Heaven,
Your comment about where we were born influencing what kind of theology we lean toward is something I have been trying to get across for many years. You are exactly right.
I have not said once that a supreme being or as interpreted is as "god" does not exist. My mind is not closed to that possibility. Where I point out the mythological aspects of the belief in god is purely related to its religious interpretations handed down throughout history. As I have stated in other posts it is a known fact that most of the European and Asian countries had very active trade routes that met at a half way point in Persia. At that time and at that place most of the world news was traded just as goods were. As the traveling merchants returned to their homeland with goods from other countries they also brought back with them the news as well as stories that were loaded with myth. This was the main source of information about things outside a persons own country. This is how the myths of one religious culture was added to and embellished by another and also why they have very similar and specific story lines.
Doc_jedd,
From the best research it has been determined that he story of Buddha "in written form" goes back at least 250 to 300 years before Christ supposedly walked the earth. The calculation for the time that Buddha supposedly walked the earth dates back to over 600 years before Christ supposed birth. The supposed existence of Krishna was at least two to three hundred years before Buddha. The Pitakas [sacred books containing the legends of Buddha] now present in Ceylon are substantially identical with the books of the Southern Canon, as settled at the Council of Patna about the year 250 B.C. As no works would have been received into the Canon which were not then believed to be very old, the Pitakas may be approximately placed in the fourth century B.C., and parts of them possibly reach back very nearly, if not quite, to the time of Gautama (Buddha) himself.
It is known by historians that the Fo-pen-hing [legends of Buddha] was translated into Chinese from Sanskrit (the ancient language of Hinduism) as early as the eleventh year of the reign of - Wing-ping (Ming-ti) of the Hans Dynasty, i.e., 69 or 70 A.D. We may, therefore, safely suppose that the original work was in circulation in India for some time before this date.
The paralleling similarities I have posted about Buddha and Christ previously are just scratching the surface. One incredibly undeniable similarity of the two is the account about the woman who came to Jesus asking him to bring her son back to life. Jesus then sends her out to the local neighborhood to find a house where they had not experienced any death in their family. She is asked to bring back a mustard seed from each house who had a relative die. She came back with a hand full of mustard seeds. There is an account about Buddha doing the same "exact" thing and the stories are translated into many languages almost word for word. The only difference is one account says it was Jesus and the other account says it was Buddha.
Another is feeding multitudes with a few loves of bread. Again, the stories are identical except one says Buddha did it and another Jesus. The same goes for dividing believers and non believers up as sheep and goats and It goes on and on and on with the very same myths and identical stories about the two different mythical beings. The first myths were about Krishna and passed down a few hundred years and attributed to Buddha and then several hundred years later it is the same stories told about Jesus.
Since you already know these stories about Jesus reading about the same identical stories of Krishna and then Buddha will blow your mind. You might now begin to see why Christian religions tell their followers not to read so called pagan theology. Just as the JW's have done to their people telling them not to listen to who they call "apostates" it is the same with Christian religions. Hinduism and Buddhism are considered pagan and evil. Once you persuade your followers not to investigate those teachings they will never know the truth about where the Christian belief got most of their stories about Jesus.
It's a hell of a scam and it has been working for centuries. If people were to find out this information and it is commonly known within each religious faction they would loose followers by the millions. Keeping their followers in the dark is one of the main reasons religion has so many rules. Keep them ignorant to the truth and you keep them. Let the truth be known and it's all over.
I do admonish you not to simply take my word for it. You can begin your own investigation into what I say by either going to the library or typing in Jesus, Buddha, and Krishna in a search engine on the Internet. The information is fascinating.
Faithful,
I'm sorry, I do not understand what you are trying to say. What am I missing here? Could you please restate your comment. I'm not sure what you are getting at.
Jeremy,
That is a book that I have been meaning to read but have not as of yet. I have read some exerts from it but never the entire book. I lost interest in these things a few years back after reading many other things. Until my good buddy Alan F. conned me into getting more involved with exJW issues I completely quit reading anything with a religious nature.
Now that this subject has peaked my interest I might pick it up and read it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Fark,
It is all starting to make sense to me now. I have always admired your insight and when you finally decide to start your own religion count me in as an alter boy. Just make sure you have a good supply of sacramental scotch.
Take care all,
Dave
