Zeitgeist

For those of you in the know, the latest round of internet conspiracy theories has landed in the past year and is called "Zeitgeist". It's a movie in three parts: part one covers the lie of Christianity and how it's used to motivate people to be good citizens; part two covers 9/11; and part three covers the Federal Reserve Bank. It's very well done and very well put together. The narration is subtle and not overdone. The music is good conspiracy-theory creepy. The images can be haunting at times, but not overdone.

Parts two and three make you angry. They do a great job of portraying the government as the cause of wars and the Federal Reserve and the powers that be the true Axis of Evil in the World. Makes you want to go blow something up. Most of the accusations are unfounded, however, and are based largely on anecdotal evidence, text-proofing, and bias.

The reason I posted this blog is because of part one. This deals with Christianity and its origins. The movie makes the conclusion that Jesus never existed and his life was the Christian equivalent of other mythological figures from the past, most notably the Egyptian god Horus. It asserts that religious leaders took the life of Horus and inserted Jesus' name where applicable. Why this was done was never pulled out of the movie. They give no clear reason why these religious leaders and governing authorities (like Constantine) established this make believe figure to be the head of this new religion. They only voice their protest over the Church and the "fraud" that has ensued over the years. What is left is only speculation and spurious biblical research. They pull specific texts from the Bible to prove their point, but ignore others. Parts two and three have very specific agendas and conclusions (and link together) but part one does not, which leads me to believe it was just someone's soap box and wishful thinking. There isn't even a substantial connection to the other two parts of the movie.

Should you watch it? Sure. People you know may be watching it. A kid in our youth group watched it and has some doubts about his faith now. If you're a youth pastor, college pastor, pastor or in ministry, you should at least watch part one. It's about an hour long. Take some notes and do the research. It's not offensive, but it does cite George Carlin (the comedian) and one of his stand up routines as one of its sources. Good research, guys. It'll make you angry, but I think we need to be aware of this "New Atheism" that is here and reaching out to younger people.

Why No Posts?

Why no posts you ask? I dunno. I guess I was so uninspired during my unemployment phase that I couldn't think of anything new to write. But now that I have a job with a national fertilizer, seed, and garden company, I'll have more to write soon. I promise.

Will Work For Money

I am now gainfully unemployed. I was "let go" this past Tuesday at 5.15pm Eastern. I was initially upset, but I knew it was coming. People that usually talked to me as they passed by my cubicle stopped talking to me; people would get quiet when I passed by. Weird. OK, that last one wasn't true, but it sounded more dramatic.

But really, I knew this was coming for about 9 months. There have been days where I had absolutely nothing to do. Very frustrating. I would come in, check my email, check my myspace, facebook, check in with my manager to see if there was a project that awaited my attention, post a blog, check the other blogs I read, check in again with my manager, watch the Daily Show, Arrested Development, even some classic movies. Yeah, movies. I've watched "M" and "Nosferatu". Both excellent movies, by the way. The internet is amazing.

I was bored. Sure, there would be exciting times. I learned how to edit web pages, post pictures on a website, even contribute and create some stuff for websites. Good skills to know for future endeavors. I was actually waiting for them to fire me. I knew it would be this week too. I've got a sixth sense for knowing when I'm getting fired and knowing when girlfriends are going to break up with me (that's another post). I just know when these things are going to happen.

Now I'm even more bored at home. And tired. When I mustered the strength to leave my house today at the crack of 2.30pm, I worked out at the gym and almost collapsed from exhaustion in the chips and cracker aisle at Kroger. I need a hobby. Or a job.

So, my goals in my new unemployed state are to get a job (duh), get a hobby, get up earlier than I am now, and figure out what's going on in my life. I get depressed, but I'm also insulted that I got canned. I showed up to work even though I had nothing to do. When I had stuff to do, I did it well and on time. I even learned some stuff. I have a master's degree, man. I don't deserve this. I do have some stuff in the works for graduate school (yippee!), but I may not hear from them for a long time. In the meantime, I need to see what God has in store for me and not freak out. If anyone has any job leads, let me know. I'm taking all suggestions. Except substitute teaching. Been there, done that.