A deeper look at the story of Jesus (part 2)

Yesterday I wrote about the facts of Jesus' life and what Roman historians and Christians living at the time thought about the idea of a person who died for people's sins. It occured to me that the website ReligiousTolerance might not be enough and that some may need more resources to prove the points.

Unfortunately, there are few sites that delve into the issue as objectively and fairly as the aforementioned RT. The rest are either conspiracy theory Atheists or Bible-thumping reactionaries. I did find the story of Titus taking over Jerusalem in 70 AD interesting. Maybe that explains why there are no references to Jesus during his lifetime -- everything was burned down. But every other source I read that supports the existence of Jesus tries to make the fact that articles written about him centuries after the crucifixion maintain his being.

But today, as I promised, I am taking a look at other deities whose lives may correspond to the events in Jesus' life.

Horus, Egyptian god
This site compares the Horus story with that of Jesus then offers a Christian rebuttal.

Making the case that Horus and Jesus were similar:
- Horus is the Father seen in the son. Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life.
- Horus said that he was the way, the truth, the life. Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life.
- Horus The good shepherd with the crook on his shoulders. Jesus The good shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders.
- Horus the manifesting son of God. Jesus the manifesting son of God.
- Horus As Har-Khutti has twelve followers. Jesus has twelve disciples.
- And the list goes on.

Making the case agianst:
- You can make similar comparisons between Horus and Hitler.
- Horus is the father seen in the son. Hitler’s superior qualities reflected in many sons of Germany.
- Horus the Trinity. Hitler, Goebels and Himler.
- Horus Child of a virgin. Hitler’s mother a virgin prior to being mistress of H’s father.
- Horus has 12 followers. Hitler had 12.
- Horus the good shepherd. Hitler at first like a good shepherd.
- Horus taken by Set to the summit of Mount Hetep. Hitler’s retreat at Berchtesgarten.

Mithra, Zoroastrian god
I did the research and it looks like the story of Mithra was copied from Horus.

Dozens of others
And there are also many other gods whose lives parallel that of Jesus: Krishna, Quetzalcoatl, etc.

So did Jesus exist?
I'm spent from all the research. Anyone who writes anything down on the Internet writes it out of bias. So you have two sides battling each other while other people are truly trying to find real and direct answers. It's kind of like cable news channels. But I'll leave you with this quote from ReligiousTolerance:

The personal hunch of B.A. Robinson, this website's main author, is that there were many Jewish teachers wandering in Galilee during the interval 20 to 30 CE. At least one may have been called Yeshua (Hebrew for Joshua). One developed a devoted following of fellow Jews, committed aggravated assault in the Jerusalem temple, and was arrested by the occupying Roman Army. He was crucified as an insurrectionist as one of perhaps ten thousand other Jews who suffered the same fate during the first century CE.

The beliefs of two or three of these Galilean teachers were subsequently amalgamated and recorded in the early gospels that explained the life of a single individual: Yeshua of Nazareth as a single individual:

- One was an itinerant Greek cynic philosopher who lived a life of poverty and challenged the public on philosophic, ethical and religious matters. The closest example to a cynic philosopher today would be a combination of stand-up comic and political cartoonist.
- A second was a apocalyptic teacher who preached about the imminent end of the world in his immediate future -- much like John the Baptizer.
- There might even have been a third teacher who was a follower of Hillel. The latter was a 1st century CE Jewish liberal theologian and one-time president of the Sanhedrin.
- There is`some evidence of this merger. The Gospel of Q, appears to be the oldest surviving gospel. It was written in sections over time. The first section describes the sayings of a Greek cynic philosopher; the second section describes sayings of an apocalyptic teacher. Meanwhile, many of Yeshua's teachings, as found in the synoptic Gospels, closely match those of Hillel except on matters of divorce where Hillel was more liberal. Between 30 CE and 100 CE, when the Gospel of Q, the three synoptic canonic Gospels, and the Gospel of Thomas were first written, the teachings of these multiple teachers were merged and attributed to a single individual: Yeshua of Nazareth. The rest is history.

I stress that these are my personal hunches. They are shared by few if any theologians.