Links between Christianity and other (older) religions
The crux of this topic is to show how many links and similarities there are between Christianity and other (older) religions. This is a very irritating topic for Christians. The reason is that there is SO much evidence supporting this link, that Christians would rather not discus this topic at all.
Before we start looking at this very interesting topic, I would like to address one of the main excuses Christian apologists use when this topic comes up:
The excuse goes something like this; …the devil knew about the coming of Christ and staged many variations of events according to older religions etc. before His actual coming to earth, so that he could confuse believer…
As you will see in the following section, we will be discussing MANY DETAILED specifics. For the Devil to have been able to create all these [so-called] false religions and historical events, he had to have DETAILED information about many things. There are only two ways for him to get this kind of detail information: 1) He must be able to see the future, in detail, like God; 2) God must have given him all the detail. As far as I know, according to the bible, the devil is only a fallen archangel and not a GOD. Second, why would God give Satan detailed information if he knows it is only going to cause more confusion amongst the believers…?
Quotes:
"...are our… [Pagan beliefs] to be accounted myths and theirs [the Christians'] believed? What reasons do the Christians give for the distinctiveness of their beliefs? In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe..." Celsus. [late 2nd century CE, commenting on the similarities between Pagan and Christian beliefs]
"What profit has not that fable of Christ brought us!" Pope Leo X.
"Jesus is a mythical figure in the tradition of pagan mythology and almost nothing in all of ancient literature would lead one to believe otherwise. Anyone wanting to believe Jesus lived and walked as a real live human being must do so despite the evidence, not because of it." C. Dennis McKinsey
"There is not a conception associated with Christ that is not common to some or all of the Savoir cults of antiquity." J.M. Robertson
As I have said, and some of you know, Christians view the gospels and the rest of the Bible, as very different from ordinary books. Christians believe that the gospels are the inerrant, inspired Word of God. Thus, nothing in the gospels could have originated in Pagan myths. The gospels describe Jesus' life, from his conception to ascension to Heaven, precisely as it unfolded circa 5 BCE to circa 30 CE. There certainly were beliefs about Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and other Pagan heroes, saviours and god-men circulating in 1st century Palestine. However, material in the gospels could not have come from those sources. God inspired Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in their writing, preventing them from making any errors. The incorporation of Pagan legends would not have been possible.
There are many dozens of events in the gospels that are very similar or identical to, incidents that appeared centuries before in the, stories of Pagan hero/saviours. The priesthood and laity of Mediterranean and Middle East religions worshipped these “god-men”.
Pagan Saviours of humanity:
Pagan spirituality in ancient times from the Mediterranean region was composed of two components:
1. The Outer Mysteries consisted of Pagan beliefs and practices, which were widely disseminated and taught to the public. Knowledge of these, has been preserved in historical records.
2. The Inner Mysteries, were revealed only to those who had been initiated into the Pagan religions. The initiates learned that Osiris-Dionysus was not a historical person. His legends were simple "spiritual allegories encoding spiritual teachings." Late in the 4th century CE, Christianity was established as the state religion. Pagans were given the choice of converting to Christianity, being exterminated or being exiled. What a choice! Their temples were either stolen, for use as Christian churches, or destroyed. Eventually, detailed knowledge of the inner mysteries was lost.
The core of the Outer and Inner mysteries was a mythical, male entity who was part god and part human, often referred to as a "god-man." The biographies of these god-men were consistent from religion to religion. The main difference among the faiths was his name:
» Alexandria: Aion
» Asia Minor: Attis
» Babylonia: Antiochus
» Egypt: Osiris and Horus
» Greece: Dionysus and Asclepius
» Syria: Adonis
» Italy: Bacchus
» Persia: Mithras
These “men” were viewed as mythical characters. There were also some self-proclaimed god-men, humans who actually lived on earth. Two are:
» Samos, Italy: Pythagoras (569 to 475 BCE)
» Sicily: Empedocles (circa 450 to 390 BCE)
Osiris in Egypt may have been the first “god-man”. His story has been found recorded in pyramid texts, which were written prior to 2,500 BCE. These saviours were truly interchangeable. Coins have been found with Dionysus on one side and Mithras on the other. A person who was initiated into one of the mysteries had no difficulty switching to another Pagan mystery religion. In the 3rd century CE, these god-men were referred to by the composite name "Osiris-Dionysus." Authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy have used this term in their book "The Jesus Mysteries."
Conservative Christians accept the inerrancy of the Bible. The writings of the authors of the gospels are without error. The gospels describe the life of Jesus with precision. Thus, ancient Pagan practices in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean are of no concern to the believer. They cannot influence the credibility of the Bible, which is God's word.
To some liberal Christians, the Pagan-Christian parallels are convincing proof that much of the magical components of the gospels are of Pagan origin: the virgin birth, bringing dead people back to life, the many miraculous healings, exorcisms, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, Jesus' anticipated return to judge humanity, etc. These stories derived from Pagan material that had been circulating for centuries when Jesus was born. Except for the occasional coincidence, that material cannot refer to real events in Jesus' life. Many key Christian beliefs have to be questioned and perhaps abandoned.
One important factor is recognition that some of the basic teachings of Christianity and some of the traditionally accepted events of Jesus' life may actually be over 4,500 years old, grounded in the pre-history of humanity.
In order to compete with those religions, Christianity would have had to describe Jesus in terms that matched or surpassed the local myths, stories and legends. The authors of the gospels, may well have picked up themes from other sources and added them to their writings in order to make Christianity more credible to a Pagan, largely Greek world.
Let us first have a look at the overall similarities before we go into detail.
Life events shared by Jesus and mythical heroes
According to author Robert Price, specialists in mythology such as Lord Raglan, Otto Rank, and others have developed a concept called the "Mythic Hero Archetype", a type of larger-than-life man found in many Indo-European and Semitic cultures. They have analysed stories and myths of Aeneas, Arthur, Buddha, David, Gilgamesh, Heracles, Lohengrin, Moses, Odysseus, Oedipus, Perseus, Romulus, Siegfried, etc. and have identified twenty-two recurring elements in these myths. Typically, the life story of any one hero contains many, but not all, of the twenty-two components. Author Alan Dundes has compared this archetype with events in the life of Jesus, as recorded in the Christian Scriptures. He found that Jesus' life contained almost all of the twenty-two elements. Element #3 is missing, and #12 is a weak match. However, the remaining twenty events are relatively precise matches. These are the characteristics and life events of the "Mythic Hero Archetype":
1. His mother is a royal virgin. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke state that Jesus' mother is a virgin. (e.g. Matthew 1:23). The genealogies in the two gospels indicate that Joseph is of royal descent; Mary would partake of royalty by being married to Joseph. (e.g. Matthew 1:1-16).
2. His father is a king. Jesus, regarded to be the Son of God, and God is often referred to as King of Kings.
3. His father and mother are related. There is no match here. Nothing is known about the genealogy of Mary, so this cannot be confirmed. If the early Christians believed that Joseph and Mary were related, then this information did not make it into the Gospels.
4. His conception was unusual. Both the Gospels of Luke and of Matthew state that Jesus was conceived by Mary "from the Holy Spirit" without having engaged in sexual intercourse with a man. (Matthew 1:20),
5. He was said to be the son of God. This is seen throughout the Christian Scriptures. Considering only the first chapter of the Gospel of John, there are seven references to Jesus as the Son of God:
» as "The Word" being with God.
» as the "only begotten of the Father."
» as the "only begotten Son"
» as "the Lamb of God." (2 times)
» as the "Son of God." (2 times)
6. There was an attempt to kill the hero while he was a child. In Matthew 2:16, Herod ordered that "all the Children who were in Bethlehem" and its vicinity were to be murdered. (KJV) 3 The NIV says that the slaughter was to be restricted to only male infants.
7. He was spirited away. Matthew 2:13-14 relates how an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to flee to Egypt with his family.
8. Foster parents in a country far away reared him. Matthew 2:15 states that Jesus was raised in Egypt until Herod died, and it was safe for the family to return to Nazareth. Most hero myths involve a foster family. In the case of Yeshua, Joseph was not Jesus' father; Joseph was a type of foster father.
9. Little or no information is known about his childhood. The Christian Scriptures give almost no details about the life of Jesus, from the time that he was circumcised at the age of eight days (Luke 2:21) until his baptism at about the age of 30. The only exception is Luke 2:46-49 where, at the age of 12, he was described as having been taken to Jerusalem at the time of Passover. He is described as debating theological matters with the priests. Presenting the hero as a child prodigy does not appear in the Mythic Hero Archetype being considered here. However, Robert Price states that "it is a frequent mytheme in other hero tales not considered by Raglan..."
10. He goes to a future kingdom. Jesus went to Jerusalem just before his last Passover, where the public declared him King. John 12:12-13 says that "a great multitude took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!' " (NKJ)
11. He is victorious over the king. The passage in John 18:36-37 describes how Jesus demonstrated superior debating skill when interviewed by Pilate. More importantly, Jesus' resurrection, which was mentioned in all four Gospels and many additional locations in the Christian Scriptures, is the ultimate victory over the king who was responsible for ordering the crucifixion. Pilate ordered Jesus death and Jesus was triumphant. Pilate was not a king; he was a procurator, a type of governor. However, he still had enormous power.
12. He marries a princess. There is no match here, only the suggestion of a tie-in. There is no record of Jesus having been married. However, some theologians have suggested that the miracle story in which he converts water into wine may have taken place at his own wedding. The Gospels talk extensively about women being in Jesus' retinue during his ministry. In the culture of Palestine during the 1st century CE, these female followers would have had to be married to Jesus and/or the disciples, or they were prostitutes. One assumes the former, because one would otherwise expect the Pharisees to repeatedly and viciously criticize Jesus for moral laxity if a crowd of hookers followed him. It has been argued that Jesus was probably married. Jewish society strongly pressured men to marry while young; if Jesus remained single, then one would have expected the Pharisees to criticize him for remaining a bachelor. Luke 8:3 indicates that one of the women who followed Jesus was at least close to King Herod.
13. He becomes king. John 18:36-37 describes how the people of Jerusalem proclaimed him the King of Israel. Pilate jokingly recognizes that the public considered Jesus as a king in Mark 15:12 and John 19:15. In Mark 15:18, the Roman soldiers jokingly referred to him as king of the Jews. A plaque was placed above his head during the execution. It called him "The King of the Jews." (e.g. Mark 15:26).
14. He reigns uneventfully, for a while. He does not reign in the sense of having temporal power. However, Mark 12:27 to 13: describes how he holds court in the Jerusalem temple.
15. He prescribes laws. In Mark 12 and 13, "...He issues teachings, parables, and prophecies, which are taken with legal force by his followers."
16. He loses favour with the gods or his subjects. The Gospels record how the public turns against Jesus and demands that he be crucified. (e.g. John 19:15).
17. He is driven from the throne and city. In Luke 23:26-32, Roman soldiers lead out him of the city.
18. He has a mysterious death. During Jesus' crucifixion, he died after an unexpectedly short time. (John 19:31-33). More mysterious than that were the events at the time of his death. Luke 23:44-45 describes how the sun stopped shining and the curtain in the temple was torn in two. Matthew 27:51-53 describes major earthquakes sufficiently strong to split rocks. Matthew also discusses the resurrection of many people from their graves, who subsequently entered the city and appeared too many people.
19. He dies at the top of a hill: He was executed on the hill of Golgotha, on top of Mount Calvary.
20. If he has any children, they do not succeed him. There is nothing in the Christian Scriptures to indicate that Jesus had children. It was Jesus brother, James, who succeeded him as leader of the disciples, and the head of the Jewish Christian group in Jerusalem. (Some faith groups regard James as Jesus' stepbrother, cousin or friend).
21. His body was not buried: Rather that being buried in an earthen grave, his body was temporarily laid out in a rock cave. At some unknown time between late Friday afternoon, when he was laid in the tomb, and the following Sunday morning, the Gospels all say that Jesus was resurrected. Price comments that this "would seem to be within legitimate variant-distance of the ideal legend type."
22. One or more holy sepulchres are built: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built over the place where many Christians believe that Jesus was executed.
23. Robert Price concludes, "The Gospel story of Jesus is itself apparently mythic from first to last... As Dundes is careful to point out, it doesn't prove there was no historical Jesus for it is not implausible that a genuine, historical individual might become so lionized, even so deified, that his life and career would be completely assimilated to the Mythic Hero Archetype... Thus, it seems to me that Jesus must be categorized with other legendary founder figures, including the Buddha, Krishna, and Lao-tzu. There may have been a real figure there, but there is simply no longer any way of being sure."
Now let us have a look at more detailed analysis between Jesus and other historical figures.
