Documentary "The Dark Truth of Religion" - Does modern Christianity have ancient Egyptian roots?

by 4thgen 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  4thgen

  Recently we watched a documentary entitled: "The Dark Truth of Religion". From the quality of the video, it appeared to be made several decades ago. It reminded me of a type of movie that they would show in a college class about the history of world religions. (Maybe this was one of the reasons the WT discourages a higher education- just a thought) The documentary illustrated the similarities of many of the stories in the Bible and Christianity with the stories of the early Egyptians and other secular religions throughout history. Being indoctrinated as a JW since birth, (and I'm ancient) I found it fascinating and as well as disconcerting. It had the ring of truth, but then again I am limited in my religious education.

  What have you read or watched to expand your knowledge of the origins of the Bible and Christianity? I'm not seeking to debate here, just wondering what research has proved helpful to you understanding the origin of Christianity.......
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_AajTZR18w#action=share
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  cobweb

  I didn't watch your video - it all seemed a bit ott with the music etc. If you want an even handed neutral scholarly freely available academic course on the Hebrew bible, you could do a lot worse than checking out this:

  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfbxB0kKayCQ2Hf6JlCCDN6z47ySYxsCW

  Its a Yale undergraduate course. You might find the 24 part course a bit dryer than the video you posted but it is high quality information. Its a bit of a gem in my view as there is a lot of trash out there.
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  cobweb

  On the specific subject of the evolution of the Jewish God, I think the information in this video is pretty consistent with current scholarly thought. Its a bit home made but short and to the point.

  https://youtu.be/ZECezMYug8c
  
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  Crazyguy

  I have been researching ancient religions of the Levant for about 5 years now and I will tell you with extreme confidence that the majority of Christian beliefs come from Egypt. Older Judaism is more a mix of Egyptian,Babylonian, Zoroastism , and northern Syria.

  We have to remember the Hebrew Scriptures were just collected writings and were never intended to be Jewish dogma or doctrine till much later.

  Getting back to Christianity, there's evidence that there were already mystery temples round the Roman Empire of the worship of Serapis a Osiris, Greek highbread god, before the invention of Jesus. All one has to do is read the book of the dead and other writtings from Egypt as well as look at the walls of the temples etc and you'll see the similarities. There's even at least two virgin birth illustrations of a son of god on the walls in side the temple complex at Luxor.

  Dont let the controversy over whether or not Horus is Jesus stump you with your research. The truth is it's more about the Osiris cult then Horus. Osiris is resurrected as his son Horus just one clue. But to go on you'll find on the walls of temples depictions of circumcision, anointing, baptizing, etc.

  And let's not forget the most important part of both religions , when one dies he or she is judged on their heart condition and if they are sinful their heart is eaten and their body is cast off into the lake of fire but if their heart is pure they rejoin their body with their spirit and move on to paradise called the "Field of reads" to be reunited with family and friends to live forever. And if they happen to be a son of god a pharaoh they get to go to heaven and by with the gods.
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  venus

  I watched the video--very true.

  It reminds me of what Seneca said:

  "Religion is regarded by the common people as true,

  by the wise as false,

  and by the rulers as useful."
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  Crazyguy

  I watched the first video and there's a few mistakes. Akhenaten didn't promote the sun god AmenRa or Amun as his one an only true god but Aten . They also make a claim where jesus supposedly said something about the eye of Horus but that's not what the scripture is implying.