Is Jesus a myth?

The Myth of Jesus and Pagan Parallels

Is Jesus a myth? We're going to answer that question. To begin, this article has been condensed for time. Please note that our full article with references can be found on our website, GotQuestions .org.

There are a number of people claiming that the accounts of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament are simply myths borrowed from pagan folklore. To discover the truth about the claim that the gospel writers borrowed from mythology will break it down in steps.

The claim that Jesus was a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of liberal German theologians in the 19th century. They essentially said that Jesus was nothing more than a copy of popular dying and rising fertility gods in various places.

None of the books containing these theories were taken seriously by the academics of the.

Day.

These assertions have been investigated by contemporary scholars and determined to be completely baseless. This leads us to the next area of investigation. Do the mythological gods of antiquity really mirror the person of Jesus Christ?

As an example, the Zeitgeist movie makes these claims about the Egyptian god Horus. However, when the actual writings about Horus are competently examined, this is what we.

Find.

When compared side by side, Jesus and Horus bear little, if any, resemblance to one another. Jesus is also compared to Mithras. All the above descriptions of Horus are applied to Mithras. But what does the myth actually say?

More examples can be given of other mythological gods, but the result is the same. In the end, the historical Jesus portrayed in the Bible is unique. The alleged similarities of Jesus' story to pagan myths are greatly exaggerated.

From a bird's eye view of a timeline of documented beliefs, it is more logical to attribute any similarities between these religions and Christianity to the religions copying Christian teaching about Jesus.

False Cause and Terminological Fallacies

This leads us to the next area to examine, the logical fallacies committed by those claiming that Christianity borrowed from pagan mystery religions. If one thing precedes another, some conclude that the first thing must have caused the.

Second.

This is the fallacy of the false cause. A rooster may crow before the sunrise every morning, but that does not mean the rooster causes the sun to rise. Even if pre-Christian accounts of mythological gods closely resembled Christ, and they do not, it does not mean that they caused the gospel writers to invent a false Jesus.

The terminological fallacy occurs when words are redefined to prove a point. For example, the Zeitgeist movie says that Horus began his ministry, but the word ministry is being redefined. Horus had no actual ministry, nothing like that of Christ's ministry.

Those claiming a link between Mithras and Jesus talk about the baptism that initiated prospects into the cult. That practice bears no resemblance whatsoever to a Christian water baptism. But advocates of a mythological Jesus deceptively use the same term, baptism, to describe both rites in hopes of linking the two.

The Historical Reliability of the New Testament

This brings us to the subject of the truthfulness of the New Testament. It has more writers, better writers, and earlier writers than any other existing document from that era. In addition, history has shown that it takes at least two generations to pass before myth can enter a historical account.

That's because as long as there are eyewitnesses to an event, errors can be refuted and mythical embellishments can be exposed. All the Gospels of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses.

The New Testament attests to the fact that in the first century, Jesus was not mistaken for any other god. He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection and they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?

For you are bringing some strange things to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean. Clearly, if Paul were simply rehashing stories of other gods, the Athenians would not have referred to his doctrine as a new and strange teaching.

Why the Jesus Myth Theory Fails

In conclusion, the claim that Jesus is a copy of mythological gods originated with authors whose works have been discounted by academia, contain logical fallacies, and cannot compare to the New Testament Gospels which have withstood nearly 2 ,000 years of intense scrutiny.

The alleged parallels between Jesus and other gods disappear when the original myths are examined. The Jesus is a myth theory relies on selective descriptions, redefined words, and false assumptions. Jesus Christ is unique in history, with his voice rising above all false gods as he asks the question that ultimately determines a person's eternal destiny.

Who do you say I am? That answers the question, Is Jesus a myth? Research this question further on our website GotQuestions .org. Give a thumbs up and be sure to click subscribe. Meanwhile, check out these other questions.