| NEW! - I am offering up to $1000 to anyone who can show me evidence supporting the validity of any of the "comparison" lists. See here |
| Isn't the Jesus story just a retelling or 'copycat' of earlier godmen stories? |
| No. The first time I heard this theory, I was in a chat room and
a person came in listing "comparisons" between Jesus and the Egyptian god
Horus (such as that Horus was also born of a virgin, had 12 disciples,
resurrected someone named El-Azarus, was crucified and resurrected, etc.).
Wanting to see if this was true, I hit a few websites about Egyptian
mythology so I could read the Horus story for myself. None of them
gave any such details, and even said things which clearly contradicted this
person's claims. I also went to my local library, and even a bookstore,
looking at books on Egyptian mythology, and found nothing in the way of
comparisons to Jesus. I then went to as many websites as I could find
where similar lists were given, and asked the people running the websites
to back up their claims. Most didn't respond to me, but I did have
a few conversations, the text of which are in the section further down (none
were able to give significant backing to their claims). I then found
a couple of Christian sites that had already discussed the supposed 'comparisons'
between Jesus and Horus, as well as His supposed comparisons to other ancient
godmen. Their work was quite thorough, and what I'm posting on my site
here is simply a summary of their work, plus my own research into these (and
other) godmen stories, plus any other comparisons that people responding
to this site have come up with. A couple of other Christian pages dealing
thoroughly with "Christ-Mythers" can be seen at
Tektonics: Confronting
The Copycat Thesis and
Christian-Thinktank.com:
Jesus A Copycat?. More recently, I decided to offer $1000 to anyone
who could provide me with any story in which the pre-Christian deities did
the things which are claimed, or any convincing evidence supporting their
claims. I revisited the "Christ-Myther" sites to let them know of my
challenge. While I had several people tell me that they would find
the evidence and collect the $1000, not one of them has thus far been able
to find any, so the $1000 is still available if anyone out there thinks they
can find such evidence. See here.
Of course, as you'll see on my pages, there are a few (very few) valid similarities. So what does this mean? Honestly, not much. Look at this list of comparisons between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy:
1. Both Lincoln and Kennedy were elected to Congress in '46
(1846 in Lincoln's case, 1946 in Kennedy's). Both became President
in '60. By the logic of the critics, this list is absolute, undeniable proof that John F. Kennedy is a fictional character based on Abraham Lincoln. Of course, I haven't verified all of the items on this list, so it's possible that some are untrue. But by the logic of the critics, that doesn't matter. A list with untrue items will do just fine, right? The reason that this list really doesn't mean much is that we're looking ONLY at what they have in common. For each thing they do have in common, there are dozens of differences between them. It's the same with Jesus and the earlier deities. There are a few similarities in some cases (though not nearly as many as the Christ-Mythers would have you believe), but the differences far outweight them. If you're open-minded, I challenge you to read any or all of the four New Testament gospels and then read the mythology of the other deities for yourself (there are many books and websites available). So why are people who are so skeptical of the claims made by Christianity so gullable as to believe these supposed comparisons with pre-Christian religious figures without asking for evidence? There's a definite lack of critical thinking on their part when it comes to these lists. There are many who seem to want to believe that Christianity is a copycat religion and thus accept any evidence that they feel backs up their beliefs whether that evidence is truthful or not. Being a relatively recent convert to Christianity myself, I am fully aware that not all non-Christians are as deceitful as those who create and spread these bogus lists. Many non-Christians are honest and ethical people, and give valid, thoughtful arguments. The few who spread obvious lies in pathetic attempts to keep people from Jesus give the rest of them a bad name.
Some E-mail conversations I've had with Christ-Mythers With Acharya S (TruthBeKnown.com) With NoBeliefs.com With a guy trying to defend Acharya S With Clint Clark With a guy trying to defend the few valid similarities as significant. With someone accusing me of being biased With someone trying to defend the Horus comparisons With someone trying to defend the Mithra comparisons A letter I sent to ReligiousTolerance.org asking them to back up their Horus claims (they haven't responded) With someone claiming to have photographic evidence of Egyptian glyphs detailing Horus claims (but who won't let me see them, for some odd reason) With someone asking about the evidence for the Virgin Birth, but also touches upon the Christ-myther claims of pre-Christian "virgin births" and a few other claims. With someone arguing in favor of Dionysus and Horus "parallels" (the conversation that started my "$1000 Christ-myther challenge") Here are the individual pages of mine with the truth about the comparisons between Jesus and the other religious figures. If anyone feels that I have erred, please contact me to inform me of what my error is. Anyone who wants to argue in favor of the Jesus story borrowing from the earlier godmen stories, all I ask is that you back your information up with unbiased evidence, that is, any evidence not coming directly from Christ-mythers. Let me see a version of that deity's story in which those comparing events happen, or any scholar, mythology site, book, or other source which acknowledges those comparing events but which isn't specifically arguing in favor of Jesus being a 'copycat'. If I'm wrong about anything, I will gladly fix my error (I've already fixed a few). Just Contact Me and I will post whatever evidence you want to offer.
Other issues raised by Christ-mythers, with my responses:
Sources and other anti-Copycat sites:
Tektonics: Confronting
The Copycat Thesis
Christian-Thinktank.com:
Jesus A Copycat?
Encyclopedia Mythica Probert Encylopedia: Mythology |