The Pattern of Historical Account vs. Myth:
In historical accounts written after an event, the stories written most closely to the actual event are usually the MOST detailed and accurate. Those written many years later tend to contain LESS details. Myths, on the other hand, start with a central idea and GAIN details as the years go by. For example, we know that the myth of Santa Claus started with the actual person of St. Nick. That idea of St. Nick has grown to include a magical workshop at North Pole staffed by elves, magic sleigh and flying reindeer, landing on rooftops and traveling around the world in a single night. Each generation added MORE details to the myth.
1) the first gospel written was Mark (50-67 A.D.)
2) the oldest copies of Mark end with Mark 16:8 and make no mention of the appearance of the resurrected Jesus (except an angel says "he is risen). It is generally agreed upon that Mark did not write the last 12 verses. From the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Catholics are not bound to hold that the verses were written by St. Mark. " From ReligiousTolerance.org: "The oldest copies of the Gospel of Mark, the Sinaitic and Vatican, end at Mark 16:8. A note in the New International Version of the Bible states: "The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20." Verses 9 to 20 appear to have been added later by an unknown Christian forger. The addition was quoted in the writings of Irenaeus and Hippolytus in the second or third century."
3) Matt. was written next and makes a BRIEF mention of the resurrection and ascension; which includes a conspiracy theory about the body being stolen (Matt. 28:11-15); followed by Luke which uses ONE full chapter; and then John (about 120 A.D.) which uses TWO chapters to describe the resurrection and ascension.
Question: Why is it that the gospel written most closely to the event lacks any reference to that event? Why does the resurrection and ascension become more prominent as the years go by?
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Internal Evidence:
Differing versions of the story.
Question: How many women were at the tomb? Who came to the tomb first, the women, the apostles or the angel? One angel or more than one? Where did Jesus first appear? Was Jesus recognizable? Where else did Jesus appear? How and where did Jesus leave the Earth?
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Where could the idea of Resurrection have come from?
I was raised a Catholic. I remember as a child hearing my first mass in english rather than latin. I also remember when the usual hymns and church organ were given a rest and were replaced by a drum set and a couple of guitars. They played pop music with a semi-religious theme. Two songs I remember were George Harrison's "My sweet lord" and the beatles "Let it be". Seems that they wanted to make the church service more appealing.
I have copies of speeches that Russell gave in Masonic temples. In those talks he used terms and ideas very similar to the practices that the Masons follow. Things such as secret knowledge, Jehovah as the great builder, etc...
Just after the WTC attack some JWs left an Awake! in my door (April 2001). I ignored the terrorism article, but found the two "new age" articles interesting. One was on the mythical properties of amber and the other was about a stonehege-like ruin in Ireland.
It seems to me that Religion often borrows from and incorporates popular culture in order to gain the attention of potential members.
Just how long has this been going on?
RELIGIONS THAT THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMPETED WITH:
The doctrines of pagan religions at the time of Jesus' life:
At the time of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and for some centuries before, the Mediterranean and neighboring world had been the scene of a vast number of pagan creeds and rituals. There were Temples without end dedicated to gods like Apollo or Dionysus among the Greeks, Hercules among the Romans, Mithra among the Persians, Adonis and Attis in Syria and Phrygia, Osiris and Isis and Horus in Egypt, Baal and Astarte among the Babylonians and Carthaginians, and so forth.
I may say roughly that of all or nearly all the deities
above-mentioned it was said and believed that:
(1) They were born on or very near our Christmas Day.
(2) They were born of a Virgin-Mother.
(3) And in a Cave or Underground Chamber.
(4) They led a life of toil for Mankind.
(5) And were called by the names of Light-bringer,
Healer, Mediator, Savior, Deliverer.
(6) They were however vanquished by the Powers of
Darkness.
(7) And descended into Hell or the Underworld.
(8) They rose again from the dead, and became the
pioneers of mankind to the Heavenly world.
(9) They founded Communions of Saints, and Churches
into which disciples were received by Baptism.
(10) And they were commemorated by Eucharistic
meals.
Let me give a few brief examples.
Mithra was born in a cave, and on the 25th December.
He was born of a Virgin. He traveled far and wide as
a teacher and illuminator of men. He slew the Bull
(symbol of the gross Earth which the sunlight fructifies).
His great festivals were the winter solstice and the Spring
equinox (Christmas and Easter). He had twelve companions
or disciples (the twelve months). He was buried
in a tomb, from which however he rose again; and his
resurrection was celebrated yearly with great rejoicings. He
was called Savior and Mediator, and sometimes figured as
a Lamb; and sacramental feasts in remembrance of him were
held by his followers.
Osiris was born (Plutarch tells us) on the 361st day of
the year, say the 27th December. He too, like Mithra and
Dionysus, was a great traveler. As King of Egypt he
taught men civil arts, and "tamed them by music and
gentleness, not by force of arms"; he was the discoverer
of corn and wine. But he was betrayed by Typhon, the
power of darkness, and slain and dismembered. "This happened,"
says Plutarch, "on the 17th of the month Athyr,
when the sun enters into the Scorpion" (the sign of the
Zodiac which indicates the oncoming of Winter). His body
was placed in a box, but afterwards, on the 19th, came again
to life, and, as in the cults of Mithra, Dionysus, Adonis and
others, so in the cult of Osiris, an image placed in a coffin
was brought out before the worshipers and saluted with
glad cries of "Osiris is risen." "His sufferings, his death
and his resurrection were enacted year by year in a great
mystery-play at Abydos.
Adonis or Tammuz, the Syrian god of vegetation, was
a very beautiful youth, born of a Virgin (Nature), and so
beautiful that Venus and Proserpine (the goddesses of the
Upper and Underworlds) both fell in love with him.
To reconcile their claims it was agreed that he should
spend half the year (summer) in the upper world, and the
winter half with Proserpine below. He was killed by a
boar (Typhon) in the autumn. And every year the maidens
"wept for Adonis" (see Ezekiel viii. 14). In the spring
a festival of his resurrection was held--the women set out
to seek him, and having found the supposed corpse
placed it (a wooden image) in a coffin or hollow tree, and
performed wild rites and lamentations, followed by even
wilder rejoicings over his supposed resurrection. At Aphaca
in the North of Syria, and halfway between Byblus and
Baalbec, there was a famous grove and temple of Astarte,
near which was a wild romantic gorge full of trees, the
birthplace of a certain river Adonis--the water rushing from
a Cavern, under lofty cliffs. Here (it was said) every year
the youth Adonis was again wounded to death, and the
river ran red with his blood, while the scarlet anemone
bloomed among the cedars and walnuts.
The story of Attis is very similar. He was a fair young
shepherd or herdsman of Phrygia, beloved by Cybele (or
Demeter), the Mother of the gods. He was born of a Virgin
--Nana--who conceived by putting a ripe almond or
pomegranate in her bosom. He died, either killed by a
boar, the symbol of winter, like Adonis, or self-castrated
(like his own priests); and he bled to death at the foot of
a pine tree (the pine and pine-cone being symbols of fertility).
The sacrifice of his blood renewed the fertility of
the earth, and in the ritual celebration of his death and
resurrection his image was fastened to the trunk of a pine-
tree (compare the Crucifixion). The worship of Attis became very widespread
and much honored, and was ultimately incorporated
with the established religion at Rome somewhere about the
commencement of our Era.
The similarity of these ancient pagan legends and
beliefs with Christian traditions was indeed so great that
it excited the attention and the undisguised wrath of the
early Christian fathers. They felt no doubt about the similarity,
but not knowing how to explain it fell back upon the
innocent theory that the Devil--in order to confound the
Christians--had, CENTURIES BEFORE, caused the pagans to
adopt certain beliefs and practices! (Very crafty, we
may say, of the Devil, but also very innocent of the
Fathers to believe it!) Justin Martyr for instance
describes the institution of the Lord's Supper as narrated
in the Gospels, and then goes on to say: "Which the wicked
devils have IMITATED in the mysteries of Mithra, commanding
the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup
of water are placed with certain incantations in the
mystic rites of one who is being initiated you either know
or can learn." Tertullian also says that "the devil by the
mysteries of his idols imitates even the main part of the
divine mysteries." . . . "He baptizes his worshippers in
water and makes them believe that this purifies them from
their crimes." . . . "Mithra sets his mark on the forehead
of his soldiers; he celebrates the oblation of bread;
he offers an image of the resurrection, and presents at once
the crown and the sword; he limits his chief priest to a
single marriage; he even has his virgins and ascetics."
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To summarize, the story of the resurrection grew in detail as the years went by, just as a myth would. Religion has a history of "borrowing" from popular culture to attract new members. The popular pagan religions at the time of the apostles included a resurrection myth.
