'The Truth' Sounds Too Familiar...

[downbeatplumb]

But it's in a book so it must be true.

Isn't this your whole argument?

[Faith No More]

Heracles is nothing special. He is a plot device to link the gods to the people. Jesus was man for a purpose—he had to be human to save mankind from their sin.

Unless you can prove that Jesus had to be human to save mankind, this is special pleading at its finest.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

Special pleading from Christians in 3....2....1....

The light of Christ works fine for me.

BLAST OFF!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qeX98tAS8

[Minimalist]

Plutarch reports that Pompey's army first came into contact with Mithraism during the anti-piracy campaign c 66 BC. This is almost certainly bullshit because the Romans had been extensively involved in Asia Minor since the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC and heavily involved in commerce with their allied states, Pergamum and Rhodes, and through them to Tarsus and points east and south.

Nonetheless, it is true that Mithraism ( or Sol Invictus ) as it became known was popular among soldiers and merchants primarily. Xtianity shows the same sort of neo-platonist roots which suggests that there was more of a social class division with the upper classes leaning to Mithraism and the lower classes ( then as now!) picking up on xtian drivel.

[System of Solace]

They should complement each other. That does not mean one came from the other. Rather, the fact one fulfills the other shows how diligent the authors would have had to have been in order to fabricate the NT.

How is this a difficult task? To create a messiah, and put details in his life that have already been used? Any competent author could do this. I suppose, however, the authors/author of the bible have proved themselves incompetent in more than a few ways.

Other Holy Books don’t bother with fulfilled prophecies—the Quran has zero apart from self-fulfilled predictions like Muhammad promising to return to Mecca. Christ fulfills at least 351.

And?

[Drich]

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If copyright laws existed 2000 years ago then the authors of the NT would have been sued heavily.

MITHRAISM (1500 B.C.)

Mithras slaying the bull.[1]
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Us too you have saved by shedding blood which grants eternity

Similarities between Mithras and Christ/Christianity[2]:

• Both saved mankind by performing sacrificial deeds
  
• Both had virgin births in a sense. (Mithras was born as an adult out of a rock).
  
• Both Mithraism and Christianity celebrated the birth of their god on the winter solstice, the 25th of December according to the Julian calendar.
  
• Both told of a Last Supper linked with the blood sacrifice whose symbolic recreation by eating bread and wine provided salvation for all worshippers.
  
• Both told of a Last Supper linked with the blood sacrifice whose symbolic recreation by eating bread and wine provided salvation for all worshippers.
  
• Both emphasized purification through baptism, Mithraists by washing themselves in the blood of sacrificial oxen.
  
• Both featured secret temples located underground. For Christians it was a temporary expedient to avoid persecution, but for Mithraists it became a permanent institution.
  
• Both told of a major flood, in the case of Mithra through his having shot an arrow into a stone cliff to quench mankind's thirst. Unfortunately, the entire world's population was drowned in a flood produced by the water spout that gushed from the hole his arrow produced. One man alone (a Noah figure borrowed from the earlier Sumerian myth of Atrahasis) was warned in time and could therefore save himself and his cattle in an ark.
  
• Both the Old Testament and Mithraic legend told of the first human couple having been created.
  
• As opposed to other early religions, which consigned all the dead to an underworld, both Christianity and Zoroastrian dogma located hell in the underworld and heaven in the sky, where God was located.

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY (~3100 B.C.)

Isis-Mari (Isis the beloved) with son Horus/Mary with son Jesus.[3]

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Similarities between Horus and Christ[4][5]:

• Both begotten Sons of the Father (Osiris in Horus' case).
  
• Mothers: Isis-Meri -> Horus, Mary -> Jesus
  
• Earthly fathers: Seb (aka Jo-Seph) -> Horus, Joseph -> Jesus
  
• Both of royal descent.
  
• Both mothers were told by an angel of their son-to-be.
  
• Birth heralded by: Sirius (the morning star) -> Horus, "star in the East" -> Jesus.
  
• Both have their birthdays celebrated during the winter solstice.
  
• Death threat during infancy: Herut -> Horus, Herod -> Jesus
  
• Both have no data of life events between ages 12-30
  
• Baptism location: river Eridanus -> Horus, river Jordan -> Jesus
  
• Baptiser: Anup the Baptiser -> Horus, John the Baptist -> Jesus.
  
• Both transfigured on a mountain.
  
• Both were referred to as Christ i.e. the anointed one (KRST for Horus).
  

The list goes on and on and on but you can check that out for yourself.

GREEK MYTHOLOGY (~1300 B.C?)

Heracles (or Hercules in Roman) performing one of his 12 deeds as the saviour of humanity[6].

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Similarities between Heracles and Christ[7]:

• Both their mothers became pregnant through union with God (Alcmene/Zeus or Jupiter in Roman).
  
• Both had earthly fathers (Heracles' father was called Amphitryon).
  
• Both their parents made a trip from their hometown elsewhere where the son was born. Heracles' parents went from Mycenae to Thebes where he would be born.
  
• Both are known to hail from their parents' hometown even though they were born in a different town.
  
• Both nearly died as infants. Hera attempted to kill Heracles.
  
• Both were tempted before their ministry. Hermes took Heracles to a high mountain where the tempations happened.
  
• Both walked on water and raised someone from the dead (Alcestis in Heracles' case).
  
• Both had someone who betrayed them. Heracles' second wife Deianira caused his death and this horror led her to hang herself.
  
• Both died, resurrected and ascended to heaven.

HELLENISTIC JUDAISM (~200 B.C.)

It's thanks to this new breed of religious people that the stories of Christ came to be. Their interpretation of the OT gave rise to allegories found in the Gospel of Mark and the epistles of the early Christians. I have made numerous threads on this topic showing where various details about Jesus' life came from in the OT.

As we have seen, the life of Jesus is not one bit original. It can be said that the ideas are all similar to past religions, but ultimately the way in which the Jesus story gets told in detail comes from the OT and other documents around at the time (like Josephus' life and works). This is where the Jesus story gets its form.

Sources
[1]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5095/5426972313_50704c0551_z.jpg
[2]http://edwardjayne.com/christology/mithra.html
[3]http://www.eyeofhorus.biz/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IsisHorusMaryJesus.jpg
[4]http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5b.htm
[5]http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5d.htm
[6]http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/heracles-199x300.jpg
[7]http://www.jesusgranskad.se/jesus_parallels.htm

[hide/]

Haven't we been down this road once before?

There are a number of voices claiming that the accounts of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament are simply myths and were the result of the writers borrowing stories from pagan mythology, such as the stories of Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, and Mithras. The claim is that these mythological figures are essentially the same story as what the New Testament ascribes to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As Dan Brown claims in, The Da Vinci Code, “Nothing in Christianity is original.”

http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-myth.html

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

Oh hello, special pleading. About time you showed up.

[DeistPaladin]

Common Christian reply options I've seen:

1. "That's not true"
2. "Your exaggerating the parallels"
3. "Actually, these religions didn't come first/were later modified"

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not an expert on ancient religions so I don't feel comfortable arguing with Christians on any of these reply options. There also is a lot of questionable scholarship on some of these parallels. I'm not saying its not true but I don't feel comfortable arguing for or against them.

I stick to the Bible.

The Christians have never told a coherent story. Their story contradicts itself, doesn't fit with known history and has no evidence to back it up. There's no need to charge "plagiarism". The story might be entirely original but there's still no reason to think it's anything more than a story (and a badly written one at that).

[Cyberman]

Common Christian reply options I've seen:

1. "That's not true"
2. "Your exaggerating the parallels"
3. "Actually, these religions didn't come first/were later modified"

I'm disappointed too. Internet xtians seem to be an umimaginative breed. I've been loking forward to the Justin Martyr "diabolical mimicry" defence; the Devil time-travelled and pre-emptively set up 'pagan' religions to confuse everyone but the True Faithful™.

Come on, xtians - put a bit of effort into the game.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

Common Christian reply options I've seen:

1. "That's not true"
2. "Your exaggerating the parallels"
3. "Actually, these religions didn't come first/were later modified"

I'm disappointed too. Internet xtians seem to be an umimaginative breed. I've been loking forward to the Justin Martyr "diabolical mimicry" defence; the Devil time-travelled and pre-emptively set up 'pagan' religions to confuse everyone but the True Faithful™.

Come on, xtians - put a bit of effort into the game.

But how's Satan suppose find time to set up pagan religions if he's so busy planting evidence for evolution?