"Zeitgeist" Online Movie: Part One
Refuted©
Posted: August 23, 2007
Did a Mythical Jesus Usher in the "Age of Pisces"?
The narrator also claims that “the precession of the equinoxes is ‘the Age’ that is referenced throughout the New Testament.” He also mentions “Taurus (4300 BC-2150 BC) is the Age of the Bull.” He cites the Old Testament story about the ancient Israelites making a golden calf in Exodus 32 to support his assertion that the Israelites were somehow associated with the Age of Taurus. He says, “The Golden Bull was really Taurus the Bull, and Moses represents the New Age of Aries the Ram. Jesus ushered in the Age of Pisces, or the age of two fish. However, there is no valid logical connection between the alleged astrological “Age of Taurus” and the act of creating a golden calf idol. As Noel Swerdlow, the Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, writes “…citing references to a bull is not evidence.”
Professor Swerdlow also writes:
“The location of the equinox among one or another zodiacal constellation, as the so-called Age of Aquarius or Age of Pisces, is something of concern to modern astrology, but is never mentioned as significant in ancient astrology. It is simply anachronistic to believe that what is important to twentieth century astrology was of importance to ancient astrology.”
Professor Swerdlow continues:
“To name another anachronism that appears to underlie her” (D.M. Murdock) “interpretation, the borders of constellations, between, say, Aries, Pisces, and Aquarius, are modern conventions of the International Astronomical Union, and there is nothing ancient about them. Ancient astrologers did not use Norton’s Star Atlas nor anything else that drew arbitrary lines between sidereal constellations.”
In other words, the modern astrological beliefs are not identical to the ancient astrological beliefs which, means the narrator’s argumentation regarding the various astrological Ages irrelevant! However, for the sake of thoroughness, let’s evaluate the evidence the narrator presents for the claim that “Jesus ushered in the Age of Pisces, or the age of the two fish.” First, the narrator notes that “fish symbolism is very abundant in the New Testament.” Marcia Montenegro provides a superb rebuttal to this line of argumentation in her paper titled, “The Piscean Avatar: The Jesus of Astrology.” She writes:
"Examples of fish, water, and miracles with fish abound in the Bible stories about Jesus because Jesus lived in a land and culture where the major source of protein came from the sea. Other sources of protein were rare, and so fish was the normal food near the Sea of Galilee.
The fish was an early symbol of Christ because the Greek word based on the initials of “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” spelled “fish.” Also, the connection to baptism and to men becoming “fishers of men” for Christ may have played a part in this.
In a desert land such as where Jesus lived, water naturally was important. Water for baptism was symbolic of cleansing, and for Christians, of new birth in Christ. To read a spiritual meaning beyond this or to make a connection with Pisces is reading beyond the normal, literal situations and inserting a meaning that is not there. The Bible stories also refer to donkeys, feasts, tax collectors, salt, birds, light, the Pharisees, scribes, rich men, the Law, fig trees, sheep, and parables about seeds, yet none of these things would normally fall under Pisces, Neptune or the twelfth house."
Second, the narrator refers to Luke 22:10, which mentions a water bearer. The narrator claims that the water bearer mentioned in Luke 22:10 was really an allusion to the constellation Aquarius. The narrator asserts that Jesus is merely saying the Age of Aquarius will follow the Age of Pisces. Marcia Montenegro comments: “One has only to read the rest of the passage to see that Jesus meant a literal pitcher of water. There is nothing there to show he was using a metaphor or symbol for Aquarius.” 1
Third, the narrator claims that Jesus’ birth date is at the start of this age. However, again, the New Testament writers do not indicate the date of Jesus’ birth.
Matthew 28:20, which includes the phrase, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (New Revised Standard Version). He complains that one Bible translation translated the Greek word aionos as “world” instead of as “age,” and that this is one mistranslation out of many. However, as is evident from the preceding quote, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)—a version well respected by biblical scholars—translates the Greek word aionos as “age.” Therefore, good translations of the Bible are available.
Then the narrator returns to the topic of the “similarities” between Jesus and Horus. He reiterates his claim that “the similarities between the Egyptian religion and the Christian religion are staggering.” This time the narrator makes a broader statement: the “‘miracle birth’ idea predates Christianity by 15 centuries.” He discusses Horus’s birth and how characters adored Horus. However, the narrator does not identify any of the hieroglyphs that the film portrays to support his claims. Further, there is no question that other miraculous birth accounts predate Christianity. There are miraculous birth accounts from within Judaism, which is the religion that most scholars believe Christianity arose from.
Endnotes:
1. This quote is taken from the author’s email exchange with Marcia Montenegro on July 26, 2007.
Continue to: Did the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) Authors Plagiarize from Pagan Stories?
