The most likely explanation is that someone made it up. Here is one explanation, far from convincing but more believable than the existence of a demi god, who rose from the dead.

The ancients recognized that (from an earthcentric perspective) the sun makes an annual descent southward until December 21st, the winter solstice, when the sun stops moving southerly for three days and then starts to move northward again. During this time, the ancients declared that "God's sun" had "died" for three days and was "born again" on December 25th. The ancients realized quite abundantly that they needed the sun to return every day and that they would be in big trouble if the sun continued to move southward and did not stop and reverse its direction. Thus, these many different cultures celebrated the "Sun of God's" birthday on December 25th. The selection of the twenty-fifth of December as his birthday is not only an arbitrary one, but that date, having been from time immemorial dedicated to the Sun, the inference is that the Son of God and the Sun of heaven enjoying the same birthday, were at one time identical beings. The fact that Jesus' death was accompanied with the darkening of the Sun, and that the date of his resurrection is also associated with the position of the Sun at the time of the vernal equinox, is a further intimation that we have in the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, an ancient and nearly universal Sun-myth, instead of verifiable historical events."

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "SUN OF GOD":
-The sun "dies" for three days on December 21st, the winter solstice, when it stops in its movement south, to be born again or resurrected on December 25th, when it resumes its movement north.
-In some areas, the calendar originally began in the constellation of Virgo, and the sun would therefore be "born of a Virgin."
-The sun has a corona or halo. Many of the sun-gods, including Horus, Buddha and Krishna (as seen in is ascension), are depicted with halos, hundreds to thousands of years before it became fashionable in Christianity.
-The sun's "followers," "helpers" or "disciples" are the 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac or constellations, through which the sun must pass.
-The sun is hung on a cross or "crucified," which represents its passing through the equinoxes, the vernal equinox being Easter, at which time it is then resurrected.

(February 15, 2011 at 12:18 pm)Captain Scarlet Wrote: The fact that Jesus' death was accompanied with the darkening of the Sun, and that the date of his resurrection is also associated with the position of the Sun at the time of the vernal equinox, is a further intimation that we have in the story of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, an ancient and nearly universal Sun-myth, instead of verifiable historical events."

Sounds just like what the Zeitgeist movie was talking about. I thought this theory was pretty compelling too. It makes sense that the earliest cultures would revere the great celestial bodies and events that they witnessed in the sky. And Christianity has been building on past myths ever since its inception.

There once lived a man named Jesus, he was really popular and his popularity got exaggerated.

And from there it is but a short step to "it never happened at all."

(February 21, 2011 at 6:15 pm)Minimalist Wrote: And from there it is but a short step to "it never happened at all."

True. This is may favourite answer, but not the only one possible.

(February 21, 2011 at 2:56 pm)DoubtVsFaith Wrote: There once lived a man named Jesus, he was really popular and his popularity got exaggerated.

I think you might find there may have been even hundreds of people called Yeshua* or Yoshua in Judea at the the time. (Jesus (Iesus*) is a Romanised version of the Greek name Iesous) Probably more than one was a wondering rabbi. Probably more more than one had a mother called Miriam and a father called Yusuf.





*There was no letter 'j' in the Roman alphabet,nor in written Hebrew. Also vowels are not written in Hebrew,but are implied by context. Hence the actual name of the person we call 'Jesus' is unknown for a fact.