This is a video I own in DVD version. It is now able to be viewed on-line. It’s a succinct and potent presentation narrated by Brian Flemming, a former fundamentalist. Flemming pulls no punches while he examines believers and the origins of belief.
On the cover of the DVD, Flemming writes “Hold on to your faith. It’s in for a bumpy ride.” Among Flemming’s conclusions:
- Jesus Christ is likely a fictional character, a legend never based on a real human.
- The Jesus passed down to us in the gospels bears a striking resemblance to other ancient heroes and the figureheads of pagan savior cults.
- Contemporary Christians are largely ignorant of the origins of their religion.
- Christianity is obsessed with blood and violence now, as it was in the 1st century.
- Fundamentalism is as strong today as it ever has been, with an alrming 44% of Americans believing Jesus will return to Earth within the next 50 years.
To order the full DVD, which includes extended interviews with Richard Dawkins and Earl Doherty, go to www.thegodmovie.com.
He makes some wonderful points, in particular how the origins of Christianity are vague at best, but bear a remarkable similarity to other folklore of the time, and that Paul – the main link between Jesus’ life and the forty years before the first of four gospels – didn’t know anything about the story of Jesus’ life… that he related to him only mystically – fascinating and telling, because if Jesus is primarily mystical then it’s a whole lot easier to embellish the story… hence the folklore of course.
Also the point about how the greatest crime is to doubt that the Holy Spirit is with you always without any evidence, and that mere unspoken doubt within the depth of one’s consciousness is enough to be eternally damned with no chance of forgiveness according to both Luke and Mark.
Damn!! …. no wonder Christians can’t answer reasonable questions, and no wonder they duck and avoid point after point after point after point, and in the process deny so much science and so much logic – but now I understand this denial happens because they can’t face the evidence or logic as it could lead them to doubt, and doubt is seriously problematic eternalistically speaking. It shouldn’t take any thinking person too long to see how unreasonably circular and conveniently self-reinforcing this situation is. I continue to be fascinated by the amount of tolerance these people must have for cognitive dissonance.
A challenge to believers.
This is a well made documentary on several levels. It encapsulates many of the absurdities of the Jesus myth and is also a powerful personal journey for the filmmaker.
I challenge any believer to watch this doc in its entirety and not be shaken. Anyone who still wants to swallow the Jesus story would have to do the mental equivalent of Olympic level gymnastics in order to explain away the information presented here.