In Defense of Jesus: Investigating Attacks On the Identity of Christ by Lee Strobel

Author:Lee Strobel [Strobel, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2016-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

In his book Those Incredible Christians, Hugh J. Schonfield said, “Christians remained related under the skin to the devotees of Adonis and Osiris, Dionysus and Mithras.”10 Philosopher John H. Randall maintained that, thanks to the apostle Paul, Christianity “became a mystical system of redemption, much like the cult of Isis, and the other sacramental or mystery religions of the day.”11

At first blush, the parallels between the story of Jesus and the myths of ancient gods appear to be striking. For instance, writers have said that the pre-Christian god Mithras was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25, was considered a great traveling teacher, had twelve disciples, promised his followers immortality, sacrificed himself for world peace, was buried in a tomb and rose again three days later, instituted a Eucharist or “Lord’s Supper,” and was considered the Logos, redeemer, Messiah, and “the way, the truth, and the life.”12 Sound familiar?

“The traditional history of Christianity cannot convincingly explain why the Jesus story is so similar to ancient Pagan myths,” Freke and Gandy said.13 They believe, however, that they have the answer. “Christianity,” they declared, “was a heretical product of Paganism!”14

Said Harpur: “Not one single doctrine, rite, tenet, or usage in Christianity was in reality a fresh contribution to the world.”15 He went on to say:

The only difference — and it was quite radical — between the Jesus story of the New Testament and the many ancient myths . . . is that nobody among the ancients, prior to the full-fledged Christian movement, believed for one moment that any of the events in their dramas were in any way historical. . . . In Christianity, however, the myth was eventually literalized. Jesus was historicized. . . . The Church converted a whole mass of romantic legends or myths into so-called history, a multiplication of “fictitious stories.” What emerged was in many ways a cult of ignorance.16

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