Movie Screening - ZEITGEIST (& discussion of Saint Justin Martyr's writings)

Join us for a screening of the movie "Zeitgeist" and a discussion of the writings of St. Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius in 151 A.D. (this written work is known as "The First Apology", which in a present day context should be thought of as "The First Defense", as the Greek word for defense is "apologia", and an "apology" was nothing more than a reasoned defense of something, in this case Christianity).

The movie discusses why, through far ancient times, humanity has chosen to worship the sun, culminating in the invention of a number of sun gods (some having "savior" god attributes for different reasons relating, in part, to Platonic philosophy). Here is a brief introduction to some of these gods:

Horus (Egypt 3000 B.C.)

--Born on December 25th
--Born of the virgin mother Isis
--Birth announced by a star in the East (the star Sirius)
--Attended by three wise men
--Taught at age 12
--Baptized at age 30
--12 disciples
--Performed miracles, healed the sick, walked on water
--Betrayed (by Typhone)
--Dead for 3 days
--Resurrected

Mithra (Persia 1200 B.C.)

--Born of a virgin on December 25th
--12 companions or disciples
--Followers were promised immortality
--Performed miracles
--Dead for 3 days
--Resurrected
--Sacred day for worship was Sunday ("Sun"day)

Krishna (India, 900 B.C.)

--Born of the Virgin Devaki ("Divine One") on December 25
--Star in the East foretold his coming
--Performed miracles
--Resurrected after death

Dionysus (Greece, 500 B.C.)

--Born of a virgin on December 25th
--Performed miracles
--Referred to as "King of Kings" and the "Alpha and Omega"
--Killed, dead for 3 days, then resurrected on March 25th

Sound familiar? Why these attributes? Why the virgin birth on December 25? Why dead for 3 days and the inevitable resurrection? The movie Zeitgeist presents its theory as to why, through antiquity, these attributes resonate with humanity and represent common religious archetypes.

Also, for a glimpse into the earliest Christian arguments against these predecessor gods, we will turn to the writings of one of the earliest defenders of the Christian church - Saint Justin Martyr. Early Christians, such as Justin Martyr, lived in a world where Christians were considered "atheists" as to the gods of the polytheists. Polytheists were naturally inclined to welcome a new god "into the fold", but were resistant to the heresy that all of their gods were false - as the Jews and Christians believed. Indeed, Christians preached ever-lasting torment for those who worshiped any god other than the One True God, and expressly disavowed the pantheon of gods, making Christians the target of the populace's ire in the face of natural disasters etc. (sound familiar?).

In this environment, preaching Christian beliefs was a difficult and dangerous avocation, and it would have been difficult to convince polytheists that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of the One True God (clearly difficult as it took almost 200 years from Justin Martyr's death for Christianity to be officially legitimized). The second century Romans' familiarity with both existing and prior gods which followed the virgin birth / resurrection archetype, made hard work for Christians to explain why, in Jesus' case, it was really true, and perhaps all prior instances were forgeries of the devil. This is one of the points made in St. Justin Martyr's work "The First Apology" (copies will be distributed).

Fortunately for present day Christians, there is no longer the burden of distinguishing Jesus from prior god figures - as society has all but forgotten (or cared to learn) about earlier ("pagan") gods.

The movie and discussion will last about 1 hour.

The showing will take place downtown. I'll e-mail the location to those rsvp'ing "yes" & "maybe" a few days before the event. For those interested, we can grab a meal at PF Changs or a fine Korean restaurant by the name of "Koriente" after the show.