Christians claim that Jesus’ Resurrection validates Christianity

The Truth Is…

Every culture,  Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman,  had entities that died and were resurrected. Beginning in the 19th century, a number of gods who would fit these motifs were identified.  Some examples include the ancient Near Eastern, Greek, and Norse deities Baal, Melqart Adonis, Eshmun, Tammuz, Ra the Sun god with its fusion with Osiris/Orion, Jesus, and Dionysus.   Female examples include Inanna/Ishtar, Persephone, and Bari.

Examples from other cultures range from Baldr in Norse mythology to the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl in Aztec mythology to the Japanese Izanami.

Ancient Greeks

Getting closer to the time of Christ, in the ancient Greek religion, a number of men and women were made physically immortal as they were resurrected from the dead. Asclepius, was killed by Zeus only to be resurrected and transformed into a major deity. Achilles, after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother Thetis and resurrected, brought to an immortal existence. Memnon, who was killed by Achilles, seems to have a received a similar fate. Alcmene, Castor, Heracles, and Melicertes, were also among the figures sometimes considered to have been resurrected to physical immortality.

According to Herodotus‘s Histories, the seventh century BC sage Aristeas of Proconnesus was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. Later he found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality. (Editorial comment: Wow… we bet that NO one ever thought that would happen again)

Here are some details of three resurrections

• HORUS
  Egypt 3000bc
  Born on Dec 25th
  Born of a virgin
  Star in the east
  Teacher at 12
  Baptized ministry at 30, had 12 disciples
  …
• ATTIS
  Greece 12bc
  Born of a virgin on Dec 25th
  Crucified
  Dead 3 days and resurrected.
  …
• MITHRA
  Persia 1200bc
  Born of a virgin on Dec 25th
  12 disciples, performed miracles
  Dead 3 days then resurrected
  Sundayworship.

Conclusion

The story of Jesus’ resurrection was patterned after this very well known, common motif – if you are going to present yourself as a God, you better come back from the dead! Jesus did not come back from the dead any more than Horus, Attis or Mithra did. Whatever argument you use to discredit the resurrection of Horus, Attis and Mithra is equally applicable to the resurrection of Jesus. Learn about some of these other resurrected deities before you make the claim that Jesus, because he was “resurrected”, makes Christianity the ONLY real, God approved and endorsed religion

Now – About Some of the Other  Gods

Other than the fact that pagan religions worshiped multiple Gods, there is no difference between polytheistic religions and the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In the lists below, you will find that every attribute that you think is original or unique about your God and Christianity, is neither original or unique.

There are over 2870 Gods of Antiquity. Here is a sampling:

Which of these Gods Do You Have Faith In?

Cannonites

• Anat, virgin goddess of war and strife, sister and putative mate of Ba’al Hadad
• Athirat, “walker of the sea”, Mother Goddess, wife of El (also known as Elat and after the Bronze Age as Asherah)
• Athtart, better known by her Greek name Astarte, assists Anat in The Myth of Ba’al
• Attar, god of the morning star (“son of the morning”) who tried to take the place of the dead Baal and failed. Male counterpart of Athtart.
• Baalat or Baalit, the wife or female counterpart of Baal (also Belili)
• Ba’al Hadad (lit. master of thunder), storm god.
• Baal Hammon, god of fertility and renewer of all energies in the Phoenician colonies of the Western Mediterranean
• Dagon, god of crop fertility and grain, father of Ba’al Hadad
• El Elyon (lit. God Most High) and El; also transliterated as Ilu
• Eshmun, god, or as Baalat Asclepius, goddess, of healing
• Ishat, goddess of fire. She was slain by Anat.^[1][2][3]
• Kotharat, goddesses of marriage and pregnancy
• Kothar-wa-Khasis, the skilled, god of craftsmanship
• Lotan, the twisting, seven-headed serpent ally of Yam
• Marqod, God of Dance
• Melqart, king of the city, the underworld and cycle of vegetation in Tyre
• Molech or Moloch, putative god of fire^[4]
• Mot or Mawat, god of death (not worshiped or given offerings)
• Nikkal-wa-Ib, goddess of orchards and fruit
• Qadeshtu, lit. “Holy One”, putative goddess of love.
• Resheph, god of plague and of healing
• Shachar and Shalim, twin gods of dawn and dusk, respectively. Shalim was linked to the netherworld via the evening star and associated with peace^[5]
• Shamayim, (lit. skies) the god of the heavens
• Shapash, also transliterated Shapshu, goddess of the sun; sometimes equated with the Mesopotamian sun god Shemesh^[6] whose gender is disputed^[7]
• Yaw (lit. sea-river) the god of the sea and the river,^[8] also called Judge Nahar (judge of the river).^[9][10][11]
• Sydyk, the god of righteousness or justice, sometimes twinned with Misor, and linked to the planet Jupiter^[12][13]
• Yahweh may exist as an ending of some Amorite male names,^[14] though the only Canaanite mention of Yahweh, found on the Mesha Stele, refers to the god of Israel contrasted with Chemosh.^[15]
• Yarikh, god of the moon and husband of Nikkal

Summerian: An, Ki, Enlil, Enki, etc…
Babylonian: Sin, Marduk, Ishtar, Nabu, etc…
Hittite: Alala, Anu, Kumarbi, etc…
Persian: Zoroaster, Simurgh, Rostam, Gaokerena, etc..
Egyptian: Ra, Isis, Anubis, Osiris, Horis, etc…
Greek: Zeus, Hermes, Hades, Hera, Aphrodite, etc
Roman: Jupiter, Mars, Terra, Cupid, Poseidon, Apollo, Wotan, Venus, etc…
Norse: Odin, Thor, Loki, Njordr, etc…
Hindu:  Vishnu, Krishna, Kali, Ishvara, etc…
Chinese Folk (Simple): Shangdi, Mazu, Shou Xing, Tu Di Gong, etc…
Shinto (Japanese): Izanagi-no-Mikoto, Izanami-no-Mikoto, etc…
Celtic: Cernunnos, Damona, Epona, etc…
Aboriginal: Bunyip, Kurreah, Mutjinga, etc…

Other, Non – Resurrected Deities

• Vishnu:  Vishnu’s eternal and supreme abode beyond the material universe is called Vaikuntha, the realm of eternal bliss and happiness and the final or highest place for liberated souls who have attained Moksha. Vaikuntha is situated beyond the material universe and hence, cannot be perceived or measured by material science or logic. MY GOODNESS – doesn’t that sound familiar! Hindus don’t speak of a just a God being resurrected, EVERYONE is resurrected – only they call it reincarnated.
• Budda preceded Christ by 500 years; one can match their stories line by line – even down to the apostles.
  Jesus undergoes three temptations (economic, political, miracle) just like Budda (passes three temptations (lust, fear, social duty).
• Mohammad – camel caravan master. After days of meditation, he hears god tell him to write.
• Confucius – not a God, but a real person. Beat Jesus to the punch with the beatitudes by over 500 years. The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. Had none of the anger and condemnation that Jesus exhibited.

All of the followers of these pagan religions believed in these gods with all the fervor and certainty that Christians, Jews and Muslims do today.  You dismiss all their beliefs as nonsense but recognize yours as authentic?

The logical position toward an extraordinary, supernatural claim is skepticism until proof is offered, and so far none of the thousands of gods that have been claimed to exist throughout history have lifted a finger to prove themselves. In fact, most believers grasp this for themselves; they automatically disbelieve all religious claims except their own. Atheists just do religious people one better, and make no exceptions for a religion because it happens to be the one we were raised in or convinced by friends to convert to.

When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why we dismiss yours.