notMichaelJackson

I've read articles about Greek/Roman gods performing the same miracles Jesus did, such as walking on water, turning water into wine, and a couple of others. I can't remember where I saw these articles, and I'm going nuts searching through Yahoo trying to find text about it. Does anyone know where I can find text on the subject of Jesus and the Greek/Roman gods performing the same miracles?

notMichaelJackson

Hey I really need help with this.

Bobzammel

Well, there's <a href="http://www.truthbeknown.com," target="_blank">www.truthbeknown.com,</a> but Achyra S. is not the best source.

Christianity seems to derive from the following sources:

-The Dualism and ascetheism of Zoroastaranism. After the exile the influence of Zoroastaranism started to creep in. Basically it believes in a cosmic battle between good and evil-A God and an "Evil One". It also believes that after this battle is over there will be a Golden Age. There is also the concept of a heaven and hell.

-Judaism, of course. The historical Jesus was possibly a popular Rabbi.

-Eastern wisdom. Some of Jesus's sayings and his lifestyle are very similar to that of Buddha--temptation by an evil spirit, going homeless, gathering disciples, and teaching a sort of fine line between self-denial and self-indulgence.

-Philosophy. Another source for Christianity-particuarly prevelant in the Gospel of John and the Epistles-is Greek philosophy. Certain philosophers preached ethics, morals, and concepts(such as flesh vs. spirit) and various other elements. The philosophical influence on Christianity is taken to the extreme in the Gnostic sect. The New Testament is often contradictory on matters of the flesh...at times it teaches that they are evil and self-denial is necessary, but in some other parts it's stated it's OK for Christians to take pleasure in moderate food and marital sex as long as they thank God for it. Although it is generally discouraged by both Jesus and Paul so one doesn't get distracted from following God-and don't expect it in the afterlife either

-Mystery Cults-Mystery cults usually involved some form of sacrificial meal in their worship, and often had hidden practices. In particualar, the ones closest to Christianity are probably the cults of Mithra and Orpheus. However Christianity was more open, whereas Mystery Cults had limited membership.
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Most of this influence is due to the Hellenistic influence from which Christianity emerged from.

[ December 24, 2002: Message edited by: Bobzammel ]</p>

Waning Moon Conrad

I don't know of any particularly similar miracles to those performed by Jesus but....

You could point out that many of these gods also had miraculous births. DionysiusBacchus was born of a divine father (Zeus) and a human mother (Europa I think).

Some of them die, pop down to the underworld for a bit and then come back, having redeemed the Earth.

A good source for some of this would be works by Joseph Campbell. Any decent book of world mythology should give plenty of examples.

Bobzammel

A divine birth is also not that new. An athiest commentary on religion about a generation before Christ(Yes, there were athiests even in those times) mentions "Mortals born of Immortals". Even some of the Aztec Gods have some slight similarities to Jesus. The theme of death and ressurection might have had it's origins in the changing of seasons or in the astrology of Venus(The planet, not the Goddess). In fact, Jesus is identified with Venus in Revelation.

One of the more extreme Christian POVS on this is that Satan somehow created the religions to discredit Christianity.