After declaring that the Bible is just an astrological-literary hybrid, a claim whose premise can no longer be supported once an honest review of the preceding assertions has been conducted, the movie begins its windup sequence with more comparisons and claims of plagiarizing. In fact, the claims in the closing sequence contain more fact than all those which came before them, though that is not a great feat, and are sure to produce some interesting insights as they are reviewed.
(click on the name to jump to the section on this page)
A. Jesus Just Another Horus?
B. The Great Waves of Flood
C. Sargon and Moses
D. Moses: Just Like All the Other Law Givers?
E. Spell 125
F. Egyptian Clone?
G. Jesus: Merely a New Joseph?
JESUS JUST ANOTHER HORUS?
“Zeitgeist pt.1” begins its end in the same way that it started, by declaring that Jesus is just an explicate copy of the Egyptian god Horus. Is this however the case? We have already looked at the birth, life, and death of Horus and have found that claim to be a stretch at best. However, now the movie claims that pictures in the temple of Luxor indicate that Thaw announced to the virgin Isis she was going to have a son, and that Nef, which is called the “holy ghost”, is said to have impregnated her. Finally, they show the child being birthed and adored there after.
Right off, you will notice that this version of the birth of Horus differs greatly from the version we saw above. In the common story (in fact in every one I have found) there is no mention of any foretelling of his birth to Isis, nor is their any mention of these two new god additions in the narrative Nef and Thaw.
Why is there so much dissimilarity between this account and the others we saw? Because the temple of Luxor does not involve the Isis-Orsisis-Horus triad of Egyptian gods but rather Amun-Mut-Khonsu are those honoured there. Not only does the temple not involve Horus, neither do the pictures. These drawings do not show the birth of Horus, instead they are a depiction of the birth of Amenhotep III, who made significant contributions in the building of the Luxor Temple.
The temple was also the site of a major festival called, “The festival of Opet”. During this festival the divinity of pharaoh and his human kingship was reemphasised. Processions of people from every rank, class, and segment of the populace would make their way to the temple with rites and rituals occurring along the way.
Once there, the king would move deep into the temple where rites were conducted which were thought to reunite him with the divine essence and reaffirm his place as king of Egypt. I mention this festival only because it shows another reason why the divine and human union which was supposed to have produced Amenhotep III is recorded in the drawing at Luxor.
I can hear some dear soul saying, “AHA! It isn’t Horus but it is Amenhotep III who was the model for those who made up the stories of Jesus!” Although it “could” have happened, it is more than doubtful. Often those who claim a religious truth or a governmental power claim a divine origin so that the beliefs of those they teach can be used to make sure they are not questioned.
I would also like to mention again that merely because two things are alike doesn’t mean they are copies of each other or even share a common history. For example, if someone found two bowls, one from China and one from Antarctica, which were made from similar materials, colored by the similar paints, and covered in similar designs, it does not mean that one is a copy of the other. Cultural influences that have been lost by the passing of time, shared knowledge or philosophies on life, even mistakes in the reasoning of those who found and date the bowls could make it seem they are parent and clone when in fact they have no commonality. As with bowls so too with religious, scientific, and philosophical ideas and systems.
There is another very important point that I would like to mention. Merely because two things are similar, the historical and practical fact of each of them stands alone. Consider this example: Zeus, Odin, Yehovah, and Ra are all claimed to be the greatest and most powerful gods/Gods. Do we then prove that they are all make-believe, merely because we can show one of them to be such? No, the existence, reason for, and history of each of the beings represented by these names must be considered individually and not mutually. Each being is from a very distinct culture, time, and geography and thus stands or falls upon his/her own factual and experiential evidence.
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THE GREAT WAVES OF FLOOD
Following the second Horus comparison the movie claims that the Flood account in the Bible, as it is recorded in Genesis, is just another mass copying of other cultures. The evidence for this they say is due to the amount of similarity between it and the flood account recorded in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”.
In the 11th tablet of the “Epic of Gilgamesh” there is recorded an account of a world wide flood which very closely parallels the world wide flood recorded in Genesis.
I will absolutely consent that there is a lot of great similarity. Too much in fact for the two stories not to share a common root; they both recount the same event or one was copied from the other. The length and breadth of the discussion and study needed to consider the reasons for similarity far exceed the parameters we are currently discussing.
That being said however, I will say this, for every scholar you find that says the 11th tablet is copied from Genesis, I can find you another one who says that Genesis is the original and Gilgamesh was copied from it. The problem is that there is really no way of knowing. Each of the accounts are quite old, and how you date and place them in the course of history is not only a foggy but all to often a very biased ordeal, due to the pre-existing views held by the researcher and our human addiction to dogmatism.
It is very unfortunate that even though “Zeitgeist” mentions the fact that some sort of flood story is contained in almost every culture around the world, they still insist that the Bible is the one which was the idea thief. Maybe both the Bible and the Epic were copied from yet another source? Maybe they are each completely separate accounts of an actual even which happened long ago and we think they are related due to our lack of information, world views, or intentions? There are a large number of possibilities which the movie fails to consider. They make seem very clear cut what is quite complicated. Show to be false what can be proved to be a lie, show to be truth what can be proved as fact, and admit when there is really no way to prove anything; this is the attitude of all who truly seek and speak for truth. Thus I cannot speak much on this section though I will research it and add my findings later.
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SARGON AND MOSES
The story of Sargon is recounted by himself as follows:
“Sargon, the mighty king, king of Akkadê am I, My mother was lowly; my father I did not know; The brother of my father dwelt in the mountain. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the bank of the Purattu [Euphrates], My lowly mother conceived me, in secret she brought me forth. She placed me in a basket of reeds, she closed my entrance with bitumen, She cast me upon the rivers which did not overflow me.
The river carried me, it brought me to Akki, the irrigator. Akki, the irrigator, in the goodness of his heart lifted me out, Akki, the irrigator, as his own son brought me up; Akki, the irrigator, as his gardener appointed me.
When I was a gardener the goddess Ishtar loved me, And for four years I ruled the kingdom. The black-headed peoples I ruled, I governed; Mighty mountains with axes of bronze I destroyed (?). I ascended the upper mountains; I burst through the lower mountains. The country of the sea I besieged three times; Dilmun I captured (?). Unto the great Dur-ilu I went up, I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I altered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Whatsoever king shall be exalted after me, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Let him rule, let him govern the black-headed peoples; Mighty mountains with axes of bronze let him destroy; Let him ascend the upper mountains, Let him break through the lower mountains; The country of the sea let him besiege three times; Dilmun let him capture; To great Dur-ilu let him go up.” |
The similar account of Moses can be found in Exodus 2 where it is said:
“Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" "Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." |
So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."
Very obviously there is again a fair amount of similarity between these two texts. However, as in the flood story from before, it is very presumptuous to make definite statements as to which one was copied from where.
The reason why it is so hard to determine who came first, who copied who, or if two amazingly similar events happened, is because of the historical intermingling of the Mesopotamian peoples and that of the Jewish people and their ancestors.
Not only do both of them come from the middle east but on a couple different occasions the Jews we conquered and sacked by Babylonian and Assyrian armies. This would allow for either one to absorb some of the stories and customs of the other. The specifics as to who borrowed from whom, if it did occur, is really a large smattering of speculation and depends more on what you are looking for than what is you are looking at ( a rule which can be applied to MANY things – do try it). That being said, I will continue my research into this topic and, like the flood stories, update this section with the fruits of my labors.
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MOSES: JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER LAW GIVERS?
Now we come to the claims that the life of Moses was copied from that of other law givers around the globe. You may be expecting to find some more “excuses” for the similarities but I must disappoint you. These claims can be examined and a conclusion reached.
The pretext of the movie at this point is that not only was the birth of Moses copied but so was his entire role and life. This however cannot be substantiated. While the births of Sargon and Moses are quite similar, the lives that they lived were quite different. Sargon became the king of an expansive empire, while Moses turned down the opportunity to be a royal elite to be a prophet and guide to a stubborn nation of former slaves for fourty years. Just as the lives of Sargon and Moses differ, so it is when Moses is compared to Manu, Minos, and Mises.
I want to go ahead and deal with something up front, the fact that Moses, Manu, Minos, and Mises all start with the letter “M” is pointless. Just because they all share the first letter of their names doesn’t mean that any one of them is a “copy” or “descendent” of the other. There is a story from my youth which I think would shed some light on this point.
As a child I was introduced to the beauty of German Shepard dogs. My dad, I think, had infected my mother first and once she fell for them it was only a matter of time before I too was hooked.
With a family really liking a breed of dog it wasn’t long till we got one of that breed. She was a female which I proudly named Daisy Duke. I really loved her, however her end was a tragic one. She ran over as she lay underneath my parents car.
It hurt but soon my hurt was mended by a brand new female German Shepard which I of course named Daisy Duke. She and I played well together for a while and then one day I was told some bad news. Daisy 2 also met a horrible death at the hands of the Parvo-virus.
Yet again my young heart was too hurt. However, it was healed by another female Shepard which I again named Daisy Duke. I wanted a Shepard named after a favorite character on the “Dukes of Hazard” and no amount of death was going to stop me, or so I thought. Can you guess what happened to this one? She too died, this time it was Canine Distemper.
This all sounds insane and unfeasible and I would think such too had I not been there witnessing it all. It was as though the name Daisy Duke bore with it a curse which would alight upon any unsuspecting dog, at least Shepard, who bore it.
Now that I am old it is still strange to me but it is clear that it had nothing to do with the names I gave them. A most odd and random string of chance had combined with circumstances to produce a seemingly magical event. As with Daisy, so with the “M” bearers of law. It is interesting that they all have the same first letter of their names and beyond that there is nothing more to be gained and nothing to be proved. To truly compare and contrast the lives of these men, we must consider their teachings and their histories separately; anything other than this will only lead to a shallow and incorrect conclusion. Let us then consider.
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MOSES
I am going to give a brief overview of the life of Moses just in case some of you may not be familiar with the story of this premier figure from Jewish history and the Old Testament. The information which follows of course comes from the Bible.
Moses was born of a Jewish woman around 1500 B.C. or so. It was a time when the people of Israel were in Captivity. They had originally went to Egypt during the great famine at the behest of Joseph (Genesis 45-46), but the Pharaoh had changed since that time and the new one was unfriendly to the Jews. Fearing they might revolt, because he had made them slaves, he made a decree that limited the number of male children by killing them at birth. (Exodus chapter 1)
One day in the house of Levi there was a male child born and his mother, fearing for his life, placed him in a basket and set him in the river. The river carried him to the place where the daughter of Pharaoh was bathing and upon finding the baby become fond of him and called him Moses. Pharaoh’s daughter then placed him in the care of a Hebrew woman, who happened to be his mother, and he was raised in the house of Pharaoh as well as being trained in the Jewish ways. Once he became a man however, Moses killed a man and fearing for his life fled into Midian where he took a wife and herded sheep. (Exodus chapter 2)
One day while tending sheep God spoke to him out of a burning bush and told him how he was going to be the tool in the freeing of the Jewish people from slavery. After enlisting the help of his brother, Moses then returned to Egypt and told the people God was going to get their freedom. (Exodus chapters 3-4) This was eventually accomplished by a series of 10 plagues and the destruction of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. (Exodus chapters 5-14) 40 days after the children of Israel were freed from their bondage Moses went up into the Mount Sinai and received from God the ten commandment laws. (Exodus 19-20)
Following an event with a golden calf (Exodus 32) Moses became a leader, intercessor, prophet, and sage for the people of Israel as they wandered the desert. (Numbers and Deuteronomy) He eventually died upon the Mountain of Nebo in the land of Moab. (Deuteronomy 32:48-50)
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MANU
Now that we know the story of Moses, does the Indian figure Manu seem to be a copy of him? Not at all. Manu is said to be the first man on earth by the Mahabharata, which is one of the Indian epic poems. In the Mahabharata Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva:Section LXXV it says:
“And Manu was endued with great wisdom and devoted to virtue. And he became the progenitor of a line. And in Manu's race have been born all human beings, who have, therefore, been called Manavas. And it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and others have been descended, and are, therefore, all called Manavas. Subsequently, O monarch, the Brahmanas became united with the Kshatriyas. And those sons of Manu that were Brahmanas devoted themselves to the study of the Vedas. And Manu begat ten other children named Vena, Dhrishnu, Narishyan, Nabhaga, Ikshvaku, Karusha, Saryati, the eighth, a daughter named Ila, Prishadhru the ninth, and Nabhagarishta, the tenth. They all betook themselves to the practices of Kshatriyas. Besides these, Manu had fifty other sons on Earth. But we heard that they all perished, quarrelling with one another.” (see also Law Code of Manu Chapter 1:32-41). |
Manu is also mentioned in Book 3 Vana Parva: Markandeya-Samasya Parva Section CLXXXVI, where he takes on a role similar to the Hebrew Noah. There he saves humanity from a flood which destroyed all other things after being helped and warned by a fish, which happened to also be an avatar, or incarnation, of the god Vishnu.
Manu is also attributed with writing one of the most influential legal texts in Hindu society called, “The Law Code of Manu”. It is in this last role that the film compares him to Moses. When one considers the preceding information about him however, as well as the content of the law code itself, they quickly realize that Manu is nothing like Moses. Not in life, not in the manner of receiving law (see the Law Code of Manu 1:58-59 and note the difference in how the law was recieved), and certainly in the laws themselves is there any copying. The Laws of Moses and those of Manu are clearly from their respected cultures and systems.
That being said, there is some overlap but how can there not be? Both Manu and Moses were laying out civil laws for the civilizations in which they lived, and both are looked at as religious figures. This commonality, as said before, is no different than the similarities between the popular show, “Knight Rider” and another high tech car show which aired in the 90’s called “Viper”. Both of them are relating to super neat cars used by the good guys to catch the bad and thus there is some necessary overlap, but it doesn’t mean that “Viper” was a “Knight Rider” rip off.
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MINOS
Now that we are familiar with the story of Moses, we are ready to move right into the next question on our agenda, “Is a Moses a copy of Minos?”
Minos was the product of yet another romp Zeus had with a beautiful maid. This time the lass’s name was Europa, a Phoenician princess. Appearing to Europa in the form of a white bull, he lured her to him. Once Zeus convinced her to get upon his back, he carried her over the sea into Crete and there she bore him three sons: Sarpedon, Rhadamanthys, and of course Minos.
After becoming the King of Crete, Minos was granted a bull from Poseidon which he was to sacrifice to him. However, Minos failed to do so and the Sea god made Pasiphaë, his wife, go insane with lust for the bull. So great was this lust that she had Daedalus (cupid’s father) create a device so she could have intercourse with it. Minos was ashamed of the Minotaur, the child of that unholy union, and had him Daedalus build a maze on a Isle where he could hide the product of his disobedience to Poseidon.
Minos played a part in a few other myths; the story about the death of Androgeos, his son, and the subsequent vengeance he took upon Athens for it; also the story of Nisus and Scylla, where Scylla betrayed her father for love of Minos.
The story of Minos does not end with these however; when Zeus was dying, to reward Minos, made him a judge of souls in honor of the contributions he made to justice while upon the earth.
As interesting and entertaining as the stories about Minos are, I have not been able to find where King Minos ever climbed a mountain to receive a law from Zeus. The movie however makes such a claim and I would like to attribute this to some oversight made by those who composed the movie “Zeitgeist”; however, at this point I fear that the conveying of their agenda is the main goal of this program rather than the conveyance of truth.
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SPELL 125
The next segment of the film further supports my fear. Here the film says that the Ten Commandments “are taken outright from Spell 125 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.” This sounds real impressive, but when one reads spell number 125 it becomes clear that this spell is similar to every other religion on the earth. It is the confession of a soul that has entered the after life to the gods listing all the virtues it has done and all the evils it has avoided. This list covers about every single evil it is possible for a human to do. Please go here and read it:
Spell 125
Not only is the similarity between the Ten Commandments and spell number 125 very superficial, the makers of “Zeitgeist” merely pass over glaring differences. In spell 125, it is obvious that Egyptian view of Divinity is polytheistic (more than one god.) However, the Ten Commandments are very obviously monotheistic (only one god). Also what of the weekly Sabbath? The command to remember the 7th day of each week and keep it holy is unique to the Bible and is a sign between Yehova and his people (Exodus 31:13,17;Ezekiel 20:20). Please follow the link below and read the Biblical account of the Ten Commandments, and see for yourself if they are indeed copies of the above:
The 10 Commandments
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EGYPTIAN CLONE?
The movie next asserts that the religion of the Bible is merely a clone of the religions of Egypt. This statement proves that they have never really done any personal research into the Bible for themselves.
The Bible is not a copy of Egyptian rites and systems. The religion presented in the Bible differs greatly from any of the Egyptians religions. There is, of course, some natural overlap just as there is a similarity between apples and pears but the differences are more marked.
The afterlife, the character of Divinity, the oneness of Divinity, are all exceptionally different, as well as the tone, feel, and style contained in each of the texts. The stories of Egypt have almost a comic book feel, the mythos of it seeps through and is very clear, whereas the accounts of the Bible are much less grand and are clearly meant to be taken as actual descriptions of the past.
Also I want to point out that most all the practices which are pagan copies are not truly Biblical in their origins. “Easter”, “Christmas”, and “Sunday” worship are all acknowledged to be actual pagan practices that have seeped into Christianity over time, they are no where mentioned in the Bible. The practices which are not exclusively part of the Bible traditions should not be used to prove the similarity of the Bible to other spiritual traditions.
It would be like saying the Lakers basketball team “borrowed” some plays from the Orlando Magic when in reality the plays are Shaquile O’Neil’s; the reason they are a part of both teams strategies being because he was a part of both teams. Likewise, the modern “Christian” practices which closely look like “pagan” practices do so because the ARE “pagan”.
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JESUS: MERELY A NEW JOSEPH?
Next, the movie turns to asserting that the New Testament is nothing but a copy of the Old Testament that has been tweaked, refined, and embellished. They attempt to illustrate this by listing some of the parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus. This again falls into the trap of looking at a handful of similarities while ignoring a bag full of differences.
Not only so, but some of the comparisons they make really fail to impress me. For example they say that the birth of Joseph was a “miracle”, however if we turn to Genesis 30:22-24 we read:
“Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” So she called his name Joseph, and said, “The LORD shall add to me another son.” |
While it may be true that Yehova intervened and helped Rachel become pregnant, I would not say that such is comparable to a child which is said to have been born by Divine will alone without any earthly father. Women who have been unable to have children all their lives succeed in becoming pregnant all the time, thus it is not real awe inspiring that this happened to Rachel.
Many of the similarities could be accounted for by the fact that each of these men, Joseph and Jesus, came from a culture governed by the same religious heritage. For example, the price of a slave seems to have stayed roughly the same throughout the course of the Bible (Exodus 21:32 compare to Genesis 37:28). As for the number twelve, it is a reoccurring theme throughout the Jewish culture. Why? Because the founders of the nation of Israel were the sons of Jacob; of which they were twelve. Thus, from the birth of the nation the number 12 would be deeply engrained. The 12 tribes being represented by stones (Exodus 28:21), bread (Leviticus 24:5), oxen (2 Chronicles 4:4) etc. Jesus then would be very familiar with this number and seeing himself as a spiritual Jacob or “Israel” ( compare Hosea 11:1 to Matthew 2:15 and Genesis 32:24-28 to Hebrews 12:4/Matthew 26:36-46) would have selected 12 spiritual “sons” to represent the new Spiritual Kingdom of Israel (Matthew 21:43 and 1 Peter 2:5 compared to Exodus 19:6).
The age at which a man was to began their life work was around thirty, especially if you were a priest, for then it was a command by God. (Numbers 4:3,23,30; 2 Samuel 5:4,1 Chronicles 23:3) So the age similarity too could easily be attributed to a cultural factor.
Even the name of Judas, which is the Greek for Judah (Matthew 1:2 compare to Genesis 29:28-35) is a common name in the nation of Israel due to the fact that it was one of the names of the founding fathers of the Jewish people.
Part Eight: Did Jesus Even Exist?
