This is the second in a series of posts on resurrection myths by Mary Jo
Main Question: Was the story of Jesus’ resurrection unique in the first century or did other written accounts of resurrections like Jesus’ exist before or during the time period of the New Testament writings?
The Cult of Osiris
Egyptian
Greek – Usiris: many of the names of gods differ for the Greek version of Osiris’ story
The story:Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld. Isis and Osiris were two of the children of the earth-god Seb (Geb) and the sky-goddess Nut; though Nut was also the wife of the sun-god, Ra. Osiris married his sister, Isis, and reigned as a king on the earth. He is allegedly the ruler of Egypt that brought the Egyptians out of cannibalism and introduced them to a corn diet along with help from Isis who discovered wheat and barley growing wild in the fields and introduced the cultivation of these grains to the people. Osiris also brought the Egyptians out of savagery by teaching them to worship the gods and giving them laws. He decided to share his blessings of civilization and agriculture with the rest of the world and traveled all over training mankind in these ways, leaving Isis to rule Egypt.
Upon Osiris’ return, he is duped by his brother, Set (Greek: Typhon), into laying down in a coffer made just for him. His brother and co-conspirators nail the lid on the coffer, solder it with lead, and throw the coffer into the Nile River. Isis sets out to find her beloved and wanders up and down the Nile searching for him. Osiris’ coffer floats out to sea and lands on the shores of Byblus, where it is engulfed by an erica-tree that springs up around it. Isis, with a tip from the god of wisdom, eventually finds Osiris’ coffer in a column of a palace that had used the tree in construction and takes the coffer back with her. However, when she leaves the coffer to visit her son, Horus, her brother, Typhon finds the coffer, and recognizing the body inside, tears Osiris into 14 pieces and spreads him out all over. Isis recovers all the pieces save one and buries each piece where she finds it. This spreading out of Osiris’ bodily burial is to explain the worship of him in numerous Egyptian cities and also to keep Typhon from finding Osiris’ burial spot.
The “resurrection”[1]:According to Egyptian tradition, Isis and her sister, Nephthys, lament over Osiris’ scattered, dead body and their lament catches the attention of the sun-god, Ra. Ra sends Anubis down from heaven and along with Isis, Nephthys, Thoth, and Horus, he pieces together the scattered Osiris. With help from Isis, Osiris is revived to the position of Lord of the Underworld, Lord of Eternity, Ruler of the Dead.
Similarities to the resurrection story of Jesus:
Both died, both were brought back to some kind of existence after life
Dissimilarities to the resurrection story of Jesus:Life: Osiris allegedly ruled on earth as a god-king over all of Egypt, Jesus did not rule as an earthly king, but proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven as having arrived on earth
Death: Osiris was duped into his demise, Jesus sacrificially and willingly died for all mankind
Resurrection: Osiris was pieced back to together by other gods out of Isis’ desire for her dead husband, Jesus was raised to a new life having conquered physical death giving hope to all mankind
Afterlife: Osiris was raised to the position of Ruler of the Underworld, Jesus was raised to a new body, the firstborn of the resurrected, and rules with God over all creation
What about the dating of these stories? Who is influencing who? A couple of quotes from two articles:
– The key here is dating. Most of the alleged parallels between Christianity and mystery religions, upon close scrutiny will show that Christian elements predate mythological elements. In cases where they do not, it is often Jewish elements which predate both Christianity and the myth, and which lent themselves to both religions.[2]
– In the case of all three, there is no evidence earlier than the second century A.D. for the supposed “resurrection” of these mystery gods.[3]
– For a discussion of certain parallels between the Osiris cult and Christianity, where “any theory of borrowing on the part of Christianity from the older faith is not to be entertained, for not only can it not be substantiated on the extant evidence, but it is also intrinsically most improbable.” see S. G. F. Brandon. “The Ritual Perpetuation of the Past,” “Numen”, vi (1959), 122-129 (quotation is from p. 128).[4]
Also, the Osiris myth directly relates to the corn crop cycle. As taken from The Golden Bough,
The foregoing survey of the myth and ritual of Osiris may suffice to prove that in one of his aspects the god was a personification of the corn, which may be said to die and come to life again every year.
and
But Osiris was more than a spirit of the corn; he was also a tree-spirit, and this may perhaps have been his primitive character, since the worship of trees is naturally older in the history of religion than the worship of the cereals. The character of Osiris as a tree-spirit was represented very graphically in a ceremony described by Firmicus Maternus.
A name for Osiris was the “crop” or “harvest”; and the ancients sometimes explained him as a personification of the corn.
I do not believe an alternative representation for Jesus’ life – specifically the crop cycle or the seasons – can be well evidenced. I also do not see any kind of story revolving around Jesus where the characters are gods and demi-gods, which is true to the plot of most mystery religion stories.
MJ
Note: Please check referenced documents for further documentation. Articles quoted have many more sources than provided here.
For Further Reading:Metzger, Bruce. Historical and Literary Studies: Pagan, Jewish, and Christian. Available from: http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/mystery_religions_early_christianity.htm.%3C/a Accessed January 22, 2007.
McDowell, Josh. “Is The New Testament Filled With Myths”. Chapter 14 of A Reasoned Defense. Available from: http://www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch14/default.htm. Accessed January 22, 2007.
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough. Available from: http://www.bartleby.com/196/79.html Accessed May 22, 2007.
Endnotes:
[1] The term “resurrection” is used here only for comparative purposes. I am currently looking into whether or not this term was a Judeo-Christian term borrowed by the mystery religions or if the mystery religions ever used this term at all.
[2] McDowell, Josh. “Is The New Testament Filled With Myths”. Chapter 14 of A Reasoned Defense. Available from: http://www.greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch14/default.htm. Accessed January 22, 2007.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Metzger, Bruce. “Methodology in the Study of Mystery Religions and Early Christianity.” from Historical and Literary Studies: Jewish, Pagan, and Christian. Available from http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/mystery_religions_early_christianity.htm. accessed January 22, 2007. This quote is a footnote from page 12.
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
“This is not a picture of a god dying for the sins of the world and being resurrected to new life that all people may partake in.”
Thematically through out all of the myths that your comparing with the resurrection, only the resurrection makes claim that the death of Jesus was a sacrifice for all mankind. The gods referred to in the myths die by accident or tragedy.
What then would be the argument FOR the similarities of events other than that both died and supposed came back to life?
I guess what I am saying is…how can you compare gods that can’t even maintain there own “lives” to the One whos death came from a willingness to give it up?
I believe this leaves the burden of proof up to those who believe in mythology to be more than just to say “my gods rose from the dead too.”
Anonymous,
I agree with you. If someone is going to make that claim, they need to provide evidence. I am going through this series of posts because these mystery religions are interesting to me.
MJ
I think the most shocking paragraph here deals with dating. Are you honestly trying to convince us that an Egyptian culture that predates the Christian movement by well more than a thousand years was borrowing ideas from Christianity? Do you realize that there is absolutely no credible historian that would agree with you in that claim?
Also, have you examined comparisons between Horus and Jesus? You should really examine all the evidence before going too much further with this line of investigation.
A good place to start is a simple question and answer session posted on Yahoo that lists some relevant links. I have included that below:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070907194328AAd6rQc
Many more references can be supplied if you need them.
I appreciate the search for real truth – keep it up! Just don’t go into the search thinking you already know the truth and have to apologize for every fact that disagrees with your notions (and emotions)…
Anonymous,
The Egyptian Book of the Dead, which predates the writing of the New Testament should be one of the sources involved in this kind of investigation. This text does not confirm the kinds of comparisons being asserted by Zeitgeist and other “parallelists.” Also, a more thorough investigation will show that much of the evidence available about the mystery religions comes from the 2nd century or later.
//Also, have you examined comparisons between Horus and Jesus? You should really examine all the evidence before going too much further with this line of investigation.//
Yes. Here is some material from my thesis on this subject: “The Egyptian god, Osiris, was born of the sky-goddess Nut and her spouse, the earth-god Geb. Plutarch, in his essay, ‘Concerning Isis and Osiris,’ gives an account of the anger of the Sun, upon discovering that Nut had intercourse with Geb, (in some accounts Nut and Geb are married, in Plutarch’s account, their relationship is difficult to discern). The Sun laid a curse upon her pronouncing that she would not bear a child in any month or year. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, who was in love with Nut, consorted with her and came to her aid. In order to secure days of the year for Nut to have children, Hermes played ‘checkers with the Moon to win from her the seventieth part of each of her periods of light.’ Hermes combined these periods to create five days, which were the last five days added to the Egyptian calendar year (360 to 365). On these days, Osiris and his brothers and sisters were born. An interesting aspect of the birth story only Plutarch appears to mention concerns Isis and Osiris in their mother’s womb: ‘…but Osiris and Isis fell in love with each other and had intercourse with each other in the darkness in their mother’s womb; and some say that this is how Arueris was begotten and hence is called by the Egyptians the elder Horus, but by the Greeks Apollo.’ This account strikingly contrasts the virgin birth story of Jesus.”
But this is only one version of Horus’ birth. The other version is even more of a contrast….”after Osiris’ death, Isis searched for Osiris and eventually deduced his casket resided in a pillar in the palace of the king of Byblos, who cut down the Erika tree for its sweet-smelling fragrance and fashioned it for his home. Isis retrieved the body from the pillar and placed her deceased lover on a barge. As she returned home, she laid upon him and wept, and conceived a child; Horus. In fact, a drawing found at the Osiris temple at Dendara depicted Osiris with an erect phallus and Isis, in the shape of a falcon, approaching him to receive his semen; in other words, to have intercourse with his dead body.”
You’re certainly right to say that a deeper investigation of the facts is in order. The story of Horus’ birth and Jesus birth are not even close to being the same. Once the stories are treated point by point (and not cherry-picked), it can be demonstrated that the similarities are too superficial of a comparison.
//Are you honestly trying to convince us that an Egyptian culture that predates the Christian movement by well more than a thousand years was borrowing ideas from Christianity? Do you realize that there is absolutely no credible historian that would agree with you in that claim?//
What you need to do here is to actually read the source documents (The Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Pyramid Texts), investigate the archaeological evidence (the Temple at Dendara), and then figure the dating for the similarities between Christianity and Egyptian worship of Horus. Do the “similarities” show up in the available evidence before or after the Christian letters were introduced into the Roman Empire and surrounding areas? That is an important detail for which we must account. The source with the most detailed account of the story of Osiris and Isis, Horus’ parents, comes from the 2nd century writings of Plutarch.
Also, you need to explain to me why the Jewish men who began the Christian faith, men who are 150 years out from a revolt by their people against imposed Hellenism, would then adopt those very Hellenistic beliefs to create a new religion? This is a question that needs some answering or evidence, in light of the history of the Jewish people.
//Many more references can be supplied if you need them.//
Although I thank you for your offer, I have 6 pages from my thesis of source documents, peer-reviewed articles from scholarly journals, and books by scholars in ancient near east history, Jewish history, Roman history, and Christianity. I would very much suggest that you read the sources for yourself, and then the secondary sources that are scholarly works (especially ones who interact with the source documents).
Here are a few recommendations:
Campbell, Joseph. “Transformations of Myth Through Time.” New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1990.
“The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day,” The Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead, trans. E.A. Wallis Budge [online text]; Internet; available from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Books/Papyrus_Ani.html; accessed 5 May, 2008.
Cumont, Franz. “The Mysteries of Mithra: the Origins of Mithraism.” 1903; Internet; available from http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/index.htm; accessed on 3 May 2008.
Dio Cassius. “Roman History,” Book 37, Chapter 17 [online text]; Internet; available from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html; accessed 11 December, 2007.
Grant, Frederick C. Grant. “Hellenistic Religions: The Age of Syncretism.” fourth printing. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953. ** Plutarch’s writing on Isis and Osiris can be found in this book. This is a book of source documents.
Grant, Robert M. “Gods and the One God.” ed. Wayne A. Meeks. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986.
Hooke, S.H. “Christianity and the Mystery Religions.” vol. 1, Judaism and Christianity. W.O.E. Osterley, ed. (New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1969), 237-250.
Mettinger, Tryggve N.D. “The Riddle of Resurrection: ‘Dying and Rising Gods’ in the Ancient Near East.” Stockholm: Amqvist and Wiksell International, 2001.
Metzger, Bruce M. “Historical and Literary Studies: Pagan, Jewish, and Christian” [online article]; Internet; available from http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/religions_christianity.html; accessed 22 January 2007; “Historical and Literary Studies: Pagan, Jewish, and Christian.” Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1968.
Willis, Roy, ed. “Persian Myths,” World Mythology. Richmond Hill: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1993.
//I appreciate the search for real truth – keep it up! Just don’t go into the search thinking you already know the truth and have to apologize for every fact that disagrees with your notions (and emotions)…//
Guess this statement would be true for all of us.
//(and emotions)//
Especially this part. Before you infer the conclusions of my research are based in my emotions, you should really provide some kind of evidence to demonstrate your point.
Thanks,
MJ
I need to clarify one of my statements.
//against imposed Hellenism//
Some of the Jews during the Maccabbean revolt were Hellenized Jews. This was somewhat of a vague statement on my part.
An examination of the history of the Jewish revolt against complete assimilation of the Jews into a Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty will reveal bloody battles in opposition to assimilation.
“In 167 B.C., Antiochus plundered the temple and the treasury, took some of its furniture to Antioch, tore down the walls, and made an offering to Zeus on the altar. He further carried out his plans to prepare Jerusalem as a Greek polis by issuing an edict for all people to be compelled to the “new belief,’ and for the consecration of the temple to ‘Zeus Olympius.’ This edict is described in 1 Maccabees 1:41-42, “Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, And every one should leave his laws…” First Maccabees 1 further describes that the Jews were not to practice the rituals of their religion such as circumcision, sacrifice, and Sabbath observance. The consequence for disobedience is found in verse 50, “And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.”
“These acts of sacrilege brought about a Jewish rebellion led by the Hasmonean family Jewish priest, Matthathias. Mattathias refused to obey a Seleucid officer to make a sacrifice to Zeus. When another Jew stepped forward to do so, Mattathias and his sons killed the Jew and the officer. However, Mattathias died while he was organizing guerilla warfare against the Seleucids. His son, Judas “the Maccabee” led the Jews into a series of battles against Antiochus’ forces. Eventually, the Jews regained control of Jerusalem and Judas’ brother, Jonathan became the high priest in 152 B.C.”
“The Jewish revolt against the religious abominations of Antiochus and against the complete assimilation of the Jewish people into Hellenistic society, gave a new direction to the political and intellectual development of the Jewish people. Martin Hengel, in Judaism and Hellenism, describes these developments as: 1) an extreme sensitivity of Palestinian Judaism towards even an apparent usurpation of power over the law and the sanctuary, 2) the tendency towards segregation from non-Jews, 3) an inciting of strong religious and political forces, which led to a strengthening of Jewish national consciousness, 4) a brake was put on the manifest syncretistic tendencies which could lead towards assimilation to paganism, in the mother country of Judaism, 5) intellectual development was now fixated on the Torah, and 6) the fixation on the Torah meant any fundamental criticism of the ritual and the law could no longer develop freely in Judaism. This is the Palestinian Judaism of the first-century. It is highly nationalistic, and strongly monotheistic religion, having the blood of their ancestors who fought to preserve their beliefs and traditions still fresh enough on their minds to guard against anything that smacks of syncretistic assimilation.”1
Also, I have a suspicion that you are equivocating the ancient religion of Egypt (B.C.) with the mystery cult of Osiris or Isis (A.D.). These are different. The stories vary and the practices vary as well. Also, the cults of Isis and Osiris were in practice in the Roman Empire, as attested to by Plutarch. Are the supposed similarities being drawn from a pre-Christian Egyptian religion or from the cults concurrent with and following Christianity from the 1st century onward? It is obvious that a prior religion cannot “borrow” from a later one. But if the similarities stem from a Roman cult of an Egyptian god and not from the ancient Egyptian stories (B.C.) then I would say, yes, these cults could have borrowed from favorable, or successful Christian religious ideology of the day. Roman worship of the gods did not condemn such borrowing of practices or ideals; unlike Judaism and Christianity, which did condemn such practices.
1 Cor. 10:21 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”
Thanks,
MJ
1 Mary Jo Sharp. Prince of Peace or Poser: Did Christianity Borrow From the Pagan Mysteries. Thesis. Biola University. May 2008.
Pointing out “dissimilarities” does not prove anything.
just because the two stories are not exactly the same does not mean that Christian mythology has not evolved from Egyptian mythology.
there are endless similarities between christianity and the pagan religions
however, this natural evolution was not only caused by mixing of traditions and stories. Christianity was also deliberately combined with pagan religions by people like constantine.
Ultimately these types of arguments against the Christian faith are based on the weak logic that says, "If the Christian story is similar to a known (or probable) myth that predated it, then the Christian story must have been derived from the myth and hence not be true."
There were many science fiction stories written in the first half of the 20th Century that talked about men going to the moon. Since some of these stories contained similar elements to the actual Apollo 11 moon landing, does this make historical accounts of the Apollo 11 moon landing mere science fiction? No. It just means that some sci-fi writers were good guessers and/or were somewhat aware of the science needed to accomplish an actual moon landing.
The truth or non-truth of the Christian story stands or falls on its own merits, not on the basis of its similarity to some ancient myth which may or may not have pre-dated it.
In actuality it does not matter, for the sake of argument, whether or not you believe the Christian story as truth or not. The Christian story is in fact classified as a Myth. Your own faith is yours alone. Defending your point of view by proclaiming the presented argument utilizes weak logic without any clarification or proper rebuttal of said argument does in fact contain faulty logic.
This is further indicated in the analogy of early science fiction authors being good guessers when writing of trips to the moon. One could take this argument a step further with late nineteenth century writers such as Jules Vern. Was he just a good guesser, or was he prophetic? Should a religion be centered on his ideas?
The fact is there is an evolution to most myths centered on religious ideology, and the ancient civilizations that gave rise to them. The Hittites absorbed the religions and beliefs of numerous Anatolian and Middle Eastern cultures. The Hittite empire was then absorbed by Assyria and Babylon whom were both absorbed by the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and forayed as far as the Indian subcontinent.
A clear line of religious ideologies can be linked through these two thousand years of conquest and cultural absorptions except for Buddhist teachings. Even though Logic tells us the Buddhist religion was founded 150 to 200 years prior to Alexander, and he must have encountered some aspect of this religion while in the Indian Subcontinent.
Question; Why are the Buddhist prayer beads identical to the Christian Rosary? More similarities?
Now you can begin to follow the progression of logic. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy (one of Alexander’s Generals) gained control of Egypt and proclaimed himself Pharaoh. Ptolemy is credited with the construction of the Library of Alexandria. This was simply the greatest storehouse of knowledge in ancient times.
The Stories, Texts and Gospels later complied into what we now know as the Bible, were originally written in Hebrew and Ancient Greek. To say that Logic is weak to compare similarities in the Bible with those stories that came before is illogical. An entire library of said ideas was available, and in all probability, utilized by the original authors.
Here is an analogy for you. If the Bible were written today, with the facts as we currently know them, there would be an entire army of lawyers screaming plagiarism.
In closing, The Bible of today is also a very different compilation when compared to the original. Numerous stories and gospels were deleted from the original Bible during the middle ages. Many of which were considered heretical. Now where is the Logic in that?
In actuality it does not matter, for the sake of argument, whether or not you believe the Christian story as truth or not. The Christian story is in fact classified as a Myth. Your own faith is yours alone. Defending your point of view by proclaiming the presented argument utilizes weak logic without any clarification or proper rebuttal of said argument does in fact contain faulty logic.
This is further indicated in the analogy of early science fiction authors being good guessers when writing of trips to the moon. One could take this argument a step further with late nineteenth century writers such as Jules Vern. Was he just a good guesser, or was he prophetic? Should a religion be centered on his ideas?
The fact is there is an evolution to most myths centered on religious ideology, and the ancient civilizations that gave rise to them. The Hittites absorbed the religions and beliefs of numerous Anatolian and Middle Eastern cultures. The Hittite empire was then absorbed by Assyria and Babylon whom were both absorbed by the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and forayed as far as the Indian subcontinent.
A clear line of religious ideologies can be linked through these two thousand years of conquest and cultural absorptions except for Buddhist teachings. Even though Logic tells us the Buddhist religion was founded 150 to 200 years prior to Alexander, and he must have encountered some aspect of this religion while in the Indian Subcontinent. Question; Why are the Buddhist prayer beads identical to the Christian Rosary? More similarities?
Now you can begin to follow the progression of logic. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy (one of Alexander’s Generals) gained control of Egypt and proclaimed himself Pharaoh. Ptolemy is credited with the construction of the Library of Alexandria. This was simply the greatest storehouse of knowledge in ancient times.
The Stories, Texts and Gospels later complied into what we now know as the Bible, were originally written in Hebrew and Ancient Greek. To say that Logic is weak to compare similarities in the Bible with those stories that came before is illogical. An entire library of said ideas was available, and in all probability, utilized by the original authors.
Here is an analogy for you. If the Bible were written today, with the facts as we currently know them, there would be an entire army of lawyers screaming plagiarism.
In closing, The Bible of today is also a very different compilation when compared to the original. Numerous stories and gospels were deleted from the original Bible during the middle ages. Many of which were considered heretical. Now where is the Logic in that?
In actuality it does not matter, for the sake of argument, whether or not you believe the Christian story as truth or not. The Christian story is in fact classified as a Myth. Your own faith is yours alone. Defending your point of view by proclaiming the presented argument utilizes weak logic without any clarification or proper rebuttal of said argument does in fact contain faulty logic.
This is further indicated in the analogy of early science fiction authors being good guessers when writing of trips to the moon. One could take this argument a step further with late nineteenth century writers such as Jules Vern. Was he just a good guesser, or was he prophetic? Should a religion be centered on his ideas?
The fact is there is an evolution to most myths centered on religious ideology, and the ancient civilizations that gave rise to them. The Hittites absorbed the religions and beliefs of numerous Anatolian and Middle Eastern cultures. The Hittite empire was then absorbed by Assyria and Babylon whom were both absorbed by the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and forayed as far as the Indian subcontinent.
A clear line of religious ideologies can be linked through these two thousand years of conquest and cultural absorptions except for Buddhist teachings. Even though Logic tells us the Buddhist religion was founded 150 to 200 years prior to Alexander, and he must have encountered some aspect of this religion while in the Indian Subcontinent. Question; Why are the Buddhist prayer beads identical to the Christian Rosary? More similarities?
Now you can begin to follow the progression of logic. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy (one of Alexander’s Generals) gained control of Egypt and proclaimed himself Pharaoh. Ptolemy is credited with the construction of the Library of Alexandria. This was simply the greatest storehouse of knowledge in ancient times.
The Stories, Texts and Gospels later complied into what we now know as the Bible, were originally written in Hebrew and Ancient Greek. To say that Logic is weak to compare similarities in the Bible with those stories that came before is illogical. An entire library of said ideas was available, and in all probability, utilized by the original authors.
Here is an analogy for you. If the Bible were written today, with the facts as we currently know them, there would be an entire army of lawyers screaming plagiarism.
In closing, The Bible of today is also a very different compilation when compared to the original. Numerous stories and gospels were deleted from the original Bible during the middle ages. Many of which were considered heretical. Now where is the Logic in that?
In actuality it does not matter, for the sake of argument, whether or not you believe the Christian story as truth or not. The Christian story is in fact classified as a Myth. Your own faith is yours alone. Defending your point of view by proclaiming the presented argument utilizes weak logic without any clarification or proper rebuttal of said argument does in fact contain faulty logic.
This is further indicated in the analogy of early science fiction authors being good guessers when writing of trips to the moon. One could take this argument a step further with late nineteenth century writers such as Jules Vern. Was he just a good guesser, or was he prophetic? Should a religion be centered on his ideas?
The fact is there is an evolution to most myths centered on religious ideology, and the ancient civilizations that gave rise to them. The Hittites absorbed the religions and beliefs of numerous Anatolian and Middle Eastern cultures. The Hittite empire was then absorbed by Assyria and Babylon whom were both absorbed by the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and forayed as far as the Indian subcontinent.
A clear line of religious ideologies can be linked through these two thousand years of conquest and cultural absorptions except for Buddhist teachings. Even though Logic tells us the Buddhist religion was founded 150 to 200 years prior to Alexander, and he must have encountered some aspect of this religion while in the Indian Subcontinent. Question; Why are the Buddhist prayer beads identical to the Christian Rosary? More similarities?
Now you can begin to follow the progression of logic. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy (one of Alexander’s Generals) gained control of Egypt and proclaimed himself Pharaoh. Ptolemy is credited with the construction of the Library of Alexandria. This was simply the greatest storehouse of knowledge in ancient times.
The Stories, Texts and Gospels later complied into what we now know as the Bible, were originally written in Hebrew and Ancient Greek. To say that Logic is weak to compare similarities in the Bible with those stories that came before is illogical. An entire library of said ideas was available, and in all probability, utilized by the original authors.
Here is an analogy for you. If the Bible were written today, with the facts as we currently know them, there would be an entire army of lawyers screaming plagiarism.
In closing, The Bible of today is also a very different compilation when compared to the original. Numerous stories and gospels were deleted from the original Bible during the middle ages. Many of which were considered heretical. Now where is the Logic in that?
In actuality it does not matter, for the sake of argument, whether or not you believe the Christian story as truth or not. The Christian story is in fact classified as a Myth. Your own faith is yours alone. Defending your point of view by proclaiming the presented argument utilizes weak logic without any clarification or proper rebuttal of said argument does in fact contain faulty logic.
This is further indicated in the analogy of early science fiction authors being good guessers when writing of trips to the moon. One could take this argument a step further with late nineteenth century writers such as Jules Vern. Was he just a good guesser, or was he prophetic? Should a religion be centered on his ideas?
The fact is there is an evolution to most myths centered on religious ideology, and the ancient civilizations that gave rise to them. The Hittites absorbed the religions and beliefs of numerous Anatolian and Middle Eastern cultures. The Hittite empire was then absorbed by Assyria and Babylon whom were both absorbed by the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and forayed as far as the Indian subcontinent.
A clear line of religious ideologies can be linked through these two thousand years of conquest and cultural absorptions except for Buddhist teachings. Even though Logic tells us the Buddhist religion was founded 150 to 200 years prior to Alexander, and he must have encountered some aspect of this religion while in the Indian Subcontinent. Question; Why are the Buddhist prayer beads identical to the Christian Rosary? More similarities?
Now you can begin to follow the progression of logic. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy (one of Alexander’s Generals) gained control of Egypt and proclaimed himself Pharaoh. Ptolemy is credited with the construction of the Library of Alexandria. This was simply the greatest storehouse of knowledge in ancient times.
The Stories, Texts and Gospels later complied into what we now know as the Bible, were originally written in Hebrew and Ancient Greek. To say that Logic is weak to compare similarities in the Bible with those stories that came before is illogical. An entire library of said ideas was available, and in all probability, utilized by the original authors.
Here is an analogy for you. If the Bible were written today, with the facts as we currently know them, there would be an entire army of lawyers screaming plagiarism.
In closing, The Bible of today is also a very different compilation when compared to the original. Numerous stories and gospels were deleted from the original Bible during the middle ages. Many of which were considered heretical. Now where is the Logic in that?
In actuality it does not matter, for the sake of argument, whether or not you believe the Christian story as truth or not. The Christian story is in fact classified as a Myth. Your own faith is yours alone. Defending your point of view by proclaiming the presented argument utilizes weak logic without any clarification or proper rebuttal of said argument does in fact contain faulty logic.
This is further indicated in the analogy of early science fiction authors being good guessers when writing of trips to the moon. One could take this argument a step further with late nineteenth century writers such as Jules Vern. Was he just a good guesser, or was he prophetic? Should a religion be centered on his ideas?
The fact is there is an evolution to most myths centered on religious ideology, and the ancient civilizations that gave rise to them. The Hittites absorbed the religions and beliefs of numerous Anatolian and Middle Eastern cultures. The Hittite empire was then absorbed by Assyria and Babylon whom were both absorbed by the Persian Empire. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire, the Egyptians, and forayed as far as the Indian subcontinent.
A clear line of religious ideologies can be linked through these two thousand years of conquest and cultural absorptions except for Buddhist teachings. Even though Logic tells us the Buddhist religion was founded 150 to 200 years prior to Alexander, and he must have encountered some aspect of this religion while in the Indian Subcontinent. Question; Why are the Buddhist prayer beads identical to the Christian Rosary? More similarities?
Now you can begin to follow the progression of logic. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy (one of Alexander’s Generals) gained control of Egypt and proclaimed himself Pharaoh. Ptolemy is credited with the construction of the Library of Alexandria. This was simply the greatest storehouse of knowledge in ancient times.
The Stories, Texts and Gospels later complied into what we now know as the Bible, were originally written in Hebrew and Ancient Greek. To say that Logic is weak to compare similarities in the Bible with those stories that came before is illogical. An entire library of said ideas was available, and in all probability, utilized by the original authors.
Here is an analogy for you. If the Bible were written today, with the facts as we currently know them, there would be an entire army of lawyers screaming plagiarism.
In closing, The Bible of today is also a very different compilation when compared to the original. Numerous stories and gospels were deleted from the original Bible during the middle ages. Many of which were considered heretical. Now where is the Logic in that?