Links between Jesus and other ancient Man-Gods

by doogie 40 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  doogie

  Recently, at the prompting of another poster, I began to look into the similarities between Jesus and other man-gods of ancient cultures. I was shocked! Not so much by the minute details shared between the gospels and the stories of Krishna, Osiris, Zoroaster, Mithras, Dionysus and others, but mainly because I had never heard of this before.

  Things like: being born of a virgin, espousing the redeeming power of baptism, turning water into wine at a wedding, having an entourage of 12 close followers, those 12 sharing a final meal with the god, instructing his followers to eat of his body and blood to benefit from his sacrifice (the blood usually symbolized by juice or wine), sacrificing his life by crucifixion on behalf of mankind, being dead for 3 days and then resurrected, he will return at some point to cleanse the world, and much more.

  Now, I know this is probably nothing new to most of you, but I was amazed. Especially by the fact that these other man-god myths pre-dated the gospel Jesus by centuries and centuries.

  But then I thought, how is this information reconciled by apologists? what explanation is given for these similarities? The only reasoning I can find is, "These man-gods were myth whereas Jesus was real. We know this because of the documented evidence of the gospels." Now, I know that there has to be a better explanation of these stories? existence than that, but I can?t find anything.

  Like I said, I?ve only been looking into this subject for a little while so if anyone has further research on this I would REALLY appreciate it. thanks!
• 

  IP_SEC

  Hey doogie,

  The only attempt I've seen to apologize this has been basically like this: "The devil is not stupid, he at least for some time had access to the court of heaven. He is also very intellegent. Even without intimate knowlegde of God's plan for salvation, he could deduce that the Messiah would have to be born of a virgin, he would have to be sacrifieced, and his blood would be precious. Also he would have to be rezed to life and would come back to judge."

  So the devil could have started these traditions to make the Christ look like the counter-mythris.

  This reasoning does not account for all the similarities.
• 

  doogie

  IP-

  thanks, that's kind of what i assumed.

  has there ever been any acknowledgment by the WTS of these similarities? i don't have a WT-CD, but i would actually be surprised if they haven't commented on this.
• 

  Leolaia

  The similarities were not lost on the early fathers of the Church. Justin Martyr and Tertullian regarded the cult of Mithra as an inferior copy of Christianity, but the relative antiquity of this cult forced them to declare that it was copied by demons in advance of Jesus Christ's incarnation.
• 

  peacefulpete

  Yes the similarities in theme and basic story are many. It is worth noting however that some of these parallels are results of rather interpretive scholarship of the 19th century. I once compiled a list 5 pages long of these parallels but after a while I realized that many were just embellishments of earlier suppositions. Some are diificult to research as the references are rarely offered. If they appeal to Higgins or Kersey Graves then be cautious. Graves was a little too enthusiastic and did not offer documentation and Higgins while incredibly brilliant had a knack for exaggeration. It is unfortuante this is the case. The Fundementalists have made a great deal about the errors of these two authors and as usual dismiss the bigger picture, that is, the role of cultural and religious tradition in Christian origins. A poster here by the name of Leolaia has turned me on to the Jewish apocraphal works that demonstrate how much certain streams of judaism had embrassed greek culture and traditon. In fact nearly all if not all of the Greek elements recognized in the jesus story had already been incorporated into stories about Abraham or Moses or Wisdom/Son emmination as an entity etc. So the water gets a bit muddy. Was the foremeost initial influence that from the Greek/pagan or from hellenized Judaism? It is unquestionable that the second generation Christians drew directly from "Pagan" sources for the elevation of the jesus character to a god figure with solar motifs. But was the origin of the movement from these sources or was that a secondary developement?

  As far as the WT goes, yes they know the truth. I and my wife wrote them kndly letters asking for refutation of this information. They never answered me but wrote to her to trust them as they are aware of this material. They made a cursory remark in the Insight volume under Gods and Goddesses that admitted that there were other sons of the gods that died for the sins of men but then insist that that there is no connection. They know the facts. They had to encounter these things when doing "research" to expose the pagan connections with holidays and Catholic dogma. They are like the Church fathers in denying the obvious.
• 

  seven006

  It's a bit of an eye opener ain't it? It makes the Greek god Atlas buckle his knees and throw the whole world off kilter.

  Personally I think the concept of god heroes is an ancient fraternity prank developed by the first comic book cave painters. Art students will do anything for a passing grade.

  Dave
• 

  frankiespeakin

  I was watching the video on Joeseph Campbell called "Mythos" (Phyche & Symbol) and in it he brings out the similarities of Myths that transends all cultures. Campbell mention in this video that a German anthropologist named Adolf Bastian of the 19th century was the first to notice this ( although I'm sure other recognized it before him).

  From what I understand of the subject people like Carl Jung found myth important in understanding the unconscious. The creation of myths reflect deeply hidden workings of the unconscious mind with become manifest thru projections we place on the unknown in the form of myths.
• 

  doogie

  PP-

  the bigger picture, that is, the role of cultural and religious tradition in Christian origins.

  They had to encounter these things when doing "research" to expose the pagan connections with holidays and Catholic dogma.

  that is what i was thinking about. westernized society (religious or otherwise) owes a great deal more to the dreadful pagans than it'd like to believe.
• 

  JamesThomas

  Hello doogle.
  
  Yes, it's fascinating the similarities; and what I find even more fascinating is our continued infatuation and devotion towards anthropomorphic deities. You would think that in the year 2005, and with the advent of Quantum Physics and such, we would open our minds to much grander and extensive interpretations of our Source. It's as if we have come to define ourselves with our cherished little deities on a cellular level, and just can't shake it.
  
  
  j
• 

  seven006

  If you want to move on to the next phase of reality, type the words "silk highway and religion" into a web browser and read about how the traveling merchants passed on the myths and helped create the amalgamation of many god heroes and religions we have today. It's a real page turner.

  As Jack Nickelson said to Tom Cruse, "You want the truth! You can't handle the truth!"

  Dave