflects a general disregard of believers as being gullible.

Religion often does comes down to personal interpretations and belief. Webskeptic respects objective exploration and interpretation. However, the general hostility expressed in Zeitgiest for the church shows a considerable bias and thus cannot be trusted as an objective interpretation.

Webskeptic is providing rebuttal links below for the Zeitgiest viewer who would like to explore this topic further.

Extranal links:

Rebuttal Links:

"Jesus Myth" article on Wikipedia

Link: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_myth_hypothesis]

Excerpt

The idea of Jesus as a myth is rejected by the majority of biblical scholars and historians. In 2004, Richard Burridge and Graham Gould stated that they did not know of any "respectable" scholars that held the view today. Robert E. Van Voorst has stated that biblical scholars and historians regard the thesis as "effectively refuted".

"Zeitgeist" Online Movie: Part One Refuted (preventingTruthDecay.org)

Link: [http://www.preventingtruthdecay.org/zeitgeistpartone.shtml]

Excerpt

In the case of Part I of “Zeitgeist,” the majority of its source material is derived from the New Age author, Acharya S,’ book, The Christ Conspiracy. The film’s producer even writes the following on the source page for Part I: “Special thanks to Acharya S for her consultation for this section.” Acharya S’ real name is D.M. Murdock.

Blog: Ben Witherspoon

Link: [http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/12/zeitgeist-of-zeitgeist-movie.html]

Excerpt

What do we notice about this list of sources (cited by the film)? Not a single one of these authors and sources are experts in the Bible, Biblical history, the Ancient Near East, Egyptology, or any of the cognate fields.

Video: Zeitgeist Refuted

Link: [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7572663630528394775]

Excerpt (from description)

Even secular scholars have rejected the idea of Christianity borrowing from the ancient mysteries. The well-respected Sir Edward … all » Evans-Pritchard writes in Theories of Primitive Religion that "The evidence for this theory… is negligible."

Zeitgeist: Analysis and Response (alwaysbeready.com)

Link: [http://www.alwaysbeready.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=107]

Excerpt

Charlie Campbell says, "Many of the charges put forth in Zeitgeist are based on outdated, disproved ideas that were in circulation at the beginning of the last century. Here is one example. Zeitgeist states that Attis (a Roman deity) was crucified, dead for three days and then resurrected. This is absolutely not true to the mythological account. In the mythological story, Attis was unfaithful to his goddess lover, and in a jealous rage she made him insane. In that insanity, Attis castrated himself and fled into the forest, where he bled to death.

Essay refuting part 1 of Zeitgeist

Link: [http://files.meetup.com/334911/ZEITGEIST.doc ]

Excerpt

After examining the actual texts of the religions in question most similarities will be found to not even exist and to have been fabricated by authors who prey upon the reader’s ignorance of foreign religions.

Zeitgeist Response web site

Link: [http://www.zeitgeistresponse.info/]

Excerpt

…it is important to note that Zeitgeist uses the same form of biased media reporting they so readily denounce within the film and public arena at-large. In other words, they are guilty of the very thing they exclusively attribute to others—the slanting and marketing of ideas using the pen, screen or ‘tube’, as they so summarily espouse. They do so knowing that a majority of the populace cannot or will not study opposing views…

Blog by JB_Fidei_Defensor

Link: [http://www.xanga.com/JB_Fidei_Defensor/638110989/zeitgeist-rebuttal-speech.html]

Excerpt

1. Zeitgeist distorts all the religions mentioned in terms of the basic facts about their fundamental stories. That includes Jesus, Attis, Dionysus, Krishna, Mithras, Horus, Adonis, Buddha, and a whole list of others. The comparisons it makes are just wrong.
2. Zeitgeist oversimplifies ancient myths and relies on non-scholarly secondary sources instead of scholarly secondary sources or the primary sources themselves. Some of Zeitgeist's sources just fabricated material in hopes that no one would find out.
3. Zeitgeist is based on astronomical and astrological ideas that don't fit with the time.
4. Zeitgeist claims that Jesus never existed, but provides no evidence for its claim and fails to interact honestly with the evidence for the opposing side.

Message thread at AboveTopSecret.com

Link: [http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread290269/pg1]

Excerpt

This is not about a defense of a religion, it is about the integrity of information and our right not to be lied to by people claiming to be “truthers”

"Zeitgeist Refuted" videos

Link: [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7572663630528394775]

Transcript: [http://www.beitshalomministries.org/blog/?page_id=197]

From Poster:

This film refutes the following claims made in the film Zeitgeist: -Christianity was borrowed from pagan myths? -The Bible was plagiarized? -Jesus wasn't a historical figure? -Christianity was created for social control? -The Bible is based on astrology?

Sermon by Scott Johnson

Link: [http://media.sermonaudio.com/mediapdf/103007130530.pdf]

Excerpt:

The first 37 minutes of the Zeitgeist movie is one of the most ludicrous, damnable, unbiblical deceptions that Satan has ever concocted. This movie takes some (mostly inaccurate, easily refutable) pagan history and tries to apply it to Jesus Christ.

"Is there any validity to the Zeitgeist movie?" - Gotquestions.org

Link: [http://www.gotquestions.org/zeitgeist-movie.html]

Excerpt:

The “zeitgeist movie,” … is essentially a baseless conspiracy theory focused on attacking the Christian faith and the government of the United States. What is interesting, though, is that while nearly all the assertions put forth are in the movie are completely wrong, the end fear promoted by the movie is correct and backed by Scripture (depending on one’s view of biblical eschatology).

Zeitgiest: Analysis and Response - Always be ready apologetics miinistry

Link: [http://www.alwaysbeready.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=107]

Excerpt:

Zeitgeist … is making quite an unfortunate impact on thousands of undiscerning, history-starved young people around the world. This poorly done, historically inaccurate documentary (for lack of a better word …) … seeks to persuade its viewers that the authors of the New Testament borrowed the idea of Jesus' virgin birth, disciples, miracles, crucifixion, and resurrection from ancient pagan mystery religions that were around long before the time of Christ. The video even goes so far as to claim that Jesus Himself never even existed. (Here) are some helpful quotes, articles and books that offer a scholarly refutation of many of the errors …

Answering Zeitgeist

Link: [http://www.lightforthelastdays.co.uk/view_page.asp?page_id=203&section_id=1]

Excerpt

The basic theme of the film is that there is no historical truth in the Bible and that Christianity is used by the people in authority to keep people submissive. The film shows this to be a destructive influence with pictures of war and human suffering linked to God and Christianity.

All About Horus - An Egyptian Copy of Christ?

Link: [http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/HORUS.htm]

Excerpt

The "sources" used for Zeitgeist are outdated, unreliable, non-academic, non-scholarly, speculative, and/or conspiracy-laden tomes written by folks who are not trained in biblical scholarship, historical Jesus studies, Egyptology, or related fields, and/or rely on other non-scholarly, outdated, pseudo-historical books, and are therefore filled with errors…

The Zeitgeist challenge

Link: [http://zeitgeistchallenge.com]

Excerpt

… we offer cash for proof backing up many claims made in the Zeitgeist movie. … Zeitgeist makes roughly 50 claims about various ancient gods and their similarities to Jesus Christ. The problem we have found is that no one seems to be able to show us where Zeitgeist's claims can be found in actual ancient texts

Posted by nowheretorun at InfoWars Forum

Link: [http://infowarsforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2952]

Excerpt

This movie’s half truths and outright lies about the zodiac are sickening. The unfortunate thing is that you have to know a good deal about science, history, mythology, astronomy, and physics in order to start to even understand what is at play with this system. It is not as simple as many are led to think And because of a lack of diligent study and an overabundance of half assed research, people swallow what they are told without questioning or learning anything further.

Video: "ZEITGEIST: SPIRIT OF THE AGE REFUTED" (Beit Shalom Ministries)

Link: [http://www.beitshalomministries.org/]

Other References

Other "Anti-Jesus" sites

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