This was not the basis for Jesus Christ.
Are the Bible accounts of Jesus plagiarizing the story of Horus, Krishna, Mithras, Dionysis and other pagan Gods? A Critical Examination
Was Jesus a Copy of Horus, Mithras, Krishna, Dionysis and Other Pagan Gods?
This question is often asked especially in light of the viral film Zeitgeist a mega-popular documentary about the New World Order and Illuminati. The movie spent over 30 minutes attacking the Bible and the Christian faith and specifically the idea that the story of Jesus Christ in the Gospels is nothing more than a copy of the story of the Egyptian God Horus, Mithras and other pagan gods. Additionally Dan Brown author of the DaVinci Code, one of the most blasphemous, Anti-Christian books ever written, stated nothing in Christianity is original as he promotes the idea these mythological figures served as the basis for the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ (Browns latest book, The Lost Symbol, takes this idea to the extreme an article on this book and the upcoming movie will be posted soon). This article will show that not only are these claims incorrect and lack any substantive evidence, but that they are part of a greater spiritual agenda that Dan Brown, the Zeitgeist film and others have in common.
Was Jesus a Copy of Horus?
The Egyptian God Horus.
The Zeitgeist film makes a number of wild statements about Horus to attempt to prove that Jesus is a copy. But lets look at the claims against actual Egyptian mythology:
Horus was born on December 25th According to Egyptian mythological history, Horuss birthday is celebrated in the season of Khoiak, which runs in the months of October and November, not December 25th. Furthermore, the date of December 25th is never mentioned in the Bible as the date of Jesus birth and thus has no relevance to the account of Jesus life. So right away, the claims of plagiarism look completely baseless.
Horus was born of a virgin There are two accounts of Horus birth. The most famous by far, was that Horus was born from his mother Isis, who was not a virgin, but rather a widow of the slain Osiris. Through sorcery, Isis, assembled the body of Osiris and was impregnated with his phallus. Clearly this was a sexual union and not a virgin birth. The Hymn to Osiris which records this account states: [Isis] made to rise up the helpless members [phallus] of him whose heart was at rest, she drew from him his essence [DNA material], and she made therefrom an heir [Horus]. (Source and Source).
Three Wise Men Came to Adore the New Born Savior No source is provided by the documentary for this claim. Additionally, the Bible does not say three wise men came to see Jesus. It never tells us the number of wise men. And they did not come at Jesus birth in a manger. They came to his family home when he was a toddler.
Horus was a child prodigy teacher at 12 The movie offers no pre-New Testament sources that state this.
Horus had 12 Disciples Historian Glen Miller writes: But again, my research in the academic literature does not surface this fact. I can find references to FOUR disciplesvariously called the semi-divine HERU-SHEMSU (Followers of Horus) [GOE:1.491]. I can find references to SIXTEEN human followers. And I can find reference to an UNNUMBERED group of followers called mesniu/mesnitu (blacksmiths) who accompanied Horus in some of his battles [although these might be identified with the HERU-SHEMSU in GOE:1.84]. But I cannot find TWELVE anywhere]
Additionally, some of have said the 12 signs of the zodiac are the disciples of Horus. Even if this were the case, they are just stars and not actual people who followed Horus, preached about him or recorded his life. This is another empty and false claim.
Horus was crucified. Dead for three days. And Resurrected There is no historical record in any credible Egyptian mythology of Horus being crucified. Additionally, crucifixion was a method of execution invented by the Roman Empire thousands of years after the time of the Horus myth. Whereas the accounts of Jesus crucifixion exist in thousands of manuscripts from the century after his death. Additionally, as we detailed in our article Did Jesus Really Exist? Proving Jesus without The Bible there are many secular historical sources that record His crucifixion as described in the Bible.
If you are wondering how Zeitgeist could make such wild claims, that have no real historical evidence, they benefit from the Skeptics Fallacy: in short, when it comes to attacking the credibility of the Bible it is assumed that the skeptic is completely credible. So the Zeitgeist creators know most people will not research their attacks and just take it as factual (just as Dan Brown did with the numerous inaccuracies of the DaVinci Code). If one takes the time, they will also notice that Zeitgeist gets almost all of its information from one source, a book called The Christ Conspiracy by a woman named Acharya S. (we will address her later).
Was Jesus a Copy of Mithras?
Ancient art depicting Mithras being born out of a rock.
Zeitgeist continues as do the skeptics with the idea that Christianity itself is a copy of the cult of Mithras, which was popularized in Rome in the 1st to 4th Century AD (note that it sprung up in Rome after the death of Christ and centuries after the Old Testament prophecies of the Coming Messiah). The movie states:
Mithras was born of a virgin There are almost no early writings about the cult of Mithras and most of what is known is based on artwork (as opposed to Jesus Christ, of whom thousands of ancient manuscripts exist that describe His life, death and resurrection in detail). But according to historians, Mithras was born from a rock, not from a virgin or from a person at all.
Mithras was born on December 25. Once again, the date of December 25th is not mentioned in the Bible and thus holds no significance to the story of Jesus Christ. Additionally, in Mithraism there is no date of Mithras birth.
Mithras with "shepherds."
Mithras was attended to by Shepherds This claim is based on the relief above. The earliest existing account of Mithras birth is found in a relief depicting him emerging from a rock with the assistance of men who certainly appear to be shepherds (which is interesting considering his birth was supposed to have preceded the creation of humans!). Such a blatant inconsistency should show a serious flaw in Mithraism research, but the Zeitgeist team again overlooks this. Furthermore, this relief dates to 4th century A.D., well after the Gospels had been written and distributed over most of the known world.
Mithras and his "12 disciples."
Mithra had 12 disciples. This is based on the carving above which shows Mithras surrounded by 12 signs of the Zodiac. There is no reason to conclude that signs of the Zodiac are disciples. Remember, there is no written record of Mithras existence from the 1st to 4th centuries when the cult thrived. The earliest writings are from outsiders recording their observations. So most of the wild assertions of Zeitgeist are just being based on this piece of art. Franz Cumont, considered the first great researcher of Mithras claimed that the disciples in the relief were actually people dressed up as Zodiac signs, showing how ludicrous the effort to link Mithras to Jesus can get.
Mithras was crucified. Dead for three days. And then resurrected. This charge in particular reveals the insincerity of the claims of plagiarism against Christianity. In Mithraism, Mithras never dies. He completed his earthly mission and returned to the skies in a chariot (ironically similar to the story of the Prophet Elijah in the Bibles Book of 1 Kings, written 800 years earlier). In Mithraism there is no historical mention of crucifixion, burial or resurrection in any artwork or text. In a critique of this theory, researcher Ronald Nash writes:
Allegations of an early Christian dependence on Mithraism have been rejected on many grounds. Mithraism had no concept of the death and resurrection of its god and no place for any concept of rebirthat least during its early stages. In his book Image and Value in the Greco-Roman World, Richard Gordon writes that there is no death of Mithras, and thus there is no resurrection of Mithras.
Dr. Edwin Yamauchi states: We dont know anything about the death of MithrasWe have a lot of monuments, but we have almost no textual evidence, because this was a secret religion. But I know of no references to a supposed death and resurrection.
It is also important to note that for all of the research Franz Cumont did on Mithras, his overriding conclusion was that unlike Jesus Christ, who was a real person, Mithras did not exist. Thus a basic examination of the factual evidence shows that the Bible did not plagiarize from the story of Mithras.
Was Jesus Christ an Imitation of Dionysis?
Dionysus the Greco Roman god of wine.
Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) was a Greek and Roman god of wine. One of the boldest claims of Jesus being a copy of Dionsyus was a book called The Jesus Mysteries which featured the amulet pictured below. on its cover. The authors claimed that the amulet was a depiction of the god Dionysus on a cross, and thus, they concluded, Christianity must have copied the crucifixion account from the Greek god. However, upon basic scrutiny, the claim falls apart.
Dionysus pictured on a cross.
The authors of The Jesus Mysteries Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy had their sources for their information critiqued:
When dealing with ancient sources they are even more blatant. On the basis of some third century pictures of crucifixions, the authors claim Bacchuus [Dionysus] was crucified and Christians copied the idea. This is their piece de resistance and they even put one of the pictures on the cover of their book. But suppose there existed an earlier source who stated categorically that no pagan godman was crucified. That would destroy their case and reading the Jesus Mysteries you would assume that neither Freke or Gandy knew of such a source even if it existed. You would be wrong.They quote from Justin Martyr many times about his concerns that pagans and Christians had some similar rituals (they did and modern scholarship is totally unsurprised by this). He is a second century writer who therefore predates all the pictures of pagan godmen being crucified and he writes:
But in no instance, not even in any of those called sons of Jupiter, did they imitate the being crucified; for it was not understood by them, all the things said of it having been put symbolically. Justin Martyr s First Apology LV.
No honest scholar would simply fail to quote this vitally important contradiction to their thesis. Gandy did attempt to explain away this passage when it was presented to him but failed utterly and certainly could not say why he ever felt he could simply miss it out of his book. (source)
Even if the amulet was real, its dated to over 300 years after the crucifixion of Christ. By the 4th century tens of thousands of New Testament manuscripts were in circulation all over the world and the Roman Empire made Christianity its official religion. So the story of Christs crucifixion was very well-known. Thus the idea that a 4th century amulet was the inspiration for the Crucifixion in the Gospels makes no sense. We cited the Roman historian Tacitus who in 115 AD wrote:
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. (source)
So again, the account of Jesus crucifixion at the orders of Pontius Pilate, just as the Bible details, was well-known even in non-Christian circles.
Dionysus was born of a virgin Again, this blatantly flies in the face of mythology surrounding this pagan god. The two most common stories of Dionysus birth involve the god Zeus, his father, either impregnating the mortal woman Semele, or impregnating Persephone (the Greek Queen of the underworld). In either instance, it is not a virgin birth (and it also gives allusion to the Bibles description of fallen angels impregnating human women, something written in the book of Genesis 2,000 years before the myth of Dionysus).
Dionsysus was born on December 25th Once again, there is no pre-Christian manuscript or evidence of this. And of course the date of December 25th is not significant since its not in the Bible. Some point to Dionysus ability to create wine as a sign that Jesus was a copy (since Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding) but Dionysus was the god of wine. Jesus was the Son of God and humanitys Savior. And while there is non-Christian evidence and proof that Jesus existed, there is none to support that Dionysus was a real person who actually existed. And Jesus Christ was clearly not a copy of Dionysus.
Was Jesus Christ a Copy of Krishna?
The Hindu God Krishna.
As the Devine Evidence blog states:
In Hinduism, Krishna is believed to be the eighth avatar of Vishnu, the second aspect of the Hindu trinity. Almost every correlation between Krishna and Jesus can be traced to Kersey Graves, a 19th century author who believed Christianity was created from pagan myths. Though his works have been proven by scholars to be false and poorly researched (Source), many still ignorantly refer to his arguments not knowing they are easily disproved by simply comparing the Bible to the Hindu texts.
Zeitgeist Debunked
Krishna was born of a virgin named Devaki The basic story of Krishnas origin makes this claim laughable: In mythology researcher Joseph Campbells book, Occidental Mythology, he writes of Krishnas origin:
In India a like tale is told of the beloved savior Krishna, whose terrible uncle, Kansa, was, in that case, the tyrant-king. The saviors mother, Devaki, was of royal lineage, the tyrants niece, and at the time when she was married the wicked monarch heard a voice, mysteriously, which let him know that her eighth child would be his slayer. He therefore confined both her and her husband, the saintly nobleman Vasudeva, in a closely guarded prison, where he murdered their first six infants as they came.
So from the basic origin story of Krishna, his mother had seven children before he was born, so she was clearly not a virgin. Additionally, the book of Isaiah, which prophesied that a virgin would give birth to the Messiah of the Bible, was written 700 years before Christ and at least 100 years before Krishna.
There was Infant massacre in all the land at the time of Krishnas birth In the Gospel accounts, King Herod, upon hearing the Jewish Messiah has been born, orders all Jewish male infants to be killed. Skeptics claim a similar occurrence happened with Krishna but as the account above shows, only his six brothers were killed.
Krishna was crucified. Died for three days. And was resurrected. This again is just a blatant mistruth in the face of Hindu mythology. The explanation of Krishnas death is stated clearly:
A fierce hunter of the name of Jara then came there, desirous of deer. The hunter, mistaking [Krishna], who was stretched on the earth in high Yoga, for a deer, pierced him at the heel with a shaft and quickly came to that spot for capturing his prey. Mahabharata, Book 16, 4
Not only was Krishna not crucified, his story sounds much more familiar to the account of the death of Achilles in Greek mythology than the account of Jesus crucifixion.
There are later Hindu texts that do draw more close parallels between Jesus Christ and Krishna. But these texts were written centuries after the New Testament. In fact, the Bahagavad Gita, one of the main Holy Books of Hinduism, is now thought by Hindu scholars to have been drastically changed in 800 AD. The present day Bahagavad Gita has 700 verses. The original, called Gita had 84 (imagine the documentaries and books that would be made if it were discovered that the Bible went through such a drastic re-write!). In the book, The Gita As It Was: Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita, the author, Dr. Phulgenda Sinha, writes:
Around 800 A.D. , the original Gita was interpolated and ended up having 700 verses. The name was changed from Gita to Bhagavad Gita. The concept of one single Almighty God, or Supreme, Bhagavan, was introduced to Indian society.
Till then, before 800 A.D., Indians believed in God. But they believed in polytheism. They were also nature worshippers. They worshipped earth, stone, trees, rain, wind, fire, sun, moon etc.
Jesus is clearly not an imitation of Krishna and the Bible did not plagiarize pagan gods. Unlike the New Testament, which has been verified by manuscript evidence to be the most reliable and substantiated document in antiquity, the holy book of Hinduism went through drastic changes centuries after it was written. But of course, the Zeitgesit producers, Acharya S. and Dan Brown ignore all of this just to try to attack the credibility of the Bible. Why? Because they hate the Bible and want to push a Satanic agenda.
Who Is Acharya S?
D.M. Moore, aka Acharya S.
As we mentioned above, almost all of the sources cited by Zietgiest go back to Achraya S., author of The Christ Conspiracy. But who is she? First off, her name is Dorothy Murdoch. And in her own writings she cites D.M. Murdoch as a source, which is citing herself. This should be a huge red flag to her credibility. She has been debunked and criticized by many serious historical scholars. But more importantly, where did Acharya S. get the information for her Christ Conspiracy book in the first place? It came from Gerald Massey and Madame H.P. Blavatsky.
Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, is one of the main inspirations for the modern New Age Movement. She was also an ardent Luciferian. Blavatsky wrote her books via automatic writing in which a spirit possessed her and used her body to write her books on mysticism and Luciferian New Age beliefs. Blavatsky believed that through esoteric, occult magical practices, mankind could ascend and evolve to god-like status. All with assistance from the hierarchy angelic beings who could guide those with proper knowledge. This of course is the first lie of Satan in the Garden of Eden, who lured Even into sinning with the promise that ye shall be as gods.. The idea of achieving godhood and ascension is at the heart of the New Age movement today. Those special, enlightened ones could then form a super race that would rule over humanity.
She was a friend of Satanist Aleister Crolwey and her writings inspired Adolf Hitler. Blavatsky makes no secret of her allegiance:
One of the most hidden secrets involves the so-called fall of Angels. Satan and his rebellious host will thus prove to have become the direct Saviours and Creators of divine man. Thus Satan, once he ceases to be viewed in the superstitious spirit of the church, grows into the grandiose image. It is Satan who is the God of our planet and the only God. Satan (or Lucifer) represents the Centrifugal Energy of the Universe, this ever-living symbol of self-sacrifice for the intellectual independence of humanity. (The Secret Doctrine, Volume II, Pages 215, 216, 220, 245, 255, 533).
She was also the publisher of Lucifer Magazine. Massey was a writer for Lucifer magazine. Her closest student, Alice Bailey, took over the reigns of the Theosophical Society as well as started the publishing company called Lucifer Trust (it is now known as Lucis Trust). Her stated goal was the preparation of the minds of society to receive the Christ, who is not Jesus but a great ascend wise master who will unite all the religions of the world, teaching the enlightened followers to godhood, led by the true god, who Bailey openly identifies as Satan. And this is the basis for the information that went into making Zeitgeist. As shown in the video below on the Zeitgeist film, it is pushing the exact same idea.
In The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown also takes the plunge as he proclaims that Christianity is just a spin off of ancient mystery religions. Do not be deceived. For those who are in the truth movement or Anti-New World Order, these ideas intend to assert that Christianity is just another form of control and was manufactured to manipulate people. But as shown, the charges are ludicrous with the slightest inspection. And at the end of the day, the same people who are putting out the idea of Jesus being a copy of pagan gods all get linked back to the same false god: Satan. This clever deception is helping to usher in the New Order that will be led by the Antichrist. Jesus warned of one of the key signs of the end times approaching:
the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:3-5).
Unprecedented deception would be a major sign and Zeitgeist, The Lost Symbol and books like the Christ Conspiracy are just a few of the examples. Jesus Christ did exist. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. Jesus Christ had 12 disciples. Jesus Christ was crucified. But most importantly, Jesus Christ died for you. He chose to die to offer Himself as a sacrifice to pay the debt for the sins of humanity. And He is the only name which can be called on for salvation. It just takes belief in what He did to receive eternal life. Jesus said: And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. No one else died on a cross for the sins of humanity. Jesus did. And it just takes belief in Him to receive eternal life and be freed from the punishment of hell. Which is why Satan has to work so hard to confuses the public and distort the message of the Bible. No other religious figure receives close to the scrutiny that Jesus does. And yet the Bible still stands as true. So if you now believe that Jesus was not just a copy of a pagan god, maybe it is time to start believing that He is indeed the Son of God who wants to spend eternity with you.
For a full presentation that debunks all of the claims of the Zeitgeist film see below:
And for those who believe that can prove the claims of Zeitgeist there is a chance to win money at the website Zeitgeist Challenge (no one has won yet).
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Was Jesus Christ a Copy of Horus, Mithras, Dionysus, Krishna and Other Pagan gods?
Was Jesus Christ a Copy of Horus, Mithras, Dionysus, Krishna and Other Pagan gods?
Was Jesus a Copy of Horus, Mithras, Krishna, Dionysus and Other Pagan Gods 1
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Origin of RELIGION: First Known Use: 13th century Middle English religioun, from Anglo-French religiun, Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction