The God Who Wasn't There Review
by: WesleyMccormick251
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Word Count: 508
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 Time: 7:17 AM
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Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine attacked the gun culture.
Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me assailed fast food.
Now the documentary film The God Who Wasn't There does it to religion.
Holding modern Christianity up to a bright spotlight, this bold new film demands answers to the questions few dare to ask. Your guide through the world of Christendom is former fundamentalist Brian Flemming, who unflinchingly examines believers and the origins of their beliefs.
The filmmaker receives help from such luminaries as esteemed folklorist Alan Dundes (Holy Writ as Oral Lit), Jesus Seminar fellow Robert M. Price (Deconstructing Jesus) and neuroscientist Sam Harris (The End of Faith).
You will learn the following facts in The God Who Wasn't There:
-Religion has been getting things wrong for a very long time. (The film begins with a view of our solar system from a distinctly Christian perspective--with the sun revolving around the earth. Having established the religion's credentials in the field of science, the film goes on to examine how well the religion is doing in the field of history.)
-The early founders of Christianity seem wholly unaware of the idea of a human Jesus. (Paul's writings--80,000 words--never mention a historical Jesus. The story you know about Jesus? Paul never heard of it. He never heard of Mary, Joseph, a birth in Bethlehem, King Herod, any miracles at all, any ministry at all, no trial by Jews, no trial by Pontius Pilate.)
-The Jesus passed down to us in the gospels bears a striking resemblance to other ancient heros and the figureheads of pagan savior cults. (That the Christian religion developed in the same way as virtually every previous religion with a dying and rising savior. Attis, Mithras, Osiris and other gods predate Jesus by millennia--but they also bear a striking resemblance to him. The similarities include: Being dead for three days and then rising, healing the sick and casting out demons, a ritual involving bread and wine representing the savior's flesh and blood. And many more.)
-Contemporary Christians are largely ignorant of the origins of their religion.
-Christianity is as obsessed with blood and violence now as it was in the 1 st century.
-Fundamentalism is as strong today as it ever has been, with an alarming 44% of Americans believing Jesus will return to Earth within the next 50 years.
The filmmaker Brian Flemming also explores his own experiences within fundamentalist Christianity at a cult-like school that taught him how how and what to believe. Ultimately, he confronts the man in charge of educating the school's 1800 students, and this superintendent's inability to justify what he teaches is revealing and distressing.
Dazzling motion graphics and a sweeping soundtrack help tell this tale of one person's journey from the darkness of first-century thinking to the enlightenment of reason.
As the film's tagline says: "Hold on to your faith. It's in for a bumpy ride."
About the Author
To learn more about The God Who Wasn't There, visit this website: http://nobeliefs.com/GodWhoWasntThere.htm
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