**** DONE Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God?                    :blog:religions:history:mindblowing:
CLOSED: [2015-07-16 Thu 21:11]
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:CREATED:  [2015-07-16 Thu 19:28]
:ID: 2015-07-16-Jesus-a-Pagan-God
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:LOGBOOK:
- State "DONE"       from "DONE"       [2015-08-29 Sat 19:02]
- State "DONE"       from "NEXT"       [2015-07-16 Thu 21:11]
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Update 2015-08-29: Jeff Rose "The Bible Hunters" (documentary)

There is an interesting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science][popular science]] book named "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jesus_Mysteries][The Jesus
Mysteries: Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God?]]" by Timothy Freke and
Peter Gandy. I have to say that *both are not widely accepted as
proper researchers by other researchers*.

However, I find their theory quite compelling: the story of Jesus is a
result of a designer process - on purpose or not. There are many
similarities to far older historical myths and gods.

Let's take a look at one specific quote from the book.

***** Example Quote from the Book

Here is the original quote in contrast to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jesus_Mysteries#Jesus_Mysteries_thesis][short version of
Wikipedia]] with links added by me:

Either the Devil really has perfected the art of diabolical mimicry or
there is a mystery to solve here. Let's review the evidence:

- Jesus is the savior of mankind, God made man, the Son of God equal
  with the Father; so is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris-Dionysus][Osiris-Dionysus]].
- Jesus is born of a mortal virgin who after her death ascends to
  heaven and is honored as a divine being; so is Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus is born in a cave on December 25 or January 6, as is
  Osiris-Dionysus.
- The birth of Jesus is prophesied by a star; so is the birth of
  Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus is born in Bethlehem, which was shaded by a grove sacred to
  Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus is visited by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi][the Magi]], who are followers of Osiris-Dionysus.
- The Magi bring Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which a
  sixth-century BCE Pagan tells us is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi#Gifts][the way to worship God]].
- Jesus is baptized, a ritual practiced for centuries in the Mysteries.
- The holy man who baptizes Jesus with water has the same name as a
  Pagan god of water and is born on the summer solstice celebrated as
  a Pagan water festival.
- Jesus offers his followers elemental baptisms of water, air, and
  fire, as did the Pagan Mysteries.
- Jesus is portrayed as a quiet man with long hair and a beard; so is
  Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus turns water into wine at a marriage on the same day that
  Osiris-Dionysus was previously believed to have turned water into
  wine at a marriage.
- Jesus heals the sick, exorcises demons, provides miraculous meals,
  helps fishermen make miraculous catches of fish, and calms the water
  for his disciples; all of these marvels had previously been
  performed by Pagan sages.
- Like the sages of the Mysteries, Jesus is a wandering wonder-worker
  who is not honored in his home town.
- Jesus is accused of licentious behavior, as were the followers of
  Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus is not at first recognized as a divinity by his disciples, but
  then is transfigured before them in all his glory; the same is true
  of Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus is surrounded by 12 disciples; so is Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus rides triumphantly into town on a donkey while crowds wave
  branches, as does Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus is a just man unjustly accused of heresy and bringing a new
  religion, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus#Parallels_with_Christianity][as is Osiris-Dionysus]].
- Jesus attacks hypocrites, stands up to tyranny, and willingly goes
  to his death predicting he will rise again in three days, as do
  Pagan sages.
- Jesus is betrayed for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_pieces_of_silver][30 pieces of silver]], a motif found in the
  story of Socrates.
- Jesus is equated with bread and wine, as is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus#Parallels_with_Christianity][Osiris-Dionysus]].
- Jesus' disciples symbolically eat bread and drink wine to commune
  with him, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus#Parallels_with_Christianity][as do the followers of Osiris-Dionysus]].
- Jesus is hung on a tree or crucified, as is Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus dies as a sacrifice to redeem the sins of the world; so does
  Osiris-Dionysus.
- Jesus' corpse is wrapped in linen and anointed with myrrh, as is the
  corpse of Osiris-Dionysus.
- After his death Jesus descends to hell, then on the third day resurrects
  before his disciples and ascends into heaven, where he is enthroned by
  God and waits to reappear at the end of time as a divine judge, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus#Parallels_with_Christianity][as does
  Osiris-Dionysus]].
- Jesus was said to have died and resurrected on exactly the same dates
  that the death and resurrection of Osiris-Dionysus were celebrated.
- Jesus' empty tomb is visited by three women followers; Osiris-Dionysus
  also has three women followers who visit an empty cave.
- Through sharing in his passion Jesus offers his disciples the chance to be
  born again, as does Osiris-Dionysus.

***** Discussion
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Even though the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jesus_Mysteries#Reception][receptions of critics were negative]] (some of them
without actually even reading the book), the theory is stunning. One
has to do some research to dig into pre-Jesus history for verifying or
falsifying each point.

However, the New Testament was written [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament#Dates_of_composition][after two generations or oral
traditions]] were able to include various "decorations" - no offense.
Variations in stories that are told (not written/read) are totally
normal. This is also a reason for telling stories in rhymes [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme#Function_of_rhyming_words][that help
to minimize this variation-effect]] to a certain extend.

Further more, Constantine the Great did [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great_and_Christianity#Enforcement_of_doctrine][enforce unified sources]] for
his new religion. The term heresy was invented for people who did not
follow the one and true "type" of Christianity and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy#Catholicism][thousands and
thousands have been killed]], their books destroyed. Whole cultures were
lost.

Alternative versions of the New Testament were hunted down and
destroyed in his whole empire. People not worshiping "correctly" were
excommunicated or killed. No wonder that the four testaments are
rather similar versions of one Jesus.

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_early_Christian_texts_of_disputed_authorship][Other sources]] such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls][Dead Sea Scrolls]] or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism_and_the_New_Testament][Gnostic sources]] are very
[[http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html][interesting]] since they offer an "unfiltered" source of information to
[[http://www.essene.com/History&Essenes/TrimmNazars.htm][the same stories]]. And yes, they do show a [[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/237494/2/9789004176966_Garcia+Martinez_1-6.pdf][slightly different]] picture
here and there. The early Christianity was a rather [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Gnosticism][diverse]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Early_Gnostic_Christian_sects][group]] of
people with different books, different beliefs, and quite different
interpretations.

The Christian religion placed its holidays on pre-existing holidays of
different origins such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas#Choice_of_December_25_date][Christmas]] or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastertide#In_Western_Christianity][Easter]]. The latter might be
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea#Separation_of_Easter_computation_from_Jewish_calendar][based on a valid belief]].

So when the Christian religion might as well be based on much older
religions and myths, lots of people with influence "filtered" and
"unified" historical sources: What do I have to think of the current
set of rules of the Christian church?

Just a play of thoughts.

2015-08-08: There is an interesting discussion in the Disqus-comments
below. You might want to click on the button:

***** Jeff Rose: The Bible Hunters (BBC Documentary)
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I saw (only) the second part of [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/7LYswsGl2MJ1gRDx5MMTln/jeff-rose][the BBC documentary]] named "[[http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Bible_Hunters][The Bible
Hunters]]" with [[http://ronininstitute.academia.edu/JeffreyRose][Jeff Rose]]. You can find [[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jeff+rose+%22bible+hunters%22][it on YouTube]] but at least for
Austria, it's not available. [[http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Bible_Hunters][This page]] also contains links to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed2k_URI_scheme][ed2k
files]].

Besides any [[https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/bible-hunters-part-2-and-what-they-omitted/][valuable criticism]], the documentary shows that there were
many diverse versions of the same story in the early centuries of the
Christian church. Alternative versions of the New Testament were
hunted down and had to be hidden in order to survive the re-writing or
unification of history.

Despite the fact that I am no researcher of this field and Timothy
Freke and Peter Gandy are criticized for not being experts as well,
history does seem to confirm the basic theme here: the New Testament
is not the only truth. There are other and different versions which
were intensively hunted down and destroyed over the centuries for
various reasons. It is valid to question the content of the New
Testament. We have reason to believe that the truth behind the
Christianity is more complicated and diverse as we thought.