"Zeitgeist" Online Movie: Part One
Refuted©
Posted: August 23, 2007
Jesus Christ—the Most Recent Solar Messiah?
The narrator also asserts that “Jesus Christ was the most recent solar messiah.” He says that Jesus “was born of a virgin, born on December 25, star in the East, had 12 disciples, performed miracles, was dead for three days, and was resurrected.” However, again, not all of the other “solar messiahs” that he mentioned shared all of these characteristics. Also, the deities’ birthdays on December 25 are irrelevant to the life of Christ, because the New Testament never states that Jesus was born on this date.
The narrator proceeds by saying Jesus’ “birth sequence is completely astrological.” He also states that “Sirius” is the brightest star in the East. He adds that Sirius aligns with the three brightest stars in the Orion’s Belt constellation on December 24. These three stars are called “the three kings.” Page 192 of The Christ Conspiracy is most likely the narrator’s source for this information. However, D.M. Murdock fails to cite any primary texts in support of this assertion. Also, the Bible (Matthew 2:1-12) never states that there were only three kings, or magi. The narrator is reading the number “three” back into the text. Thus, the presence of three stars does not support the narrator’s case.
The narrator continues, saying, “the stars point to the place where the Sun rises, which implies the ancients were “looking for the birth of the Sun,” or “God’s Son.”
I contacted former astrologer Marcia Montenegro, author of SpellBound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids (Cook, 2006), to obtain an assessment of the credibility of the narrator’s claims. Ms. Montenegro practiced astrology for eight years and published several writings in astrological and New Age publications. However, she is now a Christian and is the founder of the ministry “Christian Answers for the New Age” (CANA). Montenegro offers multiple reasons to challenge each of these claims. She writes:
“Re Sirius: The Magi had to travel for about 2 yrs., so Sirius aligning with those 3 stars (if true) on Dec 24th does not mean much, especially since Jesus probably was not born on Dec. 25th. We don't know the birth date of Jesus, so that means nothing. Also, the description of the star is that it traveled before them, first led them to Herod (!), and then eventually stood over the dwelling of Jesus. I would like to know how a star does that. It can't.” 1
The narrator also claims that the virgin Mary gospel character is based on the constellation Virgo, associated with “virgin.” 2
Marcia Montenegro responds: “How would one know that Virgo means a virgin will give birth to the son of God? If Virgo just means virgin (and I believe that in the pagan context it was a young woman and not necessarily a literal virgin), how does anyone get a story out of that? You can't just make a story out of names like Virgo, Leo, Taurus, etc. And why doesn't the story begin with Aries? If it did, then Leo comes before Virgo, yet Leo is supposedly Jesus, the Lion of Judah. It seems it would come after Virgo, not before, in a story.” 3
The narrator also asserts that Virgo was known as the “House of Bread” which is what the name Bethlehem means. “Bethlehem is Virgo—a place in the sky—not on Earth.” 4 First, the narrator is correct when he says the name Bethlehem means “house of bread.” 5 However, there is no basis for concluding that Bethlehem was a fictitious place which was fabricated based on the constellation Virgo. The existence of Bethlehem is multiply attested by Biblical and extra-biblical evidence. First, Hebrew Bible authors prior to the first century C.E. mention Bethlehem. Specifically, Bethlehem is mentioned in Ruth 1:1, 1 Samuel 16:4, and Micah 5:2.
Second, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentions that Bethlehem was the location where King David was anointed to be Israel’s future king. Josephus writes the following in Chapter 8, section 1, of The Antiquities of the Jews: “Now Saul being sensible of the miserable condition he had brought himself into, and that he had made God to be his enemy, he went up to his royal palace at Gibeah, which name denotes a hill, and after that day he came no more into the presence of the prophet. And when Samuel mourned for him, God bid him leave off his concern for him, and to take the holy oil, and go to Bethlehem, to Jesse the son of Obed, and to anoint such of his sons as he should show him for their future king.” 6
Third, archaeological evidence demonstrates that Bethlehem was inhabited both during the Iron Age and in the first century C.E. 7 J.B. Hennessy reports:
“Minor excavations by the Franciscan Fathers in the grottoes beneath the basilica have produced evidence of Iron Age and first century A.D. occupation, while E of the church of St. Joseph excavation has produced several deposits of Iron Age pottery. Perhaps most important has been the isolation, in 1969, of the Iron Age tell. The limits of the Iron Age occupation, while not entirely clear, appear to be on the flat surface and the slopes immediately beneath the basilica and to the E. The work was carried out by the Israel Archaeological Society. Bethlehem appears to have been a major area of occupation from the Paleolithic period.” 8
The narrator then discusses the summer and winter solstices. He says “the sun ‘dies’ every year at the end of winter since it is so low in the sky. The sun stops moving south, at least perceivably, for three days.” 9 “The sun resides beneath the “Southern Cross” (the constellation Crux) during these three days. The sun rises on December 25 and this is why Jesus and all of the other deities mentioned previously share similar characteristics.
Dr. Noel Swerdlow is the Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Dr. Swerdlow specialized in the study of the practice of astronomy in antiquity through the 17th century. He writes:
“This is of course complete nonsense astronomically. The identification of Christ with solar deities goes back to the eighteenth century, particularly in the Origine de tous les cultes, ou religion universelle (1795) by Charles Dupuis. Since the winter solstice, in the first century BC to first century AD, December 25, was taken as the rebirth of the sun, the attribution of the birth of Christ to that day identified him as a solar deity. It may be true that picking that particular day for Christ's birth was influenced by traditions about the winter solstice, but that does not make him a solar deity.” 10
Dr. Swerdlow further writes:
“The stars of the Southern Cross are just visible above the southern horizon in Alexandria, and in Jerusalem in antiquity although I don't think it is visible there now. The constellation was, however, not recognized in antiquity, and its four bright stars were included by Ptolemy in Centaurus, which sort of surrounds it” 11 (bold emphasis is mine).
Why wasn’t the Southern Cross constellation recognized in antiquity? Dr. Swerdlow explains:
“That Crux, the Southern Cross, was not recognized as a separate constellation in antiquity is probably because, as seen from the Mediterranean, it is low on the southern horizon and is surrounded on three sides by stars of Centaurus, which is a large, prominent constellation, and the four bright stars of Crux are included as stars of Centaurus in Ptolemy's star catalogue. It is only when you go farther to the south, so that Crux is higher in the southern sky, that it becomes prominent as a group of stars by itself, so its recognition had to wait until the southern voyages of the sixteenth century.” 12
In other words, the “Southern Cross” (Crux) constellation could not have served as a basis for the Gospel account of Jesus, because it was not distinct enough for any of the ancient Mediterranean inhabitants to identify it.
Also, recall that neither the narrator nor D.M. Murdock cite any primary source indicating that all of these deities were believed to have been born on December 25. Also, and more importantly, the New Testament never states that Jesus was born on December 25!
The narrator continues regarding the spring equinox, “spring arrives and the sun’s return brings new life to Earth.” So, what should conclude from the astronomical phenomenon that the narrator mentions above? Does the sun’s movement in this area of the sky at various equinoxes disprove Christianity?
Marcia Montenegro responds:
“Maybe the myths and the cycle of the sun ‘dying’ towards winter and gaining more light after the winter solstice reflects the fact that creation and its cycles is a foreshadowing and echo of the true story, the story of God's son who incarnated, lived as a man, died, and resurrected. After all, if God created the universe, then would not it make sense that we would see ‘echoes’ of His truth in it?” 13
Endnotes:
1. This quote is taken from the author’s email exchange with Marcia Montenegro on July 26, 2007.
2. Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited, 1999), 186.
3. This quote is taken from the author’s email exchange with Marcia Montenegro on July 26, 2007.
4. Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited, 1999), 190.
5. Zondervan’s Compact Bible Dictionary. Classic Compact Series (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1993), 79; Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Bible, ed. John Drane (Oxford, England: Lion Publishing, 1998), 291.
6. Josephus The Complete Works, trans. William Whiston, A.M. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 195.
7. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Supplementary Volume, ed. Keith Crim, Lloyd Richard Bailey, Sr., Victor Paul Furnish, and Emory Stevens Bucke (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), 97.
8. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Supplementary Volume, ed. Keith Crim, Lloyd Richard Bailey, Sr., Victor Paul Furnish, and Emory Stevens Bucke (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), 97.
9. Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited, 1999), 154.
10. Author’s email exchange with Dr. Noel Swerdlow on August 19, 2007.
11. Dr. Noel Swerdlow’s email to the author on August 20, 2007.
12. Dr. Noel Swerdlow’s email to the author on August 21, 2007.
13. This quote is taken from the author’s email exchange with Marcia Montenegro on July 26, 2007.
Continue to: Is the Gospel Story Derived from the Zodiac?
