A Question for Rob Bell: Whose God Rose from the Dead?

A Question for Rob Bell: Whose God Rose from the Dead?

Rob Bell’s new book, “Love Wins,” was released this week and in anticipation numerous bloggers have begun the critique of Rob Bell’s Hell (his doctrinal view). After I watched Bell’s television appearance with Martin Bashir, I can understand why so many people are convinced that his position requires a public refutation. Even Bashir questioned what he thought was Bell’s rewriting of the Christian doctrine to a more contemporary, popular, and palatable view, but one that wasn’t historically responsible or defensible as church doctrine. Since numerous folks are covering this issue, I am not going to address this particular doctrine. I noticed something else that needed to be addressed, because it lacked scholarly sources for the claims put forth. This post will be a response to Bell’s interpretation of the Mithraic mysteries as presented in his Nooma video #15.The reason I’m a little late to the ball is directly due to my desire to contact Pastor Bell before refuting him publicly. As a fellow follower of Christ, it was important to me to offer him a chance to respond, first, before saying anything about his view in public and to let him know that I would be offering a public refutation of his material. This is a courtesy I wish would be extended to me from fellow Christians, though unfortunately rarely happens. I sent an email at the start of last week through the contact form on his church website. Perhaps a little more digging would have profited me with a better means of communication, but I assume someone is checking the emails there. I have not heard back from him or anyone yet, but I will keep my hopes up that a response is forthcoming. For now, I will explain the incorrect material relayed in the Nooma #15 video.In the introductory portion of Bell’s presentation, he makes some historical claims about Mithras, Attis, and emperor worship. Unfortunately, these claims are just not true. Back in my Biola University days, I did my master’s thesis on the syncretistic arguments between the mystery cults and the early worship of Jesus. I specifically focused on Osiris, Horus, and Mithras. Therefore, I will briefly address Mithras as the basis for why I question his accuracy in utilizing this material. I believe as Christians, especially ones with a large platform, we should take much precaution to utilize good sources so that we are passing along truths in every area possible. Why should folks trust us with the gospel message if we fail to present accurate facts in other areas?[i] Bell’s Introduction Pastor Bell states that Mithraism was an influential religion of the first century and Mithra’s “followers believed he was born of a virgin, he was a mediator between God and humans, and Mithra had ascended to heaven.” He also makes similar comments on the god, Attis, and discusses a little about emperor worship. After discussing the emperor worship, he states, “In the first century, to claim that your God had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, well it just wasn’t that unique. The claims of the first Christians weren’t really anything new. Everybody’s god had risen from the dead. What makes yours so special?”I believe what Pastor Bell is trying to create is a mood or setting by which to contrast the gospel message with the messages of the other views in the early days of Christianity. However, I was left with a sense of failure on this endeavor. He set up an account of the first century culture that seemed to best fit with his point, rather than demonstrating a commitment to accuracy. If I was not a Christian, I would view this video as a failure to convince me that Jesus was any different from these other gods after listening to Pastor Bell establish that Jesus was not any different. Why should I follow Jesus if I prefer another version of the same story, such as Mithras? Bell’s case for Christ simply did not deliver on this point. Inaccuracy of the Presentation Now to the more serious accusation: inaccuracy. First, Pastor Bell states that Mithras’ Roman followers believed he was “born of a virgin.” The Roman god Mithras was born of a rock near the banks of a river under a sacred tree.[ii] As he came forth from the rock, he grasped a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other, which he used to illumine the depths below (from whence he came). So unless, there is some evidence that springing out of a rock meant the same thing in first century Rome as birth from a human female who had never had sexual intercourse, the first century Roman Mithraic followers did not believe Mithras was born of a virgin. Plus, Pastor Bell’s telling of the story of Mithras is as though these facts are widely evidenced. However, there are no written accounts of the Roman Mystery of Mithras of any substantive nature.[iii]Bell says Mithras, “ascended to heaven.” In Franz Cumont’s 1903 account of this story, using the Iranian/Persian sources, he tells us that Mithra (not Mithras) partook of a meal with the sun, Helios, after completing his mission on earth to protect humans against the evil god, Ahriman. “He then ascends to the heavens with the gods. Borne by the Sun on his radiant quadriga, Mithra crossed the Ocean, which sought in vain to engulf him and took up his habitation with the rest of the immortals.”[iv] This is quite a different picture than that of just Jesus ascending to the Father after his resurrection. Mithra also never loses an earthly battle and he never dies; he is ever-victorious. The later Roman god, Mithras, was also popularly worshiped amongst the Roman soldiers because of his notoriety for being “invictus.” While there are some noted similarities between the gods, Mitra, Mithra, and Mithras, Mithraic scholars have argued for nearly a century whether or not the Roman version of Mithras is an evolutionary view of the antecedent Iranian/Persian versions.[v] By utilizing all versions of the stories blended together in order to set up a point, Bell did not portray an accurate picture of the historical Roman worship of Mithras. ConclusionFinally, I think the obvious problem that should be noted is Bell’s statement, “Everybody’s god had risen from the dead. What makes yours so special?” In the Roman worship of Mithras, there is no recorded death story. Hence, there is also no resurrection story. So, from the evidence we have on Mithras, we can know that not everybody’s god died nor did everybody’s god rise from the dead. How can a comparison be conscionably made between Jesus’ resurrection story and a non-existent resurrection story? This comparison is illogical and should not be made. I would respond to Pastor Bell’s rhetorical question by answering that Jesus actually died and rose from the dead. Therefore, the early Christians had a very unique story if they were approaching Mithraic worshipers in the first century with the good news! MJ

For more information on Attis, please see Edwin Yamauchi’s article entitled, Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History? at http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html
For more information on emperor worship, please see James White’s refutation of the Nooma video #15 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsVkeMZCkOg. He also points out an important response to Paul’s “new message” when he preached the resurrection on Mars Hill in Athens.
Also, I recommend Ronald Nash’s book, The Gospel and the Greeks: Did the New Testament Borrow from Pagan Thought? P&R Publishing, 1992, 2003.
You can also listen to my podcast The Story of Christ and the Pagan Mytery Stories on iTunes.

[i] I know that we will all make mistakes, so I’m not looking for perfection here. I am looking for a responsible use of the sources available to convey historical facts.
[ii] “Born of a rock,” see Franz Cumont, 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, 16. See also Robert M. Grant, Gods and the One God, ed. Wayne A. Meeks (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986), 122. See also: Elmer G. Suhr, “Krishna and Mithra as Messiahs,” Folklore, vol. 77, no. 3. (Autumn, 1966), 205-221.
[iii] N.M. Swerdlow, “Review Article: On the Cosmical Mysteries of Mithras,” review of David Ulansey, “The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World,” Classical Philology, vol. 86, no. 1 (Jan., 1991), 49.
[iv] Franz Cumont, 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, 138. Italicization mine.
[v] Bruce Lincoln, “Mitra, Mithra, Mithras: Problems of a Multiform Diety,” review of John R. Hinnells, “Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies,” History of Religions, Vol. 17, No. 2, (Chicago: University of Chicago, Nov., 1977), 200. Or as Arthur Darby Nock states, “The evidence is scant.” Arthur Darby Nock, “The Genius of Mithraism,”The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 27 (1937), 109.

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Monotheistic Judaism of the First Century – Part One

Monotheistic Judaism of the First Century – Part One

In arguing against the theories of “Zeitgeist, the Movie”, I will be presenting a three-part series of posts relating to the first century Jewish culture from which Christianity was birthed. Though I will not directly counter specific points in the movie in these posts, I will establish a historical case to demonstrate that first-century monotheistic Judaism was not doctrinally influenced by the cultural worship of various pagan deities.

Introduction

The Christian faith has weathered accusations over the years that it arose either from Hellenistic pagan mystery religions or from a flexible First-Century Judaism that would allow for a dying and rising god pagan religious pattern to be introduced.[1] Quite to the contrary, first-century (also called Second-Temple) Jews were ritual and doctrinal separatists mainly due to a fear of defilement. Out of this exclusivist faith, Christianity developed as a sect of Second-Temple Judaism that equated Jesus with the one true God; the only God worthy of worship. Because of this very exclusivity, the first Christians – being Second-Temple Jews – would not have tolerated the mere insertion or adaptation of pagan religious ideas into their Judaism for the same fear of defiling the one true God. The evidence for my case can be found in an examination of ancient Judaism in its first century environment and of the admonishment of Paul in his writings; the earliest extant texts from the New Testament.

ANCIENT JUDAISM: EVIDENCE OF SEPARATISM

Scholars have overwhelmingly viewed Ancient Judaism to be a monotheistic religion; with good reason.[2] The historical and literary data establish a people who separated themselves doctrinally, ritualistically, and to an extent, socially.[3] Before looking into the details, it is noteworthy to understand that the assessment I am leveling on the monotheism of the first-century Jewish people is not entirely void of ritualistic and social variances.[4] However, at the heart of Judaism, there exists an unwavering tenet to the “one true God.”[5]

Jewish Self-Imposed Separation

First-century Judaism was inherently exclusivist; namely due to “the nature of the Jewish conception of god which compelled the rejection of all deification of creatures as pagan abominations.”[6] From the self-imposed social separation, such as ill-regard towards marriage with non-Jews[7], to the extreme Pharisaic purity ritualism[8], the Jewish culture itself fostered a rejection of intimate community with non-Jews who defiled themselves with pagan rituals to ‘false gods.’ As Robert L. Wilken, Professor of History of Christianity at the University of Virginia states, “To the outsider it appeared that Jews were exclusionistic and separatistic.”[9] Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher from antiquity, writes of those who followed the Jews out of Egypt as “an illegitimate crowd with a body of genuine citizens.”[10] In Shaye J. D. Cohen’s article for the Harvard Theological Review, “Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew,” he evidences the inferior view of proselytes to the Jewish faith in various writings from antiquity: the Acts of Pilate, the Qumran scrolls and rabbinic literature, the Mishnah, and the writings of Philo, as well.[11]

Jewish Monotheism in the Scripture

The exclusivist nature of Jewish monotheism can best be demonstrated through two key passages from Scripture.[12] The first passage is the Shema’ from Deuteronomy 6:4-6: “Hear O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one,’ and continues later with the command of total devotion to YHWH, the one God, ‘You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.’ The Shema was a vital part of Jewish liturgy being recited twice daily as prescribed in the Tractate Berakoth portion of the Mishnah[13] and it is evidenced in use as early as the second century B.C.[14] The second passage is the Decalogue, in which the first two commandments forbid Israel to have or to worship any gods but YHWH.[15] “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Deuteronomy 5:7-9). From the Scripture, we can clearly see those who practiced Judaism were reminded daily – twice daily – of the loyalty and worship due to the one true God.

More to come….

MJ

Footnotes:

[1] Hooke, S.H., “The Emergence of Christianity from Judaism,” Volume One. Judaism and Christianity. W.O.E. Osterley, ed. New York, KTAV Publishing House: 1969. p. 279.
[2] For examples see: Hengel, Martin. Judaism and Hellenism. Eugene, Wipf and Stock Publishers: 1974. pp. 68, 77, 264-267, 313 -314.; Rainbow, Paul A. “Jewish Monotheism as the Matrix for New Testament Christology: A Review Article.” Novum Testamentum, Vol. 33, Fasc. 1. (Jan., 1991), pg.81.
[3] “In regard to Rome, however, the argument that the Jews of Rome did not interact with Roman culture has depended to a large extent on literary sources and historical data.” Snyder, Graydon F. “The Interaction of Jews with Non-Jews in Rome.” Judaism and Christianity in First-Century Rome. Karl P. Donfried, ed., Peter Richardson, ed. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 1998. pg. 74. However, Graydon goes on to say, “In order to assess cultural changes the broader, popular data of symbols and inscriptions provide a sounder basis,” which I have found, in the course of this research, to be out of line with most scholarly opinion.
[4] Ibid. See also, Weber, Max. Ancient Judaism. Glencoe, The Free Press: 1952. Weber addresses the Essenes and the variants prevalent in Essenian doctrine. Although, he denounces that these variants arose from Judaism. Also, Knox, W.L., “Pharisaism and Hellenism,” Vol. 2,. Judaism and Christianity. W.O.E. Osterley, ed. New York, KTAV Publishing House: 1969. pp.59-109.
[5] Hurtado, Larry. How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing Company: 2005. pg.133. Also, Paul A. Rainbow. “Jewish Monotheism as the Matrix for New Testament Christology: A Review Article,” Novum Testamentum, Vol. 33, Fasc. 1. (Jan., 1991), pp. 81.
[6] Weber, Ancient Judaism, pp. 412, 417.
[7] Though inter-marriage was practiced, the converted spouse was referred to as a “proselyte,” regarded as inferior to “native Jews.” See Cohen, Shaye J. D. Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew. The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 82, No. 1. (Jan., 1989), pp. 13-33.
[8] Weber. Ancient Judaism. pg. 412.
[9] Wilken, Robert L. “Judaism in Roman and Christian Society.” The Journal of Religion, Vol. 47, No. 4. (Oct., 1967), pp. 315-316.
[10] Philo. Life of Moses 1.27 Available from http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book24.html. Accessed December 5, 2007.
[11] Cohen, Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew, pg. 30.
[12] Bauckham, Richard. God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans: 1998. pg.6.
[13] Available from the Internet Sacred Text Archive website at http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tbr/index.htm. Though the Mishnah dates later than the first century, it is a compendium of Jewish practices that were already in practice by the 2nd Century A.D.
[14] William Albright’s dating of the Nash Papyrus. Albright, William F. “A Biblical Fragment from the Maccabaean Age: The Nash Papyrus,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 56, No. 3. (Sep., 1937), p.149.
[15] Bauckham. pg. 6.

© Mary Jo Sharp 2007
Zeitgeist, the Movie – Christianity versus the Pagan Mystery Religions

Zeitgeist, the Movie – Christianity versus the Pagan Mystery Religions

The Zeitgeist Movie has taken up the task of comparing Christianity to the pagan mystery religions. The movie attempts to prove Christianity is just another myth, like these mystery religions, through comparing alleged similarities between these religions and Christianity. There is much work to be done on demonstrating the problems with these comparisons. I will begin with a quick look at a couple of the alleged similarities between Christianity and the pagan mystery religions stories. I am going to focus on the virgin birth, sacrificial death, and resurrection stories of four of the mystery religions (which I covered a little bit in previous posts).

Virgin Birth Stories:
Adonis:
born from a myrrh-tree, the bark of which burst after ten months’ gestation, allowing the infant to come forth.

Osiris:
the offspring of an affair between the earth god Seb (Keb or Geb, as the name is sometimes transliterated) and the sky-goddess Nut

Mithras:
born out of a rock on the banks of a river under a sacred fig-tree, came forth clenching a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other hand; which he used to illumine the depths from which he came

Dionysus:
Zeus, in the form of a serpent, visited Persephone and she bore him Zagreus, that is, Dionysus, a horned infant

Sacrificial Death Stories:
Adonis:
Ares takes on the likeness of a boar in order to attack Adonis, Adonis is torn to pieces by the wild boar while hunting

Osiris:
his brother, Set (or Seth), coaxed Osiris into a coffin, which he soldered shut with lead
– Osiris was then set adrift in the Nile to die
– later was found by his sister, Isis, who brought him back with her
– when Set discovered Osiris’ body, he chopped Osiris up into 14 pieces and spread him out all over the land

Mithras:– the sacrifice was a bull who contained all the “germs” of life, there is no recorded death of Mithras

Dionysus: the Titans attacked him while he gazed at himself in a mirror, he took on many shapes to evade attackers, he was cut to pieces by the murderous knives of his enemies while in the form of a bull

Resurrection Stories:
Adonis: after his death, Adonis was raised to the underworld for half of every year and to the upper world for half of every year
– He was supposedly given to Persephone, the goddess of death, for part of the year, and to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, for part of the year
– this representation of Adonis residing with death for part of the year and with love and fertility part of the year coincides with the seasons and crop cycles

Osiris: pieced back together and revived by the power of several gods, revival entailed rites which the Egyptians perform over the bodies of the departed, reigned as king over the dead in the other world

Mithras: no clear resurrection story, ascends to heaven in the sun’s chariot

Dionysus: his mother pieced together his mangled limbs and made him young again
– or shortly after his burial he rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven (only possible similarity..but nothing said of bodily resurrection)
– or that Zeus raised him up as he lay mortally wounded
– or that Zeus swallowed the heart of Dionysus and then begat him afresh by Semele
– or his heart was pounded up and given in a potion to Semele, who thereby conceived him
– so many stories, which one is the correct one?

The alleged similarities here are strained. These stories are not the same as the Biblical stories of Jesus’ birth by the virgin Mary, Jesus’ willing sacrifice to deal with sin and death for all mankind, and Jesus’ triumphant bodily resurrection as the “first born” of the resurrected. Of course, it may be argued that I am taking the stories at face value. But what I am showing is that a person needs to examine these similarities for what they are, which is really not that similar. Jesus birth by a virgin does not equal Adonis’ birth from a myrrh tree or Mithras’ birth from a rock.

But the arguments for the alleged similarities get much more problematic. In my next post(s), I will look at the following in more detail: the alleged similarities do not pre-date Christianity (who is influencing who), the argument ignores basic Christian history and doctrine (Christianity does not claim Christ was born on the 25th of December), the argument is not substantiated by a consensus of scholarship (a checks and balances system on ideas), the alleged similarities lack historical evidence, all reports about Jesus’ death and resurrection infer a dated experience concerning a historical person, and none of the pagan mystery religions attempt to undergird the stories of their rising gods with historical evidence.

MJ

References:Carnoy, Albert J. “Iranian Mythology,” Volume Six, Mythology of All Races. New York, Marshall Jones Company: 1917.

Parrinder, Geoffrey. Ed. The Illustrated Who’s Who in Mythology. New York, MacMillan Publishing Company: 1985.

Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press: 1987.

Willis, Roy. Ed. “Persian Myths.” World Mythology. Richmond Hill, Duncan Baird Publishers: 1993.

Weston, Jessie. From Ritual to Romance. Chapter IV: Tammuz and Adonis. Available from: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/frr/frr07.htm#fn_39texts.com/neu/frr/frr07.htm#fn_39. The Internet Sacred Text Archive. Accessed May 22, 2007.

Yamauchi, Edwin M. Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History. Available from: http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html. Accessed January 22, 2007.

Habermas, Gary. Mike Licona. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications: 2004. pg. 90.

Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough. Available from: http://www.bartleby.com/196/79.html. Accessed May 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.

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
© Mary Jo Sharp 2007