The Mythic Jesus: Let’s Get Our Facts Right

1,700 words

Intro:
I’m an atheist. To me, there is a thorough lack of evidence for the existence of an Abrahamic God as described in the scriptures of the Christian faith. There is also a lack of consensus amongst biblical scholars as to the accuracy and veracity of these writings, which is enough for me to remain an unbeliever. It’s all myth, allegory, and an attempt to literalize a book written and edited by a church wanting to control the uneducated with the Fear of God. And his chosen priesthood, of course.

That said, there is “fake news” out there asserted by many who state that the explanations for god and Jesus are rooted in Egyptian mythology; that Jesus himself is just a plagiarized version of a multitude of these gods, particularly Horus. This is primarily based on the writings of Gerald Massey, a self-taught Egyptologist, and made popular in the movie Zeitgeist.

I’m not arguing that Jesus actually existed—but what I am doing is disclosing the facts behind falsehoods that make atheists and agnostics look bad. My point here is to disregard these sources of misinformation if we want to appear credible.

The source of this theory: *
Where did the idea of the mythic Christ originate? Much of it began in the writings of two amateur Egyptologists named Godfrey Higgins (1772-1833) and Gerald Massey (1829-1907). Both wrote extensively on the idea of the mythic Christ. They claimed one parallel after another between the Bible and pagan mythology, making it appear as if the biblical writers borrowed stories wholesale from ancient tales. Almost all scholars today recognize that this approach is fundamentally flawed. For nearly all of the supposed parallels these two men discovered, scholars today say without hesitation that no genetic connection exists between the Bible and the myths these two men examined.

Neither Higgins nor Massey was a scholar or academic, and both were self-taught religious enthusiasts. More importantly, neither is remembered in the history of scholarship today. Writers such as Dorothy Murdock—a vocal proponent of the Christ myth theory—laments that these supposed intellectual titans have been forgotten. She heaps effusive praise upon Massey in particular (2009, pp. 13-26), calling him a “pioneer.” In truth, neither one of them had any ideas worth remembering. They are virtually unknown in modern Egyptology.

In all of the cases of his “crucified saviours,” unlike Jesus, none were actually crucified, and none of them died in behalf of the salvation of others. Indeed, some of them never died.

Adonis	Adonis dies when he is gored by a bull on a hunting trip.
Attis	In a moment of madness, Attis commits suicide by emasculating himself.
Baal	The text is unclear, but it appears Baal is slain in personal battle with Mot, the Canaanite god of death.
Bacchus	Bacchus is the Roman equivalent of Dionysus, whose body is almost completely devoured by the Titans, who leave only his heart.
Balder	In the Norse myths, Balder is invincible to all known objects, except for mistletoe. One of the gods’ pastimes is throwing objects at Balder, who cannot be harmed. Loki crafts a magical spear from this plant and tricks the god Hodur into throwing it at Balder, killing him.
Beddru	Supposedly a Japanese figure. Either Graves had a bad source, or he simply invented the name, as no figure with this name exists in Far Eastern literature. It may be that he meant to say “Beddou,” who is a Japanese figure some have equated with the Buddha. Regardless, there is no record of the crucifixion of this individual, if he even existed in any of the literature.
Devatat	This is uncertain, but appears to be the name of the Buddha in some places in the Far East. The literature states that the Buddha died at 80 of a natural illness, though some say he was poisoned. Either way, he never died on a cross, and Buddhism has no need of a personal savior, anyway.
Dionysus	The Greek god of wine and the grapevine had a tough childhood. When an infant, the Titans devour his body, leaving only his heart behind. He is later reborn.
Hercules	Hercules dies when he is burned alive on a funeral pyre.
Hermes	Hermes never dies in the Greek myths.
Horus	Horus never dies in the Egyptian myths.
Krishna	Krishna is mortally wounded when a hunter accidentally shoots him in the heel with an arrow.
Mithras	Mithras does not die in the Persian myths.
Orpheus	In one account, Orpheus is torn apart by Maenads, the female followers of Dionysus, for failing to honor their master. In other accounts he either commits suicide or is struck by one of Zeus’ lightning bolts.
Osiris	Osiris is killed when his brother Seth drowns him in the Nile. Seth later recovers the body and dismembers it.
Tammuz	Originally called Dumuzi by the Sumerians, Tammuz is taken to the underworld when his lover, Inanna, is given a deal where she can be released if she finds a substitute. She is enraged that Tammuz is not mourning her death, so she chooses him to take her place in the realm of the dead. There is no mention of crucifixion.
Thor	Thor dies in Ragnarok, the final battle that will end the world, when he is bitten by a giant serpent.
Zoroaster	According to one ancient source, Zoroaster was murdered while at an altar.

Massey cites numerous other parallels of Jesus actually being a plagiarized Horus without any indication of the original references in the Egyptian texts. The following few milestones in the bible’s writings of Jesus’ life show how wrong he was...

Jesus’ Birth:
He (Massey) states Horus was born on December 25th of the virgin Isis-Meri. His birth was accompanied by a star in the east, which in turn, three kings followed to locate and adorn the new-born saviour. At the age of 12, he was a prodigal child teacher, and at the age of 30 he was baptized by a figure known as Anup and thus began his ministry. Horus had 12 disciples he traveled about with, performing miracles such as healing the sick and walking on water. After being betrayed by Typhon, Horus was crucified, buried for 3 days, and thus, resurrected.'

According to the Egyptian legend, Horus' father was Osiris and his mother was Isis (but there is nothing to connect this name with Mary / Meri). Osiris was killed by his brother Set who wanted his throne. Isis briefly brought Osiris back to life by use of a spell that she learned from her father. This spell gave her time to become pregnant by Osiris before he again died and she later gave birth to Horus. Horus then killed Set. The combination of Osiris and Horus became linked in Egyptian mythology with the idea of death and rebirth. As in all pagan religions, there was a connection with the seasons (winter = death, spring = rebirth) and with the sun setting and rising. In the Egyptian myth it became associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with the new harvest each year in the Nile valley.

According to this myth Isis was not a virgin, there is no link to the name Mary, however there is a death and rebirth story in line with the nature gods of paganism and fertility rituals. While this may be of interest in understanding the ancient religions of the world it has absolutely no bearing on the events recorded in the Bible. Horus was supposedly born during the month of Khoiak (Oct/Nov), and not on December 25th, a fact that does not make any difference to the claim that both Horus and Jesus were born at the same time since the Bible never says that Jesus was born on December 25th!

When stories detailing the birth of Horus are examined, there is no star or three kings who come to visit him. Trying to link this to Christianity fails in any event as the account of Christ's birth in Matthew has magi (wise men, not kings) coming to Jesus with their actual number not being stated.

Jesus’ Baptism:
He states that Horus was "baptized" by Anup and started a "ministry." The only accounts remotely related to Horus and water are the stories told of Osiris (his father who is sometimes combined in ancient accounts with Horus to form one individual) whose body was cut up into 14 pieces by his enemy, Set, and scattered throughout the earth. Isis supposedly found each part of the body and after having Osiris float in the Nile; he came back to life or became the lord of the underworld, depending on which account is read. 

Jesus’ Death & Resurrection:
The claims of Horus being buried for three days and resurrected are not to be found in any ancient Egyptian texts either. Some accounts have Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and going to be the lord of the underworld. But, there is no mention of a burial for three days and no mention of his physically coming out of a grave in the same physical body he went in with and never dying again. In addition, there is certainly no account of Horus dying for others as Jesus did.

Conclusion:
There you have it—a sound rebuttal to the misleading theory of a mythic Christ borne of previously conceived gods of ancient lore. This article is not to be taken as evidence of the Christ story being real, or even true, (a debate for another time) but rather to educate and therefore disarm Christians’ accusations of atheists using flawed and erroneous information when “attacking” Christianity. 

Go ahead and check the accuracy of this research as I have: it doesn’t take much snooping around online to confirm the various god’s lack of paralleled lives when compared to Jesus. The first rule of debating is to use accurate and true data, not unfounded stories.  

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* With thanks to Dewayne Bryant, Ph.D. for the original full length article found at https://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=973 which was heavily borrowed from and edited here for brevity.