In another letter to our local paper one reader wrote:
“Mr. X. has written a fascinating tirade about how wonderful and responsible the evangelical Christian movement has been and still is….But what I find fascinating is that…he apparently has not looked at the simple reality that there is virtually no historical evidence that Jesus as a man ever existed. All of the significant elements of his so-called life were lifted almost in their entirety from Egyptian mythology of several thousand years earlier. In their wisdom, the Egyptians knew them to be life-enriching myths about Horus, not historical events. However the “Church” of the early 300s forced the members of the Christos cult to change their views and history so that the Christos in every man was changed to be in “a man” – thus the birth of Jesus as the only saviour. Even back then, the struggle for power and control outweighed the simple and much more wonderful and inspiring truth: We all have divine inspiration within us, equally, and vibrantly. It is up to us as individuals to foster it.” Mr. Z from the city.
Mr. Z seems to have lifted this idea from Tom Harpur’s book The Pagan Christ. Since I haven’t read the book I wouldn’t really be able to say much about it except to recommend that Mr. Z, and others like him, spend more time reading books by respected biblical historians like N.T. Wright (Bishop of Durham), E.P. Sanders (Duke University), and Martin Hengel (Tubingen University). None of these scholars are evangelical (though Wright and Hengel are certainly “evangelical friendly”). Sanders is not, as far as I know, a Christian; but his scholarship has been valuable in discovering more about Jesus of Nazareth, especially in the context of Judaism. Even liberal scholars like those in the Jesus Seminar, whatever their differences with evangelicals and other theologically conservative Christians, acknowledge that Jesus existed.
This long article from Tektonics.org contains a critical review of Harpur’s book if anyone is interested. In fact, I'd recommend Tektonics to anyone who has questions on objections to the historical Jesus.
3 comments:
Thanks so much for that, Denis. Honestly...keep writing. I really enjoy what you have to say. Speaking of predispositions from your last entry, I know that some people have a predisposition to a position of faith, while others have a predisposition to a position of unbelief. I think I'm more of the latter. I'm at a point now where I'm definitely confident in my faith but I still always have questions and I feel like I rarely have solid answers. I picked up a book by Lee Strobel called "The Case for Creation," which I'm hoping to get around to reading soon enough. It has nothing to do with proving the historical existence of Jesus, but as you can tell from the title, it looks at the arguments for evolution and explains why Christianity is still a valid position. I've read Strobel's other books: "A Case for Faith" and "A Case for Christ," which I really enjoyed. He's actually speaking on a live television broadcast coming up in early October so I'm excited for that.
Hi. I saw that ad about Strobel and the church that his presentation will be shown in the (other) local paper. I think that good Christian faith includes and leaves plenty (lots!) of room for questioning and honest speculation. In this you are not unique (though you may be in other ways).
* Horus was born on "December 25th" (winter solstice) in a manger.The festival of Osiris is celebrated in the Egyptian month of Koiak from the 12th to the 30th. This is related to the death burial and resurrection.
It is the winter solstice.
Christian COPTS use a calendar based on the ancient Egyptian solar calender...but with LEAP YEARS.
KOIAK 29 is December 25th or 26th on the JULIAN Calendar.
Calendrical Calculation, Cambridge University press,London
2007 p.73-77
* He was of royal descent, and his mother was the "virgin Isis-Mery."
(Isis ,like the goddess Neith of Sais was declared to possess
PERPETUAL VIRGINITY "
Dr. E.A. Wallis Budge , Keeper of Assyrian and Egyptian antiquities
of the British museum.He wrote this quote in his book "The Gods of Egypt"
"Isis , the mother of Horus as known by the title , Mother of god, Immaculate VIRGIN..." William Williamson, The great law, a study of religious origins page 26
" The Egyptian goddess who was equally the GREAT VIRGIN and mother of god was the object of the very same praise bestowed upon her successor , Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus. "
Dr. R.E.Witt, Isis in the ancient world page 273
" Virgin Isis worship was trasferred to the virgin Mary by the Collyridions and Marians before the council of Nicea "
Egytian Belief and Modern thought by James Bonwick p. 147
* Horus's birth was announced by a star in the East and attended by three "wise men."
* At age 12, he was a child teacher in the Temple, and at 30, he was baptized.
found on papyrus DCIV
'When Si-Osiris was 12 years old he was wiser than the wisest of the scribes" Folk-lore, p.498
12/30 represents the 12 signs of the zodiac and the 30 days in 12 months.
Heroditus, George Rawlinson 1862 p.3-4.[/QUOTE]
ANTE-NICENE FATHERS ALEXANDER ROBERTS VOLUME I P.342
* Horus was baptized by "Anup the Baptizer,"
ANUBIS ALSO SHARES WITH HORUS THE ROLE OF PURIFIER/BAPTIZER
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PYRAMID TEXTS,RAYMOND FAULKNER ,1973 P.152
* The Egyptian god had 12 companions, helpers or disciples.
http://www.stellarhousepublish...om/clip_image001.png
* Horus performed miracles, exorcised demons and raised Osiris from the dead.
* The god walked on water.
* Horus was "crucified" between two "thieves."
(Mark did not know that thieves were never crucified in Judea " historically this never occurred .
Illuminate of Gorlitz or Jakob Bohme's Life and Philosophy,Part 3,Kessinger 2003 by H. Vetterling
" In the Zodiac of Denderah,Just where Horus is on the cross, or at the crossing of the vernal equinox,these two thieves, Sut-Anup and Aan are depicted one on either side of the Luni solar god. These two mythical originals have been continued and humanised as the two thieves in the gospel version of the crucifixion )
* He (or Osiris) was buried for three days in a tomb and resurrected.
(...the solemn morning for the god Osiris was 3 days and 3 nights in the waters before he was restored to life again "The American Journal of Theology ( XX, 5 )
* Horus/Osiris was also the "Way, the Truth, the Life," "Messiah," the "Son of Man," the "Good Shepherd," the "Lamb of God," the "Word made flesh," the "Word of Truth," etc.(Horus/Osiris was also the "Way, the Truth, the Life," "Messiah," the "Son of Man," the "Good Shepherd.
Horus's ' Good Shepard role is made clear in the Pyramid Texts (PT) 690:2106a-b/N 524.
In Book of the Dead appears a long " List of the forms and shrines of Osiris " with over 140 epithets for the god,including " Protector" or " SHEPARD "- Asar-saa.
The book of the dead ,Thomas allen 1974 118-119 )
* Horus's personal epithet was "Iusa," the "ever-becoming son" of the Father. He was called "Holy Child," as well as "the Anointed One," while Osiris was the KRST.
* Horus battled with the "evil one," Set/Seth.
*
Horus was to reign for one thousand years.
Horus enthroned before the Twelve,
Seventh Hour of the Amduat.
(Erik Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, 48)[/QUOTE]
The festival of Osiris is celebrated in the Egyptian month of Koiak from the 12th to the 30th. This is related to the death burial and resurrection.
It is the winter solstice.
Christian COPTS use a calendar based on the ancient Egyptian solar calender...but with LEAP YEARS.
KOIAK 29 is December 25th or 26th on the JULIAN Calendar.
Calendrical Calculation, Cambridge University press,London
2007 p.73-77
found on papyrus DCIV
'When Si-Osiris was 12 years old he was wiser than the wisest of the scribes" Folk-lore, p.498
12/30 represents the 12 signs of the zodiac and the 30 days in 12 months.
Heroditus, George Rawlinson 1862 p.3-4.[/QUOTE]
THE PRODUCTION , AGAIN,OF THE DUODECAD OF THE AEONS ( THE ZODIAC) ,IS INDICATED BY THE FACT THAT THE LORD WAS 12 YEARS OF AGE WHEN HE DISPUTED WITH THE TEACHERS OF THE LAW, AND BY THE ELECTION OF THE APOSTLES,FOR OF THESE THERE WERE 12.
ANTE-NICENE FATHERS ALEXANDER ROBERTS VOLUME I P.319
AS TO THE DUODECAD,IT IS INDICATED BY THE ZODIACAL CIRCLE,AS IT IS CALLED ; FOR THEY AFFIRM THAT THE 12 SIGNS DO MOSTLY MANIFESTLY SHADOW FORTH THE DUODECAD, THE DAUGHTER OF ANTHROPIS AND ECCLESIA. AND SINCE THE HIGHEST HEAVEN , BEATING UPON THE VERY SPHERE OF THE SEVENTH HEAVEN,.... SO THAT IT COMPLETES A CYCLE FROM SIGN TO SIGN IN 30 YEARS, - THEY SAY THAT THIS IS AN IMAGE OF HORUS, ENCIRCLING THEIR 30 NAMED MOTHER.
ANTE-NICENE FATHERS ALEXANDER ROBERTS VOLUME I P.342
* Horus was baptized by "Anup the Baptizer,"
ANUBIS ALSO SHARES WITH HORUS THE ROLE OF PURIFIER/BAPTIZER
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PYRAMID TEXTS,RAYMOND FAULKNER ,1973 P.152
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