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ZeitgeistA Scholarly Response to the Movie

Douglas Hamp

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Zeitgeist• Part I: The Greatest Story Ever Told• Part II: All The World's a Stage• Part III: Don't Mind The Men Behind The

Curtain

Special thanks to the following for their research: http://www.preventingtruthdecay.org/zeitgeistpartone.shtml and http://www.tektonics.org

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Part One: The Greatest Story Ever Told

• Major Premise:– Jesus is just one of many solar messiahs

• Horus• Atti s• Krishna• Dionysus• Mithras (or Mithras)

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Is the Life of Jesus Christ Plagiarized from their Myths?

•

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Horus• December 25 th • of the virgin Isis-Meri. • star in the east • Three kings followed to locate

and adorn the new-born savior • At the age of 12, he was a

prodigal child teacher,• Bapti zed at 30 . • 12 disciples he traveled about

with, • performed miracles

– healing the sick and walking on water.

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December 25th and the Three Wise Men

• No where in Scripture are we told that Jesus was born on Dec 25. His birth date was probably Sept or Oct

• The Three Wise men is a tradition – the text merely says “magi” it does not specify how many.

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Horus’ Birth and at 12• “Born of the virgin Isis-Meri on

December 25, his birth was accompanied by a star in the East, and three wise men were present”

• “Horus was a teacher when he was 12 years old.” – Which pre-New Testament primary source

states this?

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Horus’ 12 Disciples

• “Horus had 12 disciples.” • “Horus was baptized at age 30 by Anup.”

– Which pre-New Testament source states this?

• “Horus walked on water.”– Which pre-New Testament primary source

states this?

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Horus the Healer

• “Horus performed healings.”

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Other Supposed Parallels• “Horus was known as ‘The Truth,’ ‘the Light,’

‘Lamb of God,’ ‘the Good Shepherd,’ ect.” – Which pre-New Testament primary sources att ribute

these ti tles to Horus?

• “Horus was betrayed by Tryphon.” – Which pre-New Testament primary source states this?

• “Horus was crucifi ed, dead for three days, and resurrected.” – Which pre-New Testament primary sources support

these asserti ons?

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Attis

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Attis• “Atti s was born of a virgin on December 25.”• “Atti s was Crucified.”

– Which pre-New Testament primary source states this?

• “Atti s was placed in a tomb.” – Which pre-New Testament primary source states

this?

• “Atti s was resurrected aft er three days.” – Which pre-Christi an primary source states this?

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Krishna

•The rest of the narrator’s claims regarding Krishna are identical to those found on pages 116-117 of The Christ Conspiracy.

•Historian Michael Licona contacted the Hinduism scholar, Dr. Edwin Bryant , Professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University. Licona asked him about the parallels that Acharya S draws between Krishna and Jesus.

•Licona relates:

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Krishna and Christ Parallels

• Dr. Edwin Bryant , Professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University states:

• 14 of [Archaya S’] 24 comparisons are wrong and a 15th is partially wrong.

• What about her 9 that are correct; especially Krishna’s virgin birth, the story of the tyrant who had thousands of infants killed (a parallel to Herod), and Krishna’s bodily ascension? (htt p://www.answeringinfi dels.com/answering-skepti cs/answering-acharya-s/a-refutati on-of-archary-ss-book-the-christ-conspiracy-pt-1.html)

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Dionysus

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“Dionysus Turned Water into Wine”

• "Older att empts to interpret this sign as a Christi anized version of the Dionysus myth (Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, the one who supplied the abundance of life and joy associated with inebriati on) or of related stories have largely been abandoned in the light of evidence that the alleged parallels are wholly inadequate. " [D. A. Carson, John, Eerdmans:1991]

• “These diff erences have convinced most scholars that John or his traditi on is not dependent on the Dionysus legend for this story." Graham H. Twelft ree, Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study (IVP:1999), 192.

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“Dionysus was born of a virgin.”

• “Hermes saved the fetus and carried it to Zeus, who sewed it into his thigh. Three months later he removed the stitches, and Dionysus was born again. He was the twice-born god." Barry Powell, Classical Myth (3rd ed) (Prenti ce Hall: 2001), 250. (cf. preventi ngtruthdecay.org)

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More Supposed Parallels

• “Dionysus was born on December 25• “Dionysus was called King of Kings” • “Dionysus was called Only Begotten

Son.” • “Dionysus was called Alpha and Omega.”

• Which pre-Christian primary sources state any of these claims?

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“Dionysus was resurrected after his death.”

• New Testament scholar Everett Ferguson states, “Neither Dionysus nor the initiates were thought of as rising from the dead. Rather, the mysteries removed anxiety about death by depicting life in the other world as a Dionysus revel.”

• Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christi anity , 2nd Editi on (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Will iam B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company,

1993), 248.

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Mithras

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Mithra’s Supposed Virgin Birth• Acharya S even claims that “Mithras was

born in a cave.” • Mithras was portrayed in art works as

having been made out of rock, and then CREATING the world-cave --NOT being originally born 'in a cave'.”

• Jack Finegan, Myth and Mystery: An Introducti on to the Pagan Religions of the Bibl ical World (Baker, 1989), 203-207; W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christi anity (Fortress: 1984), 276-279. cf. preventi ngtruthdecay.org

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• “Mithras was born on December 25.” – Irrelevant

• 12 disciples– Misunderstanding of carving with the signs

of the zodiac and the initiate of the Mithraic religion

• “Mithras performed miracles.” – By defi nition, (false) gods can (true or

false) perform miracles

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“Mithras was dead for three days and then resurrected.”

• Ronald Nash writes: “Mithraism had no concept of the death and resurrection of its god and no place for any concept of rebirth—at least during its early stages.” Ronald Nash, The Gospel and the Greeks: Did the New Testament Borrow from Pagan Thought? Second Editi on , 137.

• Richard Gordon writes that there is “no death of Mithras,” and thus there is no resurrection of Mithras. Richard Gordon, Image and Value in the Greco-Roman World (Alders hot: Variorum, 1996), 96, cited in “Mighty Mithraic Madness: Did the Mithraic Mysteries Infl uence Christi anity?”.

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• Dr. Edwin Yamauchi states: “We don’t know anything about the death of Mithras…We have a lot of monuments, but we have almost no textual evidence, because this was a secret religion. But I know of no references to a supposed death and resurrection.” Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi quoted in Lee Strobel , The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journal ist Investi gates Current Att acks on the Identi ty of Christ (Grand Rapids, Michigan: ZONDERVAN, 2007), 172.

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“Mithras was known as ‘Way, the Truth, and the Light'.”

• J.P. Holding states:

“We have several ti tles here, and yea, though I searched through the works of Mithraic scholars, I found none of these applied to Mithras, other than the role of mediator (not, though, in the sense of a mediator between God and man because of sin, but as a mediator between Zoroaster's good and evil gods; we have seen the ‘sun’ identi fi cati on, but never that ti tle) -- not even the new ones were ever listed by the Mithraic scholars.” htt p :/ / w w w.tekto n ics .or g /cop y ca t/ mith r a .html

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“Sunday as a day of worship.”

• J.P. Holding: “In terms of Sunday being a sacred day, this is correct [Cum.MM, 190-1], but it only appears in Roman Mithraism, and Acharya here is apparently assuming, like Cumont, that what held true for Roman Mithraism also held true for the Iranian version -- but there is no evidence for this. If any borrowing occurred (it probably didn't), it was the other way around.” htt p://www.tektonics .org /copycat/mithra.html

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The Ages

• “From 4300 b.c. to 2150 b.c., it was the Age of Taurus, the Bull. From 2150 b.c. to 1 a.d., it was the Age of Aries, the Ram, and from 1 a.d. to 2150 a.d. it is the Age of Pisces, the age we are still in to this day, and in and around 2150, we will enter the new age: the Age of Aquarius.” (Zeitgeist)

• Did Moses usher in the age of the Ram?– Moses at Sinai about 1400 BC (or 1250 BC)

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Did Jesus usher in the age of Pisces?

• “Now Jesus is the fi gure who ushers in the age following Aries, the Age of Pisces the Two Fish. Fish symbolism is very abundant in the New Testament. Jesus feeds 5000 people with bread and ‘2 fi sh.’ When he begins his ministry walking along Galilee, he befriends 2 fi sherman, who follow him. And I think we've all seen the Jesus-fi sh on the backs of people's cars. Litt le do they know what it actually means. It is a Pagan astrological symbolism for the Sun's Kingdom during the Age of Pisces. Also, Jesus' assumed birth date is essenti ally the start of this age.” (Zeitgeist)

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Why Fish?

• Sea of Galilee• People fished – why? They were hungry!• Why fish on the back of our cars?

– Ἰησοῦς Ἰ– Χριστός Χ– Θεοῦ Θ– Υἱός Υ– Σωτήρ Σ

Ikhthus = Fish

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What about the Age of Aquarius?

• “He said to them, ‘Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters.” (Luke 22:10)

• “This scripture is by far one of the most revealing of all the astrological references. The man bearing a pitcher of water is Aquarius, the water-bearer, who is always pictured as a man pouring out a pitcher of water.”

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Did Jesus Even Exist?

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What about the Sources?

• Pliny the Younger• Suetonius• Tacitus• The Talmud (Hostile Source) • Josephus

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Testamentum Flavium• Greek Version• “About this ti me there lived Jesus, a wise man [if indeed

one ought to call him a man.] • For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a

teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. • He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks . [He was

the Christ.] • When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the

highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucifi ed, those who had in the fi rst place come to love him did not give up their aff ecti on for him.

• [On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him.] And the tribe of the Christi ans, so called aft er him, has sti ll to this day not disappeared.”

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Moses and Sargon• The movie also

made mention that Moses was really copy of someone named Sargon. How do we know this to be false?

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Who Was Sargon? Sargon II (721-705 BC)

• “Sargon, strong king, king of Agade, am I. My mother was a high priestess, my father I do not know. My paternal kin inhabit the mountain region. My city (of birth) is Azupiranu, which lies on the bank of the Euphrates. My mother, a high priestess, conceived me, in secret she bore me. She placed me in a reed basket, with bitumen she caulked my hatch. She abandoned me to the river from which I could not escape. The river carried me along: to Aqqi, the water drawer, it brought me. Aqqi, the water drawer, when immersing his bucket lift ed me up. Aqqi, the water drawer, raised me as his adopted son. Aqqi, the water drawer, set me to his garden work. During my garden work, Istar loved me (so that) 55 years I ruled as king.” – Date range: 2039 and 627 BC

• Br ian Lewis ' The Sargon Legend (A mer ican Schools of Or ienta l Research, 1978) .

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1.The secrecy factor surrounding the birth 2.The placing in a reed basket, covered

with bitumen 3.The setti ng in a river 4.The recovery and adoption

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Sources and Further Resources

• wwwpreventi ngtruthdecay.com• htt p://www.tektonics.org/copycat/sargon.html

(J.P. Holding)• CARM.org – Christi an Apologeti cs and Research

Ministry• Answersingenesis.org• Gleason Archer – Encyclopedia of Bible

Diffi culti es• When Criti cs Ask –Norman Geisler & Thomas

Howe