Documentary: "THE GOD WHO WASN'T THERE" Seen it?

by Seeker4 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  Seeker4

  This past weekend I rented the Brian Flemming film, The God Who Wasn't There. It's a film about Christianity in particular and religion in general, and focuses on the key factor of Christianity - whether Jesus ever existed or not. I watched it several times, and listened to the commentaries.

  Interviewed in the film and the special features on the DVD are some of my favorite thinkers: Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins especially.

  The premise of the film was a well-defended hypothesis that Christianity is really the off-shoot of pagan mythology, and Jesus was just another in a long line of mythological "sons of god(s)" who had virgin births attended by wise men and shepherds, who's childhood's were essentially unknown, who developed followers, were eventually killed by their people and who were raised back to life. It's a common motif in the mythology of the centuries around the time Jesus was supposed to have lived. There are some 22 points in it, and the Jesus story fits most of the pattern.

  I'd heard some of this through the writings of Joseph Campbell, but the film presented a lot of new info to me. In fact, when the Greeks and Romans made fun of the beliefs of the early Christians, some of the early Church Fathers defended themselves by saying that the ones making fun of their belief in Jesus, believed the very same things about many of their own gods.

  I did find a couple of points where I thought they were taking Bible verses out of context, but it really got me to thinking more about the history of Christianity and how I still retain a certain amount of the view that I had as a Witness. The film points out that the writings of Paul are viewed by scholars as pre-dating all of the gospels by decades, and yet Paul fails to mention a huge number of the "miraculous" aspects of Jesus' life that the gospels dwell on. That is fascinating.

  Any thoughts on the documentary, and any suggestions for further reading? I've been doing quite a bit online.

  Thanks.

  S4
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  lonelysheep

  I've heard this was great, and hopefully I can watch it one day.
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  Seeker4

  Join Netflix - then you can keep it for a while and digest it a bit!

  S4
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  Seeker4

  BTTT
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  startingover

  S4,

  I bought this film when it first came out and have watched it several time sharing it with friends. The interview at the end IMO is priceless, as is the last shot when he turns the camera on himself. I am constantly looking for something that I could share with my wife to make her think, but the problem is that a film like this is really just preaching to the choir.

  There was a comment made in the interview with Sam Harris where he said that there are beliefs today that are synonymous with being nuts, but yet believers are willing to take beliefs that are really the same as these and accept them wholeheartedly and base their life upon it.

  When it first came out there was a discussion board about it. It is no longer active, but now there is another forum about another movie by Flemming coming out called "The Beast", but it got delayed and is now going to be named something else. Here's a link to a discussion forum about it. Not sure what the status is of it right now.

  http://www.danielle-movie.com/forums/
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  AlmostAtheist

  The interview at the end IMO is priceless, as is the last shot when he turns the camera on himself.

  Agreed! The entire film was enjoyable, but that last bit was an inch-thick layer of frosting! (Cream cheese frosting!)

  Dave
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  Seeker4

  I was wondering about The Beast, as it was supposed to have been released on 6/6/06, but I hadn't heard anything about it!
  
  Loved the final interviews as well.
  S4
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  skeptic2

  The beast movie was postponed, and the name has been changed to Danielle.

  http://www.danielle-movie.com/forums/

  I bought The God Who Wasn't There some time ago. A good DVD. It also includes (last time I checked) rights to play your copy to an audience.
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  Moomin

  Skeptic2 is my husband. He made me watch it while I was still a dub. I sat there refusing to let any of it affect me. Not much of it sunk in as I was being all obstinate. I was aware that Brian Flemming had had bad experiences growing up in his religion/religious school? So I put it down to the result of an angry person. Thats what I thought then but I don't know what I would think now, I will have to watch it again sometime.
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  daystar

  I didn't much care for the smarmy, confrontational tone of it. It reminded me too much of Michael Moore's style, which I utterly detest.

  I was also already familiar with much of the material he touched upon, so no big shockers there.

  But for someone not familiar with it, a good place to start.

  I'm sure there are more scholarly works of literature out there on the subject though. Such as this or this. (In part, at least. I've read part of the first and none, yet, of the second.)