Is Christianity based on myth?: Difference between revisions

Is Christianity based on myth? (view source)

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 According to Bart Ehrman, an agnostic scholar who wrote a book entitled "''Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth''", there are so many independent attestations of Jesus' existence, that it is actually "astounding for an ancient figure of any kind".  Ehrman dismisses the idea that the story of Jesus was an invention based on pagan myths of dying-and-rising gods, maintaining that the early Christians were primarily influenced by Jewish ideas, not Greek or Roman ones.  Ehrman repeatedly insists that the idea that there was never such a person as Jesus is not seriously considered by historians or experts in the field at all.<ref>Ehrman, Bart D. (2012). Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth.</ref>
-=Did the resurrection take place?=
+=Similarities to ancient mythical figures=
+Numerous examples can be given of Krishna, Attis, Dionysus, and other mythological gods having clear similarities to the story of Jesus, but the result is always the same. In the end, the historical Jesus portrayed in the Bible is unique. The alleged similarities of Jesus’ story to pagan myths are wildly exaggerated.
+Further, while tales of Horus, Mithras, and others pre-date Christianity, there is very little historical record of the pre-Christian beliefs of those religions. The vast majority of the earliest writings of these religions date from the third and fourth centuries A.D. To assume that the pre-Christian beliefs of these religions (of which there is no record) were identical to their post-Christian beliefs is naive. It is more logical to attribute any similarities between these religions and Christianity to the religions’ copying Christian teaching about Jesus.<ref>Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013).</ref>
+Here are a couple of specific examples:
+==The Horus Myth==
+The movie, Zeitgeist, makes these claims about the Egyptian god, Horus:
+*He was born on December 25 of a virgin: Isis Mary
+*A star in the East proclaimed his arrival
+*Three kings came to adore the newborn “savior”
+*He became a child prodigy teacher at age 12
+*At age 30 he was “baptized” and began a “ministry”
+*Horus had twelve “disciples”
+*Horus was betrayed
+*He was crucified
+*He was buried for three days
+*He was resurrected after three days
+However, when the actual writings about Horus are competently examined, this is what we find:
+*Horus was born to Isis; there is no mention in history of her being called “Mary.” Moreover, “Mary” is our Anglicized form of her real name, Miryam or Miriam. “Mary” was not even used in the original texts of Scripture.
+*Isis was not a virgin; she was the widow of Osiris and conceived Horus with Osiris.
+*Horus was born during month of Khoiak (Oct/Nov), not December 25. Further, there is no mention in the Bible as to Christ’s actual birth date.
+*There is no record of three kings visiting Horus at his birth. The Bible never states the actual number of magi that came to see Christ.
+*Horus is not a “savior” in any way; he did not die for anyone.
+*There are no accounts of Horus being a teacher at the age of 12.
+*Horus was not “baptized.” The only account of Horus that involves water is one story where Horus is torn to pieces, with Isis requesting the crocodile god to fish him out of the water.
+*Horus did not have a “ministry.”
+*Horus did not have 12 disciples. According to the Horus accounts, Horus had four demigods that followed him, and there are some indications of 16 human followers and an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him.
+*There is no account of Horus being betrayed by a friend.
+*Horus did not die by crucifixion. There are various accounts of Horus’ death, but none of them involve crucifixion.
+*There is no account of Horus being buried for three days.
+*Horus was not resurrected. There is no account of Horus coming out of the grave with the body he went in with. Some accounts have Horus/Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and then becoming the lord of the underworld.
+When compared side by side, Jesus and Horus bear little, if any, resemblance to one another.<ref>Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013).</ref>
+==What about Mithras?==
+Jesus is also compared to Mithras by those claiming that Jesus Christ is a myth. All the above descriptions of Horus are applied to Mithras (e.g., born of a virgin, being crucified, rising in three days, etc.). But what does the Mithras myth actually say?
+*He was born out of a solid rock, not from any woman.
+*He battled first with the sun and then with a primeval bull, thought to be the first act of creation. Mithras killed the bull, which then became the ground of life for the human race.
+*Mithras’s birth was celebrated on December 25, along with winter solstice.
+*There is no mention of his being a great teacher.
+*There is no mention of Mithras having 12 disciples. The idea that Mithras had 12 disciples may have come from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac.
+*Mithras had no bodily resurrection. Rather, when Mithras completed his earthly mission, he was taken to paradise in a chariot, alive and well. The early Christian writer Tertullian did write about Mithraic cultists re-enacting resurrection scenes, but this occurred well after New Testament times, so if any copycatting was done, it was Mithraism copying Christianity.<ref>Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2002–2013).</ref>
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