Question: Is Jesus a Myth Is Jesus just a copy of the pagan gods of other ancient religions ? Answer : There are a number of voices claiming that the accounts of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament are just myths and were the result of the writers borrowing stories from pagan mythology , such as the stories of Osiris , Dionysus , Adonis , Attis , and Mithra. The claim is that these mythological figures are essentially the same story that the New Testament attributes to Jesus Christ of Nazareth . As Dan Brown claims in The Da Vinci Code , Nothing in Christianity is original . However , when the facts are examined , the alleged link between the New Testament and mythology is easily disproved . To discover the truth about these particular claims and others like them , it is important to ( 1 ) discover the story behind the claims , ( 2 ) analyze actual historical representations of false gods being compared to Christ , ( 3 ) expose the logical fallacies that authors are making , and ( 4 ) look at why the Gospels of the New Testament can be trusted to accurately describe the true and historical Jesus Christ. First, the claim that Jesus was a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of the German liberal theologians of the 19th century. They essentially argued that Christianity was only one copy of the widespread worship of fertility gods dying and rising in several places - Tammuz in Mesopotamia , Adonis in Syria , Attis in Asia Minor and Osiris in Egypt . None of these writings came to advance the academic or religious thought under because their claims were investigated by scholars and judged completely unfounded . It was only in the late 20 th and early 21 that these statements were resuscitated , mainly due to the rise of the internet and the mass distribution of information that has no foundation or historical responsibility . This leads to the next area of research - the mythological gods of antiquity really mirror the person of Jesus Christ? As an example , the Zeitgeist movie makes these claims about the Egyptian god Horus : • He was born on December 25th of a virgin - Isis Maria • A star in the East proclaimed his arrival • Three kings came to adore the savior Newborn • At 12 years old , while still a boy, he became a prodigy teacher • At age 30 he was baptized and started a ministry • Horus had twelve disciples • Horus was betrayed • He was crucified • He was buried for three days • He was resurrected after three days However , when current writings about Horus are competently analyzed , this is what we found : • Horus was born to Isis , there is no mention in the story of his mother being called Mary. In addition , Mary is our anglicized form of his real name Miryam or Miriam . Maria was not even used in the original texts of Scripture . • Isis was not a virgin , she was the widow of Osiris , who conceived Horus . • Horus was born during the month of Khoiak ( October / November ) and not on December 25 . Furthermore , the Bible does not mention the exact date of Christs birth . • There is no record of the three kings visiting Horus at his birth . The Bible never says the actual number of wise men who came to see Christ. • Horus is not a savior in any way and never died for anyone. • No reports of Horus being a teacher for 12 years . • Horus was not baptized. The only account of Horus that involves water is a story where he is shattered and Isis asks the crocodile god the water where the fish had been placed . • Horus did not have a ministry. • Horus did not have 12 disciples . According to the accounts , Horus had four semi - gods that were followers and some indications of 16 human followers and an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him . • no account of Horus being betrayed by a friend not exist. • Horus did not die by crucifixion . There are several reports of the death of Horus , but none of them involves the crucifixion . • no account of Horus being buried for three days does not exist . • Horus was not resurrected . No account of Horus coming out of the tomb with the same body when he went there . Some accounts tell of Horus / Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and being the lord of the underworld . Then, when compared side by side, Horus , and Jesus have little or no resemblance to one another . Another popular comparison made by those who claim that Jesus Christ is a myth is between Jesus and Mithra. All statements above about Horus are applied to Mitra ( ie , born of a virgin , crucified , resurrected in three days , etc. . ) . However, what the ancient texts actually say about Mithra ? • He was born of a rock solid and not any woman . • He battled first with the sun and then with a primitive bull , which is considered the first act of creation . Mithras killed the bull , which became the basis of life for the human race . • The birth of Mithras was celebrated on December 25 , along with the winter solstice . • There is no mention of him being a great teacher . • There is no mention of Mithras having 12 disciples . The idea that Mithra had 12 disciples may have come from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac. • Mithras had no bodily resurrection . The myth that says Mitra concluded his earthly mission and then was taken to heaven in a chariot , alive and well . The Christian writer Tertullian wrote of the early followers of Mithra reenacting scenes of resurrection , but he wrote about it occurring well after New Testament times , so if any borrowing was done, the cult of Mithra was who copied Christianity . More examples can be given of Krishna , Attis , Dionysus and other mythological gods , but the result is the same . In the end, the historical Jesus , as portrayed in the Bible , is completely unique . The similarities claimed are greatly exaggerated . Moreover , although the belief in Horus , Mithra and others precede Christianity , there is very little historical record of pre -Christian beliefs of these religions . The vast majority of early writings about these religions are dated to the third and fourth centuries AD . It is illogical and unhistorical claim that the pre -Christian beliefs in these religions ( of which no record) were identical to the post- Christian beliefs in these groups ( of which no record ) . It is more historically valid to assign any similarities between religions and Christianity religions copying Christian beliefs about Jesus and giving these attributes to their own gods / saviors / founders in an attempt to stop the rapid growth of Christianity . This leads us to consider the next area : the logical fallacies committed by those who claim that Christianity borrowed from pagan mystery religions . Two fallacies in particular are evident - the fallacy of false cause fallacy and terminology . If one thing precedes another , it does not mean that the first caused the second . This is the fallacy of false cause . Even if the pre -Christian narratives of mythological gods much resembled Christ (not resemble ) , that does not mean they caused the gospel writers to invent a false Jesus. Claiming such a thing would be like saying the TV series Star Trek caused the program NASA space rockets . The terminological fallacy occurs when the terms are redefined to prove a point , when in fact these terms do not mean the same thing when compared to their source. Thus, for example , the Zeitgeist movie says that Horus began his ministry but Horus was not a ministry - nothing like the ministry of Christ . Those who claim that Jesus and Mitra are the same talk about the baptism that began the possible adherent to the cult of Mithras , but what really happened ? The priests Mitra ( using a ritual also performed by followers of Attis ) suspended a bull on a hole , put those who wanted to belong to the cult that hole and then cut the stomach of the ox, with blood covering beginners . Such a thing has no resemblance to Christian baptism , in which a person goes underwater ( symbolizing the death of Christ ) and then exit the water ( symbolizing the resurrection of Christ ) . However , advocates of the mythological Jesus position deceptively use the same term to describe both hoping to unite the two . The final issue to be examined on this issue is the veracity of the New Testament itself . Although much has been written on this topic , no work of antiquity has more evidence with regard to the historical veracity of the New Testament . The New Testament has more writers ( nine) , better writers and writers who lived closer to what was being recorded than any other contemporary document . Moreover , the story proves the fact that these writers faced death for claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead . While some choose to die for a lie they think is true , no one dies for a lie they know to be false . Think about it - if someone was about to crucify him upside down , as did the apostle Peter, and all you had to do to save his life was to renounce a lie that you had lived consciously , what you do? Moreover , history has shown that it requires at least two generations before a myth can enter into a historical account . Why? Because the eyewitnesses can refute registered error. Those who lived at that time could have refuted the errors of the author and display the work as being false . All the New Testament gospels were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses , with some of Pauls epistles being written as early as AD 50 . These dates serve as a key mechanism of protection against any falsehoods being accepted and widespread. Finally , the New Testament testifies to the fact that the representation of Jesus was not confused with any other god . When faced with the teaching of Paul , the elite thinkers of Athens said this: What is this babbler trying to say ? Others said, Looks like hes announcing foreign gods , because Paul was preaching the good news about . resurrection of Jesus and then took him to a meeting of the Areopagus , where they said to him, ? May we know what this new teaching is that you are advertising you are bringing some strange ideas , and we want to know what they mean ( acts 17:18-20 ) . clearly if the stories about Jesus were simply an arrangement of tales of other gods , the Athenians would not have referred to them as new . dying and rising gods if they were abundant in the first century , that when the apostle Paul preached about Jesus rising from the dead in Acts 17 the Epicureans and Stoics did not comment , Oh, just like Horus and Mithra ? In conclusion , the claims that Jesus was nothing more than a copy of the mythological gods originated with authors whose works ( 1 ) have been discarded by the academic world , (2 ) contain logical fallacies that undermine their veracity and can not be compared with the Gospels of the New Testament , which have stood nearly 2,000 years of intense scrutiny . The supposed parallels disappear when compared to the original historical texts . Similarities between Jesus and various mythological gods can only be defended when hiring is selective and misleading descriptions . Jesus Christ stands unique in history , with his voice rising above all false gods and continuing to ask the question that ultimately determines the eternal destiny of each person , Who do you say I am ( Matthew 16:15 )
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 16:58:20 +0000
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