(yes, I'm still posting a little in spite of some computer problems. Oh - and I meant 'moot point', not 'mute point' in my previous reply...)
-I think we should look at what we can possibly agree on about the movie:
- The movie points out that here are similarities between various ancient myths, which is true. The 'facts' it uses to show this can be disputed however.
- It has been shown that the makers of the movie made some bold and baseless assertions and claims that have been retracted in later revisions (silly things like claiming that 'horizon' comes from 'Horus has risen'). Although people should be allowed to make mistakes, these mistakes are so unnecessary and - well, stupid, that it should raise a red flag as to the rest of the content.
- Even in it's latest revisions, there are flaws and incorrect claims, like those Leolaia has pointed out (although I haven't personally checked those out), in addition to things like "the three kings" being the three stars of Orion and the Dec. 25th date of Jesus' birth.
I think we can at least in part agree on these things.
One thing I'd like to add to the conversation, is that the movie is actually putting forth a hypothesis:
To paraphrase: "This text [the Bible] has more to do with astrology than anything." They try to show that Jesus was the Sun, and that his disciples were the twelve constellations (among other things).
-This is then a hypothesis, which states that the Bible is nothing but an astrological text, and that every person in it is a symbol of an astrological sign or event. This hypothesis should then be easily tested against the biblical text to see if one can really read through it all with solely astrology in mind, and still make sense of it. Now, I haven't actually read through the gospels with this "astrological mindset" (I don't know enough about astrology to do that anyway), but it should be easy enough to test the hypothesis in such a manner.
So, let's take a look:
Mark 14:12-15 (ESV) "And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” | And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, | and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ | “And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”
So - - the Sun sent two of its constellations to find Aquarius (which is a constellation itself), and follow Aquarius to a house, and say to the master of this house that the Sun needs a guest room to eat passover with the constellations.
Or - slightly more seriously: Two of the constellations were aligned with Aquarius in the sky ('house'), and this was a sign that the Sun would... "eat passover" (insert astrological event here)... there among the constellations.
Now, I may be slightly silly and flippant here, but really - if the movie's hypothesis is correct, one should be able to put astrological symbols in place of all these things and still make sense of the story. I haven't done this, but only reading the stories and thinking lightly on it I find it hard to believe it could be done. Remember that the movie goes all the way back to Moses and the golden calf when it speaks of how the Bible is an astrological text, so all of the Bible would have to work in such a context.
One other thing, is that astrology is not astronomy. Prominent astrologers seem to disagree as to when these 'ages' begin and end. From what I have found, one astrologer, Neil Mann, says the age of Pisces began in 1AD as the movie says (and according to the movie, the birth of Jesus was supposed to symbolize the start of that age, since the fish is a symbol of Jesus - - but as we know, 1AD is not an agreed upon year of Jesus' birth either). But other astrologers have very different start dates, such as 498AD, which would totally decouple the event from Jesus.
Just a couple of further thoughts of mine.
