RE: Would Jesus promote punishing the innocent instead of the guilty?
August 12, 2020 at 11:51 pm
(This post was last modified: August 12, 2020 at 11:52 pm by Belacqua.)
(August 12, 2020 at 11:39 pm)Grandizer Wrote: By stating specifically that there were prior examples of figures who died for other people and then were resurrected. I just wonder where are these examples? Or rather what primary sources reveal those to be the case.
I agree nothing is truly unique about Christianity. Views evolve over time, yes, so one could argue that the resurrection of Jesus was derived from certain prior beliefs or whatever, but it doesn't mean they were based on some prior identical accounts of resurrections or that such prior accounts exist.
I think where they overstate the case is when they say that previous stories have figures dying and coming back FOR US.
There are several stories of dying and coming back, either through one's own power or that of another. Hercules rescues Alcestis from Hades, Dionysus gets chopped up and reassembled, etc. So coming back from the dead is an old story.
Doing it as sacrifice for humanity is unique in Christianity, as far as I know.
And I agree that nothing is 100% original. It's all been recombinations of old ideas since before Greek mythology. (Harry Potter is intolerable for me, because I know all the sources. But for kiddies who are seeing the cliches for the first time, it feels new.)
Still, originality is possible in how we recombine things. The idea of serving others is old. The idea of resurrection is old. The combination in Christianity was probably new.
