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Pagan Resurrection MythsWas Jesus Resurrection Made Up?Noah MyersResurrection of Jesus August 5, 2017One of the more popular theories to explain away the Resurrection of Jesus is the Christ Myth View. It argues that Jesus never existed, not simply that He was not divine, but that there is no actual historical person called Jesus. One of the ways Jesus Mythists try to argue their case is saying Jesus resurrection was based off Pagan myths. Popularized today by a documentary called “Zeitgeist” from Peter Joseph, the origin of the theory is nothing new, dating back to at least to 1890 from a book by James Frazer called “The Golden Bough: A Study on Comparative Religion”, or Gerald Massey’s work called “Natural Genesis”. Zeitgeist gives a long list of the supposed ‘parallels’ between Jesus and other pre-Christian Pagan or mythic deities. For the sake of our paper we will only talk about the claimed resurrection parallels. The myths that Zeitgeist claims have resurrection stories are, Horus, Attis, Krishna, Dionysus, and Mithra. The claim within Zeitgeist, and other Jesus Mythist theories, is that the stories about Jesus were based not on history, but an attempt to mimic these pagan stories to gain popular acceptance. There are several problems with this theory. First, it makes a grand assumption that because two stories sound similar that they must both be false. There is no reason within logical argument that this can hold water. It is possible that there exists a person from history that sounds very much like myths or stories we know to be false, but still existed. If Jesus sounds a lot like myths that we know of, it does not in turn mean that Jesus never existed. In order to prove that Jesus story is made up one must examine the actual historical evidence for him; but many Jesus Mythists just present the parallels as if they have closed the case already. They feel that if Jesus is similar enough to these ancient myths than he also must be a myth. The logic simply does not work. I could not say that lumberjacks with flannel and an axe do not exist because they parallel the myth of Paul Bunyan. In the same way Jesus could still be a real character even though he sounds like folk mythology, which we know is not true. To give a better example we could make a very strong case for Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy never existed. Notice some of the odd similarities that the presidents shared: 1) Lincoln became a congressman in 1846, Kennedy in 1946. 2) Lincoln became President in 1860, Kennedy in 1960. 3) Both served presidencies concerned with Civil Rights 3) Both had a child die while in serving presidency. 4) Both were shot in the head. 5) the assassins of each President was killed before they were brought to tria.l 6) Lincolns assassin was born in 1839 Kennedy’s assassin was born in 1939. 7) Both were succeeded by a Johnson who were born in 1908 and 1808 respectively. 8) Lincolns assassin shot him in a theater and was caught in a warehouse (barn). 9) Kennedy’s assassin shot him from a warehouse and was caught in a theater. If we say that two stories sharing many similarities must be false then I have just presented a case for Lincoln and Kennedy never existing! But of course, that is absurd, and so the whole Christ Myth argument falls apart before we even examine the data. Stories being similar in no way means that one or both stories must be false. All of that to say even if it turned out that Jesus shared some strangely or even eerily similar characteristics or events with one of these myths, it does nothing to prove that Jesus never existed or that his story is in any way false. Another large problem with the Jesus Myth Theory is that it does not account for the known character of the Jewish people of the time. Judaism had existed for over a thousand years alongside the myths of Egypt, Canaan, Persia, Babylon, Greece, Rome and others and had never once given in to their Polytheism or any other pagan doctrine. Judaism had proven itself to be quite resistant to assimilate, or merge its culture with those around it, especially in regards to religious doctrine. Peter Kreeft points out when speaking of the Jews from that time, “They were already more “demythologized” than any other people. The orthodox Jews were adamantly, even intolerantly, opposed to the polytheistic myths of paganism and to any attempts to reconcile their religion with others. Nor would anyone be less likely to confuse myth and fact than a Jew” So, if Judaism had sustained itself so long without converging with the religions around it in what had made this new shift after the time of Christ? Why assimilate now? What had changed? The Jesus Mythist must provide an answer to these questions, and they do not. Furthermore, many of the changes that Judaism went through by way of Christianity moved it further from pagan doctrines. Animal sacrifice was no longer needed, something still happening among the pagans. Abstaining from certain foods was rejected, something that would have only been reinforced had Jesus come from the myth of Attis, or other myths since they abstained from eating pig because Attis was killed by a boar. Similar dietary restrictions were common among pagan religions but Christianity moved away from that rather than toward it. Jesus Mythists give no explanation for why suddenly Jewish culture which had so adamantly resisted giving into the culture around them suddenly caved. The idea that Jews were wanting to gain popularity is unfounded, and frankly shows a lack of knowledge of Jewish history, both before and after the time of Christ. Jews never were focused on proselytizing though they were never afraid to share their faith and stand by it they were not focused on bringing more and more people into Judaism. In fact, the Jews at the time of Christ were aloof to the Samaritans and Gentiles in a way of trying to distance themselves rather than get close to or assimilate with them. As we dive into seeing if any of the Pagan narratives parallel Jesus resurrection story we need to have a clear grasp on what characteristics would make a parallel. The most common characteristics Jesus Mythists bring up seem to be a crucifixion as the mode of killing, and being dead for three days. A few other characteristics are worthy of mention that Mythists typically don’t bring up. Jesus died for a purpose, the greatest purpose of all in fact, bringing salvation to all mankind. If Jesus is a parallel we should expect that the Pagan myths that Jesus is based on, have the deity dying for some greater good of, and at the very least a portion of mankind. Jesus was also wrongly accused when he was brought to trial. So, we should expect in some way that parallels of Jesus should include some sort of trial in which the deity is condemned to death for unjust reasons. This is not to say that in order for a pagan myth to parallel Jesus they must share all these characteristics, but it is hard to say that it is a parallel if it does not share a fair amount of them. Musicians Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, John Denver, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Lynyrd Skynard all died in plan crashes, that is not enough to say their lives are parallels of each other. Death has always been dreaded and feared by mankind, so it is very natural that any myth should have a resurrection story. A deity that simply resurrected does not share enough commonality with Jesus to be the story which Jesus is supposed to be based upon. So, as we evaluate these myths we will specifically look for five characteristics: 1) Did they resurrect? 2) Did they die by crucifixion? 3) Were they dead for three days? 4) Did they die for a purpose or cause? and 5) Was an unjust trial connected to their death? Osiris and HorusOsiris and Horus are both Egyptian gods that different Jesus Mythists believe also have resurrected from the dead or even were crucified. The first problem with this is that Egyptians did not believe in resurrection in the same way that Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead. While Christians talk of Jesus rising from the dead in the same physical body that he was crucified in and living on the same earth, clearly seen when he shows his hands and feet to Thomas, the Ancient Egyptians believed in a life after death in a realm of the dead with new or no bodies at all. Horus becomes alive again after death and rules over the dead, but he is no longer in the same place as before, and by some narratives he has no body at all. In that sense then Horus did not rise from the dead but is experiencing or even ruling in a life after death not a resurrected life as it is with Jesus. As for the specific stories of the Osiris and Horus rising from the dead there seems to be little evidence to back up such a claim. Horus for instance is claimed to have even been crucified according to Zeitgeist, but even Frazer says that Horus was killed by a scorpion and his resurrection was brought out by his mother Isis pulling the venom from him thru the utterance of a spell. As far as our other characteristics is no indication of Osiris being dead for three days, dying for a cause, or an unjust trial. With Osiris, we have a similar problem, in that again the narrative has no real familiarities to that of Jesus death and resurrection. Osiris is murdered by another god, Set, though the reasons vary this already puts Horus in a different category of death of Jesus, since Osiris’ death has no foreseen purpose to mankind. Furthermore, according to Frazer and other sources after Osiris dies he is chopped up into multiple pieces while in a coffin and then brought back together by Isis, Horus, and Anubis but only in the sense that he rules over the dead in the land of the dead. So though one might argue Horus has the same body he had when he died, he does not live on earth again Jesus resurrection. Again, there is no information to declare that Horus was resurrected in three days, no purpose in his death, and no trial.Finally, it should be noted that Horus is believed to be a manifestation of Osiris which though one might try to construe as a parallel to the trinity would be a clear misunderstanding of what the trinity is falling under the heresy of Modalism which was condemned by the first conference of Constantinople in 381 AD. Overall we can probably give Horus one out of five and Osiris a half out of five, making neither a real parallel of Jesus since the only thing they somewhat share is a resurrection story. AttisAttis according to Jesus Mythists was crucified, was dead for three days and then rose from the dead just like Jesus. Unfortunately, for the Jesus Mythists this description does not fit what we know from sources we have about him. Frazer’s own recording of his death and ‘resurection’ is a clear stretch on the parallels of Jesus and Attis’ story. Frazer writes, “The story of his death by the boar may have been told to explain why his worshippers, especially the people of Pessinus, abstained from eating swine. In like manner the worshippers of Adonis abstained from pork, because a boar had killed their god. After his death Attis is said to have been changed into a pine-tree”. So Attis was not crucified but killed by a boar, and he was not resurrected, but instead turned into a tree. It’s hard to see any parallels to Jesus in this narrative, and to call Attis ‘resurrected’ isn’t simply a play on words but really a flat out lie.There is no mention of an unjust trial, no purpose of Attis death and no mention of his being dead for 3 days. So, for Attis we can give him a resounding zero out of five. KrishnaKrishna according to Jesus Mythists also rose from the dead and therefore parallels Jesus resurrection. Like Osiris, Horus, and Attis, Krishna’s death is not sacrificial like that of Christs, and so his supposed resurrection already knocks hollow for a parallel to Jesus’. The story like many of the other pagan myths has multiple versions. In one interpretation Krishna is killed as a result of quarrel with Gandhari who curses him. Later Krishna is killed by a hunter, Jara, who mistakes him for a sleeping deer. It is probably assumed that the accidental death of Krishna was the result of the curse. Another version of the story says that Krishna is killed in some battle or other known danger he chose not to escape. That narrative explains that Krishna did bring safety to women and children but he could have escaped death, but went rather without reason to accept his own death. That being known, Krishna’s death doesn’t really serve a purpose like Jesus’. From my research, I found that the story of Krishna being shot by a hunter seems more widely accepted. Still, upon trying to find the actual ancient text that references the his death supposedly in the Mahabharata, I found no reference to Krishna’s death. That being said it seems Krishna does not die and even if he did, his death is nothing purposeful like that of Christs’.Furthermore, Krishna’s ‘resurrection’ is actually him being reborn. Krishna is literally born a second time as a baby, but this time as a God rather than a man. So not only is he not in the same body, he is a child making this a reincarnation rather than a resurrection. Other traditions give no real indication of Krishna dying at all, but him being death itself. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says “I am immortality I am also death personified” and “I am all-devouring death, and I am the generating principle of all that is to be”. So Krishna does not die but he is death itself/ With all of this information we see that Krishna was not crucified, no indication he was dead for three days, no unjust trial, no purpose for his death and even in the closest versions of his story no real resurrection. Krishna then shares really no parallels with Jesus, giving him a zero out of five. DionysusAccording to Jesus Mythists Dionysus is one of the clearest parallels to Jesus. Mythists will note that Dionysus is the son of God (Zeus), followers drink wine and bread to remember him, he was crucified, was dead for three days, was put on trial, and rose from the dead. At first blush this of course seems to parallel the story of Christ extremely well. For the sake of our essay we will only be focused on the claimed parallels connected with our characteristics of Jesus’ resurrection.Dionysus death as recorded in almost every narrative is the result of the Titans ripping him to pieces. Frazer records the narrative, “Scarcely was he born, when the babe mounted the throne of his father Zeus and mimicked the great god by brandishing the lightning in his tiny hand. But he did not occupy the throne long; for the treacherous Titans, their faces whitened with chalk, attacked him with knives while he was looking at himself in a mirror. For a time he evaded their assaults by turning himself into various shapes, assuming the likeness successively of Zeus and Cronus, of a young man, of a lion, a horse, and a serpent. Finally, in the form of a bull, he was cut to pieces by the murderous knives of his enemies.” So Dionysus was not crucified but was stabbed to death.Dionysus ‘resurrection’ under several narratives fits more of a rebirth then a resurrection. Frazer records two narratives where Dionysus heart is either eaten by Zeus or Semele and then Dionysus is then reborn. Frazer also claims in some narratives “it is simply said that shortly after his burial he rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven;” but there seems to be no evidence of the narrative he is speaking of here. It would be a good parallel but there is no evidence of it. The assertion that Dionysus went to trial comes from The Bacchae, which depicts Dionysus going back to get revenge on the city that ruined his mothers name which mocked her for saying Dionysus was the son of Zeus. Dionysus goes to trial for some of the trouble he makes for the city, by making women go crazy over him, and he does not go meekly like Christ, but has victory over his captors, to whom he went willingly at first. Dionysus is not crucified, and there is no indication that his captors even intended such an end for him. So, the trial in the end has no connection to Dionysus death so not really fitting the trial characteristic that we are looking for.As far as the claim that Dionysus was crucified it appears to come from two lines of reasoning. One is that Dionysus was believed to be the ‘God of the tree’ or other similar names indicating he was the god of trees. There is no indication with that that he was in any way hung on a tree like Jesus.The other argument comes from the Orpheus Amulet. It depicts Dionysus being crucified. The depiction has been soundly proven as a fake, most obviously seen in the relaxed posture of the victim on the cross which is a later style of depicting a crucifixion. Even Jesus Mythists Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy admit that the Amulet does nothing to prove their theory despite using the Amulate as the front cover of their “The Jesus Mysteries: was the “Original Jeus” a Pagan God?”. In the end, even Dionysus even seems to ring flat of a parallel to Jesus. Under any documented sources, he is reborn rather than resurrected, he has no unjust trial resulting in his death, he is not crucified, he is not dead for three days, and he dies not for a purpose but the result of his stepmoms, the Goddess Hera’s, jealousy. Dionysus falls short of fitting even one of our characteristics. MithraAccording to Jesus Mythists the Babylonian God Mithras was dead for three days and then resurrected, and some, like Frazer, even try to make the claim that Mithras death and resurrection happened at the same day in the year as Jesus. The problem with this theory is there is absolutely no evidence that Mithras ever died. The best source that can be found claiming of any sort of resurrection comes from Kersey Graves ‘The Sixteen Crucified Saviors’, which has been viewed as wholly unreliable and not well researched. Richard Carrier, a Jesus Mythist himself even finds the book completely unreliable saying, ““The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Or Christianity Before Christ?is unreliable, but no comprehensive critique exists. Most scholars immediately recognize many of his findings as unsupported and dismiss Graves as useless.”That being said, Mithra is not crucified, did not have an unjust trial, did not die for a purpose, was not dead for three days, and was clearly not resurrected. Mithra gets then a clear zero out of five.Final PointsAfter examining a few of the best examples Jesus Mythists give to claim that Jesus is a copy of pagan myths we see that they have absolutely no grounding to stand on. Even the best examples like Horus and certain versions of Krishna only really share one characteristic with Jesus’ resurrection. To drive the point home a bit more I think there a few more things that we can point out as some of the flaws of Jesus Mythists. Another indication that the Jesus Mythists are not presenting a strong case is how ridiculous some of the parallels are. Freke and Gandy conclude their chapter of the parallels between Osirus-Dionysus with some very surface level parallels, “Jesus is portrayed as a quiet man with long hair and a beard; so is Osiris-Dyonysus”. Beards were the norm in that age, so that he had a beard would be almost like saying two men must be the same in this age because they both have a car. Freke and Gandy calling Jesus ‘quiet’ we must ask if they are familiar with Jesus tossing the tables on multiple occasions, quiet does not really fit that story. “Jesus is born in Bethlehem, which was shaded by a grove sacred to Osiris-Dionysus”. This isn’t a parallel at all, but would only show they existed in the same area. “Jesus is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, a motif found in the story of Socrates”. Now they are not creating parallels to gods, which is the grounding of the whole Jesus Mythist theory. Furthermore, Socrates was not betrayed for any sum of money, but there is mention of a 30 minaue (not silver) bribe to free him. So the money for Socrates is to save him and the money for Jesus condemns him making no parallel at all. Another problem is that the idea of Crucifixion is believed to have been invented by the Persians. With that understanding the idea that Krishna, Horus or Osiris are crucified is automatically ruled out since their civilizations predate the Persian Empire.Finally, putting a final nail on the coffin, Jesus Mythists have given no account to the eyewitness accounts of Jesus death and resurrection. Even by the some of the most liberal skeptical scholars it is well accepted that that the writers of the New Testament were eyewitnesses or knew eyewitnesses to the events they are recording. Jesus Mythists have to give an explanation for the eyewitness records of Jesus death and resurrection but they have simply avoided the subject altogether.ConclusionIn summation, we have found that the Jesus Mythist theory that Jesus did not actually rise from the dead because Jesus was based on pagan myths, falls short on almost every count that we can think of. Parallels of Jesus story from older mythologies would not disprove that Jesus did rise from the dead. We have no reason to think Jews would suddenly want to assimilate with other religions or modify their religion to gain followers. No mythologies resurrection parallels the resurrection of Jesus to any significant extent. Jesus Mythists have grasped at straws to find parallels, and been found wanting. Finally, they have simply ignored the clear evidence which point to Jesus rising from the dead. In the end, there is no reason to believe that Jesus resurrection was made up based off of pagan mythologies.BibliographyBarbarika, Wikiwand, , Arthur. The Christ Myth (New York: Prometheus Books 1998)Freke, Timothy; Gandy, Peter. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the “Original Jesus a Pagan God?, (New York: Three Rivers, 1999)Hannam, James, “The Orpheus Amulete From the Cover of Jesus Mysteries”, Bede’s Library (December 9, 2014) , Sharath, “The Death of Krishna and His Rebirth as a God” Sharath Komarraju, (July, 2014) Kreeft, Peter. Tacilli, Ronald K.. Handbook of Christian Apologetics, (Downers Grove, Illinois, 1994). Murdok, D. M., S. Achayra. “Dionysus: Born of a Virgin Devember 25th, Killed and Resurrected after three days”, Truth Be Known, (August, 2017) Oswalt, John N. The Bible Among Myths, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2009)Seigal, Eli, “The Poem of Catallus About Attis”, Aesthetic Realism Online Library, (1968) , Ravi “Epics of India: How did Sri Krishna and Sri Rama Die?”, Quara (November 16, 2016) Wilson, Emily. The Death of Socrates, (Cambridge, Massachusets, 2007) ................
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