I have been doing a lot of religious research and one of my favorite storys seems to be a retelling of an older story. It seeme that the story of Jesus is predated by the story of Horus the egyptian sun diety, The similarities between the two are remarkable and I found it casts a shadow on some of the more beloved belirfs of this country. I find it a little disturbing that so many people I know put so much faith in religion. A very little time spent researching Horus the sun god shows how much this strikingly similar story predates the Christ story . Anybody else ever notice?
Is the story of Jesus copied from another religion?
by blueviceroy 11 Replies latest jw friends
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Shawn10538
YES! One of my favorite topics. You would really enjoy reading the book, Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions by Doane. I bought my copy at Barnes n noble. You are right about Horus, but there are many others too, the story of Prometheus which is a Greek play that predates the Jewish myth by 700 years or so. Born of a virgin, he is a man/god (his father, Zeus, the almighty god), impaled and chained in the form of a cross, resurrected on the third day, has godlike powers, saved mankind through revealed light (fire) to mankind, the words of John 3:16 is quoted in the text of the play almost word for word but predated John 3:16 in the Bible by 700 years etc. There are Summerian and N. African versions of the Christ story as well which precede the Jewish myth by thousands of years, not hundreds. This makes Christ an archtype, as are: fallen angels, virgin mother, Nephilim, floods, dark skin a curse, promised land, resurrection, and the list just goes on. I hope you read that book. I don't think anyone else on this board has read it. But, it is a great read, as is, Who Wrote the Bible by friedman. Those two books give a one-two punch to Christianity, Judaism and Islaam.
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REBORNAGAIN
I know one thing about him, he died and was resurrected also. Weird.
LINDA
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poppers
Have you watched Zeitgeist? The first part of the movie is about just this. Be patient, there is about 9 1/2 minute intro before Part I starts. Copy to address bar: http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
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Shawn10538
Christ myths are still being written. The Little Prince, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and a bunch of movies and songs all tell the same story over and over again.
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Shawn10538
"Some of the supposed parallels are the result of the modern scholar's amalgamation of quite heterogenous elements drawn from various sources. As Schweitzer pointed out, 'Almost all the popular writings fall into this kind of inaccuracy. They manufacture out of the various fragments of information a kind of universal Mystery-religion which never actually existed, least of all in Paul's day.' Even reputable scholars have succumbed to the temptation to be more precise than the existing state of information will permit. Commenting on this temptation, Edwyn R. Bevan says caustically: 'Of course if one writes an imaginary description of the Orphic mysteries, as Loisy [Alfred Loisy, 1857-1940], for instance, does, filling in the large gaps in the picture left by our data from the Christian eucharist, one produces something very impressive. On this plan, you first in the Christian elements, and then are staggered to find them there.' It goes without saying that alleged parallels which are discovered by pursuing such methodology evaporate when they are confronted with the original texts. In a word, one must beware of what have been called 'parallels made plausible by selective description.' " (Metzger, "Considerations of Methodology in the Study of Mystery Religions and Early Christianity," Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 48, No. 1, p. 9)
I just wanted to respond to this quote. He seems to be saying that the Christian elements were added to these non-Christian stories AFTER Christ. Two things wrong with that. If you read Doane's primary resource manuscript, you will see examples of ancient writings on stones, tablets etc. that tell the Christ story with all major elements that date back thousands of years. So the evidence is there and available for all christians to see. I don't know why this man doesn't know about them.
The other thing wrong with the quote is that if you take the Christian elements out of the ancient myths, there would be no story left. The central theme of Prometheus (a work that we have complete copies of that date before Christ) is that the Son of God was born of a virgin, saved mankind by revealing fire to them, died crucified, and was resurrected (in Prometheus Unbound). that IS the Christ story, it's not just a story with Christian elements. And that is just one example. there are hundreds of examples of Christ or Krishna stories.
He also seems to be saying that scholars are LOOKING for Christian elements in ancient stories, and so they find them, filling in gaps in non-Christian myths by adding Christian elements to them. This would be an unnecessary step to take in view of the fact we have complete stories with no gaps that actually do parallel the story of Christ and precede it chronologically. As to looking for Christ elements and so they find them, well, if they weren't there, how would anybody find them? And metzger seems to be attacking the MOTIVES of scholars who see parallels just as plain as day. This is an ad hominem attack, typical of religious apologists. Open for debate. -
jaguarbass
Thats the beauty of the information age.
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ush419
People like those in the Society and dyed in the wool dubs don't like to have ancient history pointed out to them. They just want you to swallow whole the tripe that comes out of the Society's publications. (i.e. KINGDOM MINISTRY SEPTEMBER 2007 QUESTION BOX) That is an oxymoron in itself Question Box, you aren't allowed to question the society, all their supposed studies are nothing but scripted tales of doom and gloom and how great the "annointed" are. What a bunch of bull., It is not surprising that so many don't want to have to think for themselves then they would be without anchor in this world and have to actually stand on their own merits and abilities and thinking ability.
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PrimateDave
An interesting question, blueviceroy. It is safe to say that both Judaism and Christianity evolved in conjunction with and not in isolation from other religions. I followed Narkissos' link, and then some more links, and found what, to me at least, was a most relevant comment by Lucretius:
"To believe in King Arthur or Jesus, it's not the same. Who puts his faith and future in King Arthur's hands? The stake is very different. Compare Jesus and Julius Caesar. They belong to the same time. But the testimonies in favor of Caesar are more accurate (made by real historians and not apologetic) and credible (no miracle, no virginal birth). Remember the slogan repeated by David Hume : extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
Dave