Christ Myth Theory

It seems that every day the Christ Myth Theory falls apart more and more. But it also seems that every day more and more people are buying into this idea that Jesus was not a real person. This page debunks the ridiculous Christ Myth Theory. All my secondary counter-arguments can be found in the Evidence for the Resurrection page.

Genre of the Gospels
Most scholars agree that the genre of the gospels are not mythological epics, but historical narratives in the form of ancient biographies.

Donald Redford states concerning the genre of the Bible as a whole:


 * "This is a curious resort, for the text does not look like mythology (at least on the definition of the latter as a timeless event set in the world of the gods). The Biblical writer certainly thinks he is writing datable history."

It has also been noted by authors and creative writers that Jesus' teachings and ethics depart massively from conventional heroic character tropes, separating him from those of ancient mythology.


 * "The ethos of Jesus of Nazareth departed markedly from this tradition of heroism. In the Sermon on the Mount and the so called Antithesis that followed it, Jesus forbade those who followed him from engaging in any of the behaviours deemed typical of the heroic individual... Indeed, in the face of insult and injury, Christians were commanded to turn the other cheek; share their belongings; and love, bless, be good to, and pray for their enemies. Suffice it to say, in the first century of the Common Era anyone adhering to these precepts would have been "considered a weakling, a wimp, a worthless no-account who" could not "defend his honour, a person of whom one takes advantage, a man to be ashamed of." In short, the individual who was not and could never be a hero."

- M. Gregory Kendrick

Copy of Pagan Gods
Many have also claimed that Jesus was a copy of gods that came before him, lumping him in together with "dying-and-rising" gods and "crucified saviours."

Horus
Bill Maher claims that Horus is the son of the god Osiris, born of a virgin mother, baptised by Anup the Baptizer who was later beheaded, tempted in the desert, healed the sick, cast out demons, had twelve disciples, etc...
 * Horus was not born of a virgin - after his father, Osiris, was cut into many pieces by Set, Horus' uncle, his mother Isis revived his body, but was unable to find all the pieces of Osiris to complete him. She then had intercourse with his revived body and then gave birth to Horus.
 * He was not born in a manger, but in a swamp.
 * He did not have twelve disciples, but had an untold amount of workers called "Mesnui."
 * There is no evidence that Horus was tempted in the wilderness - he physically battles Set in the desert and they have a boat race . Other versions of the myth, such as those found in a manuscript dating to the 11th century called the Contendings of Horus and Set depict their fight as more of a legal battle in front of the god Ennead.


 * He did not perform the same as Jesus (miracles are to be expected from a deity). Instead he rejuvenates the land of Egypt after defeating Horus and becoming king.
 * After he became king, he was called the "saviour of his father" - not of humanity.
 * No part of the story ever mentions Horus being crucified.
 * On top of all this, Anup the Baptiser is a completely fabricated character - no Egyptian document bares his name at all.

Adonis
The same has often been said about Adonis.
 * Adonis' origins are mixed throughout several legends - he was either born from Pheonix and Aephesiboea, or from Cinyras and Metharme. Other legends state Adonis was born from an incestuous relationship between Myrrha and her father. Either way, not a virgin birth.
 * His "resurrection" is annually: he would spend six months in Hades and six month on earth with Aphrodite. This represents the cycles of the seasons with summer and winter. There are also scholarly doubts as to whether the original tales of Adonis were meant to be interpreted as a literal, bodily resurrection at all.
 * He did not die for humanity but was instead killed by a wild boar sent by Artemis.
 * He was not crucified and he was not even a god.
 * It should also be noted that the Adonis cult began stealing from Christianity in the 2nd century.

Mithras
Mithras is always a popular one for sceptics to use as "evidence" of the Christ Myth.
 * Mithras was not born of a virgin - he was born from a rock . Persian versions of the myth claim Mithras was born as an adult by Ahura Mazda, the high god of Zoroastrianism.
 * He was not a "sun god" or the "son of God," but instead meets with the sun who kneels to him and shakes his hand.
 * He did not have 12 disciples. This idea comes from depictions of the Tauroctony, where Mithras slays a bull surrounded by 12 figures. But these are not followers, merely depictions of Mithras himself in different stages of his life.
 * There is no evidence that Mithras died for the sins of the world. The closest one can get to claiming this is in the Santa Prisca inscriptions in Rome, which state: "And you saved us after having shed the eternal blood." However, this inscription is dated to around 200 AD . This vindicates the claims of Justin Martyr that the Mithras cult began stealing aspects of Christianity in the second century . The inscription is also likely referring to to spilling of the bull's blood, not his own.

Dionysus
Dionysus is a key character in the story of Zeus.
 * Dionysus was born from Zeus and Semele but was later stitched into Zeus' leg. When he was born out of Zeus's leg, he was granted immortality.
 * The account of him turning water into wine comes from a late second century writing that was likely plagiarised from Christianity . He was the God of wine, and Jesus never refers to himself as this.
 * He was not crucified, but killed by the Titans. Rhea then brings him back to life and Zeus gives him a bunch of nymphs to protect himself.
 * The amulet that supposedly depicts Dionysus being crucified was exposed as being a 20th century forgery.
 * He did not have a similar trial as Jesus.
 * He was not a god, only partially.
 * He was not considered the saviour of humanity.
 * He was not born in a manger. This is just another lie.

Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis is a god that we know very little about. That doesn't stop Mythicists from using him as a poor example of the CMT
 * Zalmoxis is not born of a virgin
 * He was originally a human being who was enslaved by Pythagoras.
 * He also does not die and resurrect, but merely disappears for a few years and his Thracian friends assume he died. He comes back to his Thracian friends after four years of disappearance. The Thracians are fooling into thinking the Zalmoxis resurrected and worshipped him.

Inanna
Inanna is a major goddess in Mesopotamian culture.
 * Inanna is not crucified at all. She is struck down and has her corpse hung "from a hook" according to the story.
 * She was "revived" when two demons named Gala-Tura and the Kur-Jara were sent to rescue her from the underworld.
 * She was the goddess of sex. She has virtually nothing in common with Jesus.

Romulus
Very few Mythicists actually use Romulus as an example for the CMT, however, it needs to be addressed.
 * Romulus was not born of a virgin. His mother, Rhea, was raped by the god Mars.
 * He was not a god manifest in flesh, but sent by the gods to establish his kingdom and then received godhood when he was taken up into heaven . It should also be noted that Romulus supposedly founded the Roman Republic, which would become the Roman Empire. Not the same as the Biblical Kingdom of Heaven by any measure.
 * He was called a son of god, but not in the messianic sense. Roman gods have children the same way humans have children. It is not the same kind of "son" by any means.
 * He was not crucified, nor did he die for the sins of the world.

Krishna
Krishna is another popular mythicist target.
 * Krishna was not born of a virgin, but was merely rumoured to have been conceived without normal intercourse.
 * He is not crucified, but is killed by the hunter named Jara, who mistook him for a deer. He then ascended directly to heaven and did not resurrect.
 * He was not part of a trinity, but the eighth of the ten incarnations of Vishnu.
 * The name of his disciple Arjuna does not translate to "John."
 * Later Krishna tales were borrowed from Christianity.

Solid Extrabiblical Evidence
The extrabiblical evidence for Jesus is astounding, with almost a dozen sources on Jesus within 150 years of his life mentioning him. Even when we give the sceptical argument the benefit of the doubt (such as removing the potential allusions of Suetonius and Marcus Aurelius, as well as ignoring the potentially interpolated verses found in the writings of Josephus), we still have a narrative built by the extrabiblical sources that is virtually identical to that of the New Testament.

Some mythicists have tried to make the outlandish claim that Josephus, the No.1 source that historians go to for information regarding the 1st century, never even existed. They claim this because Josephus is not mentioned in any other first century documents. This theory is so outlandish that not one scholar takes it seriously.

Lack of Time for Myth Development
Usually with the writings of mythological or pseudo-historical narratives, you have to, at the very least, wait for the generation who lived at the time the story is set to die off before you publish a story where no eyewitnesses or people who lived in that time frame can correct you. It also takes about an extra few hundred years or so for the myth to grow and facilitate, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

Dunn states:


 * "... the tradition's continuing identity was given in it's first formation of the tradition and is to be seen as evidence of the impact made by the words or the events thus called."

For example, Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain was composed in 1136 AD. His series of stories range from 1240 BC, after the Siege of Troy detailed in the Iliad to 597 AD when Adelstan becomes king of Britian. We can see a clear issue here: The time gap between the events in the story and the composition of the story is almost 500 years. This is a similar situation the sources for Alexander the Great have, where they are many centuries removed from Alexander.

In stark contrast, however, we know that the gospels were finished by, at the very latest. 130 AD, which is when the John Rylands Papyrus is dated to. We also have writings from Clement of Rome quoting the Synoptic Gospels by 95 AD. We also have writings like the Epistle of Barnabas and the Didache that date to around the mid-late 1 century that quote the writings of the New Testament. Lastly, we have Galatians and 1 Thessalonians being dated to around 51 AD and being agreed upon by scholars as genuinely from Paul. This is far too early for a myth to start circulating. And if that wasn't enough, secular scholars agree that the creed found in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 dates to within a year or so after the crucifixion. A myth does not take foothold within a year of an event.

Disagreement With Secular Scholars
Here's just a few non-Christian scholars that agree Jesus existed.


 * "...[Jesus] was very much a real person, a Jewish preacher about whom a good deal can be known through a careful examination of the Gospels. The problem with the historical Jesus... was that he was too historical. That is, Jesus is so firmly rooted in his own time as a first-century Palestinian Jew - with an ancient Jewish understanding of the world, God, and human existence - that he does not translate into a modern idiom."

- Bart Ehrman


 * “Only in the age of instant misinformation and net-attack is this kind of idiocy possible. Only in the atheist universe where the major premise - "Religion is a lie so the study of religion is a study of living" - infects everything is this kind of lunacy possible. Unfortunately, we have Richard Dawkins to thank for the original formulation of that premise."

- R. Joseph Hoffman


 * “... that he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact."

- John Dominic Crossan


 * “In recent years, ‘no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non historicity of Jesus’ or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary.”

- Michael Grant


 * “Historical reconstruction is never absolutely certain, and in the case of Jesus it is sometimes highly uncertain. Despite this, we have a good idea of the main lines of his ministry and his message. We know who he was, what he did, what he taught, and why he died."

- Ed Parish Sanders


 * "... the existence of Jesus is no longer debatable. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea between AD26 and 36, and was most probably born shortly before the death of Herod the Great in 4BC. Quasi-certainty stops here.”

- Geza Vermes


 * “...the view that there was no historical Jesus, that his earthly existence is a fiction of earliest Christianity … is today almost universally rejected.”

- George Albert Wells

Academic Sources


Ancient Sources
