Destronicus

(I'm not sure which forum this would fit into, so if there's a more specific place, please move it.)

I came across this website earlier today, and I thought, "This is too good to be true... there HAS to be some serious atheist bias going on here." If it's not, how the hell can Christians even begin to counter all of this?

http://home.earthlink.net/~pgwhacker...anChrists.html

Home page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~pgwhacker/ChristianOrigins

parkdalian

I've heard a few say that the pagan christ myths represent a form of prophecy.

But hey, no matter how easily the facts fit the imaginary Christ model and go against their idea of a real god-man, they'll surely come up with something miraculous to save face.

RainbowSerpent

I've heard the story about Krishna being born of a virgin before. But when I searched through any of the "orthodox" hindu sites i could never find any reference to it.

Could someone point me at a traditional Hindu reference to Krishna as a virgin birth baby?

RainbowSerpent

Pendaric

I've had the same difficulty as well when trying to research these kinds of claims for proto-Christs. All you can find on the net are people quoting other people making assertions with no primary evidence to back them up, far as I can see.

I'd love to see a scholarly piece that presents primary evidence to back up these assertions, and maybe people on here can present that, but I haven't had any luck in finding any. People just seem to say it as though it is a matter of accepted fact that these myths have these attributes.

I'm inclined to think that this could be an atheist urban myth. I wouldn't want to get in to a debate with anyone who was asking me to prove these claims at the moment.

Hopeful Monsters

Very well put.

I think that a set of assertions - many coming from Acharya S, have ended up being used all over the net.

But I think there is 'no smoke without fire' and there are some core truths to these assertions.

After all, if 'The Christ' is a myth, it is hightly likely that it has organic roots into other local deity myths and fantasy stories.

I remember this Thread - Jesus Christ - Son of Plagiarism

Hopeful Monsters

One or two of the better other sites on this theme―

Jesus Never Existed

The Jesus Puzzle

digger

IIRC when you check back to Acharya's stated sources then you will find that they don't back up her claims.

Hopeful Monsters

I suspect it cannot all be countered, because there are cultural inventions behind 'The Christ' and so these cultural seeds are there to be found.

Sadly, a lot of damage has been done by shoddy and naive scholarship, spurious leaps to conclusions and suspect gap filling.

If someone made a proper scholarly work on this subject it could be sensational.

But this area sure makes for interesting reading.

Pendaric

I'm sure there are bits and bats, and hell, I'd love it all to be true.

But when people make claims that they can't back up they damage the credibility of the rest of us.

Some of those accounts read like the proto-Christs were essentially the same person in all but name, with virtually identical biographies to Christ. They aren't just talking about minor coincidences, they are saying these guys are carbon copies.

If people are making the argument out to be more than it is, then they weaken the case for those who would point out genuine parallels.

Pendaric

<I think this actually might get more play in BC&H, so let's try it there>