Truthtesty

Interested in info. it appears that some researchers are asserting this. i would like to add it looks as if christians took a bit of sun-god lure and some judaism lure and kinda bunched it together to possibly have the "best" god? I know there was fierce competition for who's god is right or strongest or real in the past. There still is.

Toto

Hi Truthtesty - welcome to the forums. Your question sounds simple, but is actually very complex and probably cannot be answered in a paragraph or two.

Who are the "some researchers" you refer to? There are researchers with more credibility than others. There is a lot of misinformation available. It takes a lot of work to sift through the evidence and make sense of it.

In any case, I don't think anyone would say that Jesus was "just" a copy of "some" sun-gods, but clearly there are elements of sun worship that have influenced both Judaism and Christianity at various stages of their development.

You might want to start with some of the resources listed in the threads at the top of this forum.

Truthtesty

that if the WORD OF GOD was given to someone, the question begs and pleads - WHY DID THEY WAIT 60 PLUS YEARS TO WRITE DOWN THE 1ST BOOK OF THE NEW TESTAMENT? THE other books were written a 100 plus years later. If god had given me the word of god I would have scratched into stone with another stone - IMMEDIATELY. I would not wait 60 seconds let alone 60 years. From that it is easier for me to conclude that the jesus myth is a myth and was developed and created for over 60 years, not just finally written down after someone "finally got around to it"

KenLynch

First, hello to one new user from another.

Next, to try and answer your question. The first three gospels are generally believed to all be based on one original document due to similarities, so they are not first-hand accounts. The stories of Jesus were most likely part of an aural tradition and only later were eventually collated into the gospels. I think the divine authorship of the books was ascribed much later. This kind of explains the gap.

I don't think there was a deliberate attempt to deify Jesus (I don't believe he himself is mythical) but there probably are a lot of similarities between Christianity, Judaism and the pagan religions of the area simply because as the different religions evolved they tended to absorb the ideas they came into contact with.

Truthtesty

to murderous sun god worshipper Emporer Constantine, in 300 AD, to canonize the "infalllible word of god"? Many other christian writings were thrown out. I am left thinking that after Constantine had his wife boiling party he sat down to canonize the bible. I am left thinking that Constantines product was a product of selfish power, rather than of truth.

Also, Why do christians celebrate the birth of jesus on Dec 25th, the same day as the birth of a Roman sun god?

GakuseiDon

In your opinion, what are the answers to these questions?

Truthtesty

Well the pagan sun god's birthday was dec 25th. In my opinion it does not lend to the credibility of christianity to "borrow" jesus's birthday.

For Constantine it appears that he stabilized the roman empire under his reign with the use of christianity. A fictitious "christianity" that was formed some from sun god myth's and as a fufillmetn of the jewish messiah prophecy at the time. There appears to have been 7 other sun god's who had similar lives as christ did. Even the Hercules myth is similar to jesus. Hercules was born of a virgin and a god, lived life to help mankind, was murdered and reserrected to Mt Olympus.

There is no historical evidence that jesus existed. When reading parts of the bible, supposedly there was great multitudes of people that followed jesus "more than could be counted". Yet none of the 3 theological writers in Jeruselum at the time ever mention him. There is no record of Pontius Pilot ever crucifying jesus.

The city of Nazereth has no historical record either. Some say it was just a small village so it never made the map. But the bible refers to it as a city.

Mithra was called "the good shepherd,� "the way, the truth and the light,� “redeemer,� “savior,� “Messiah." He was identified with both the lion and the lamb.

I am thinking a pretty smart group of people got together and consolidated the Jewish prophecy with the sun god myth to create the number 1 religion of the time. Just look at the money and political power that the Roman Catholic church made from the myth.

GakuseiDon

I think that if you look at the actual evidence, you'll find that most of the similarities are, at best, over-stated, and at worst, fraudalent. How confident are you that the information you have regarding the 7 other sun gods is reliable? Or has it just come from the net?

True. Not sure who the 3 theological writers in Jerusalem "at the time" are supposed to be, though. Philo "of Jerusalem" is obviously one. Who were the other two?

But isn't postulating a conspiracy theory often (though not always) the hallmark of a kook? Are you really suggesting that the origin of Christianity was a cynical money-making scheme?

Truthtesty

What actual evidence are you referring to?

By the way, what is wrong with information on the internet? I am talking to you aren't I?

The historical evidence on the internet seems reliable. I do not rely just on one source I check it out with other sources. I look at works of doctors at Universities and doctoral dissertations. Do you have a suggestion for a more credible source?

Philo Judaeus who's birth occurred in 20 B.C.E. and died 50 C.E. He lived as the greatest Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher and historian of the time and lived in the area of Jerusalem during the alleged life of Jesus. He wrote detailed accounts of the Jewish events that occurred in the surrounding area. Yet not once, in all of his volumes of writings, do we read a single account of a Jesus "the Christ." Nor do we find any mention of Jesus in Seneca's (4? B.C.E. - 65 C.E.) writings, nor from the historian Pliny the Elder (23? - 79 C.E.).



I am not the 1st to suggest that christianity was a money-making scheme. But if you "follow the money trail" you do see the Bishops favored by Constantine becoming extremely rich and you do see priests not just given money but also political power. I don't think christianity is the only religion throughout time that has received money or gifts in the worship of a particular god. It was quite rampant. I also understand there was quite a competition for who's god was the real god.

What I consider "kooky" are the christians of blind faith throughout the world who who believe what thier preachers/pastors/fathers/leaders tell them without being skeptical and constructively critical of the information. What often results are the Jim Jones massacres, the Waco massacres, the psycotic Manson murders, the Andrea Yates insane murders of her 5 children, the list goes on...

It is good that you are skeptical of what I have said, but resorting to name-calling is the hallmark of a child (though not always). I have no personal interest in arguing with you. I am here to find out information and debate seriously.

GakuseiDon

Too often, information is copied uncritically from website to website. But as long as sources are clearly identified, the Internet can be a useful place to find information.

No, what you wrote seems reasonable.

True. There is evidence suggesting that he visited Jerusalem, I believe, but is there evidence that he was living in Jerusalem during the alleged life of Jesus? AFAIK, there is none.

Seneca was in Rome at the time of Jesus, and never visited Jerusalem, AFAIK. Pliny is too late. I don't know anything that places him in Jerusalem, either.

So of the "3 theological writers in Jeruselum at the time", there is no evidence that any were living in Jerusalem at the time.

OK, so you are talking about Christianity in Constantine's time. That makes more sense. Sorry, I thought you were talking about the origins of Christianity itself.

Yes, agreed.

OK. I apologise for any offense.

Can you name them?

You've also listed Hercules as born of a virgin - I don't think that is the case. Hercules's mother was Alcmene, who was a married woman whom Zeus seduced: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/bio.html