Please have someone watch the Google video “Zeitgeist” (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331) and provide an answer to this. If you have any energy to do this, you will be activating it from a deeper source. Please. Someone tell me why I should believe—or you for that matter!
I just finished watching the movie as you requested of someone at Probe Ministries.
I took several pages of notes but eventually stopped because the information and misstatements flowed much too rapidly. I stopped about 2/3 of the way through. But I watched till the bitter end.
Let’s start with the attack on Christianity. A quick Google search of Horus, the Egyptian Sun god whom Jesus and almost all other “savior” types are supposedly modeled after, is misrepresented in the film. He was the Falcon god and only later became known as the Sun god. [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/horus.htm] Nothing is said about being born on Dec 25th or having twelve disciples, or being born of a virgin, or dying and being raised three days later.
Sirius has never been known as the supposed star of Bethlehem, another astrological reference touted in the film. They also mention that somehow the Southern Cross constellation played a role in identifying the time of Jesus’ birth. That’s impossible since the Southern Cross is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. Israel is simply not far enough south to ever have The Southern Cross visible. I have seen it once, from the Equator off the Galapagos Islands.
They summarily dismiss the testimony of Roman historians Tacitus and Pliny the Younger who only speak of the Christ, not Jesus. They also show a quick list (where is that from?) of numerous 1st century historians who say nothing about him. Well, of course! Christianity was barely on anybody’s radar screen in that first century. Nero just found them a convenient scapegoat for the burning of Rome precisely because there were so few and hardly anybody knew much about them. Josephus is a reliable historian in just about everything he writes about 1st century Judaism. The forgery spoken of is known, but it is a forgery of added phrases in a reliable entry about Jesus. What was added was Josephus’ claims that this Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. Other entries about Jesus say nothing about that. Also the film ignored the entries in the Jewish Talmud about Jesus from their perspective. Even critical historians today DO NOT dispute that there was a real man Jesus of Nazareth who his followers claimed was the Messiah.
The 9/11 conspiracy talk is also out of line. For online versions of a Popular Mechanics article debunking many of the conspiracy myths of 9/11 see:
Debunking 9/11 Myths: About the Airplanes
Debunking the Myths About the 9/11 Attack on the Pentagon
Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report – The World Trade Center
These Popular Mechanics editors consulted scientists, engineers, and other experts. They are neutral. Their list of experts is impressive. You’ll find evidence against conspiracy contentions about the collapse of the towers, what hit the Pentagon, and why fighters did not shoot them down.
You can also check this out: www.minutemanreview.com/9-11-myths-debunked/.
I have no doubt there is a conspiracy, but it’s a satanic conspiracy that is millennia old. These types of films—”Loose Change” is another older 9/11 conspiracy film—prey on fear and paranoia. There is much more that could be said about all their claims but I just don’t have the time right now.
Friend, the Gospels are reliable: Jesus is the incarnate God who died for our sins and rose on the third day. Astrology is forbidden in the Bible, it’s not founded on it. If you have a copy, read Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ.
Respectfully,
Ray Bohlin, Ph.D.
Probe Ministries
© 2007 Probe Ministries, updated 12/20/2018