The God Who Wasn’t There – Former Christian fundamentalist Brian Flemming’s documentary of the fictional, mythological person known as Jesus Christ. Jesus shared numerous attributes of a hero (virgin birth, son of a god, visit to the underworld, etc.) with Odysseus, Theseus, Aeneas, and many other mythological figures. The Apostle Paul makes no mention in his 80,000 words in Scripture of Jesus’s miraculous birth, his parentage, or his having the life of a human being before his final years, death, and resurrection. From Paul it’s not even clear whether the events involving Jesus took place on earth. The few historical associations between the Gospels and actual historical records don’t coincide convincingly.

The Bible is chock full of contradictions as are its adherents in their beliefs. For example, the prevailing notion of Jesus as a benevolent, loving, merciful being must account for Luke 19:27, “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” Further, there is but one unpardonable sin, doubting or denying the Holy Spirit, as passages in both Matthew and Mark make clear: “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto man: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto man. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world,  neither in the world to come” – Matthew 12:31-32. (See also Mark 3:29).

Therefore, perhaps the best representatives of Christianity today are those, such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who preach the harshness of God’s demands and expectations, who threaten damnation for sinners and homosexuals, who yearn for the last days and extraordinary rendition into heaven. Those who have faith in a moderate Christianity appear to be deluding themselves. Unless, of course, The Bible isn’t really the Word of God, a holy book of inerrant instruction and revelation. Interviewees include skeptics, atheists, cynics, and critics – authors Sam Harris, Robert Price, Alan Dundes, and Barbara and David Mikkelson of snopes.com – as well as Christian believers. Aggressively anti-religious point of view.

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Copyright © 2007 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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