I found this link doing some browsing on some alleged correspondance between Horus and Osiris and Jesus. As suspected, many Wikipedia-types are just making crap up with no basis at all.
My favorite is how people claim both Horus and Jesus were baptized at age thirty, but the only story that comes close is when Horus is eaten by an alligator!! I have a hard time calling that a parallel.
The link is a little long, sorry, but it's really interesting (to me, at least).
http://tektonics.org/copycat/osy.html
I am so sad for all the people who have been duped by stuff that is entirely fabricated out of nothing.
Showing posts with label world religions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world religions. Show all posts
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Riding the Karma Train
I have been renting episodes of "My Name Is Earl" from Blockbuster Online, and I have absolutely fallen in love with the show. I know, it's no "Office," but they are two completely different types of comedy.
Anyhow, the show's premise is all about Karma--do bad things, and bad things happen, and vice versa. The main character is trying to make up for all of the bad things he's done by helping and repaying the people he's wronged over the years.
It sounds great....at first. Honestly, I find myself wishing that life worked exactly like this. There are several problems, though. First, I find it interesting that in the show, every time Earl finds a way to cross something off his list of wrongs, he almost always wrongs someone in the process, thus, adding to his list. Basically, the list will never come to an end. Hmmm. So then, what happens when someone finishes life with an unfinished list of bad karma????
To be brief, the Bible teaches that there is a connection with sin and righteousness and consequences, but not an absolute connection, because A) no one is completely righteous and B) no one is completely sinful. Generally, everyone pays the consequences for their behaviors at some point of life.
Karma has yet to find a way to explain death and why good things happen to bad people, and the other way around. Why do all humans want to strive and think of themselves as "good" in some form, but everyone understands that they are not perfect. Something is wrong....we know that right exists....what's going on here?
Christianity can say that God's grace coexists with mankind's fallenness, and their interactions are sometimes mysterious to us. Why does God heal, feed, and bless people who will never acknowledge these things as coming from Him? Why do Christians experience pain and suffering?
Karma?
It's just not that easy....
Anyhow, the show's premise is all about Karma--do bad things, and bad things happen, and vice versa. The main character is trying to make up for all of the bad things he's done by helping and repaying the people he's wronged over the years.
It sounds great....at first. Honestly, I find myself wishing that life worked exactly like this. There are several problems, though. First, I find it interesting that in the show, every time Earl finds a way to cross something off his list of wrongs, he almost always wrongs someone in the process, thus, adding to his list. Basically, the list will never come to an end. Hmmm. So then, what happens when someone finishes life with an unfinished list of bad karma????
To be brief, the Bible teaches that there is a connection with sin and righteousness and consequences, but not an absolute connection, because A) no one is completely righteous and B) no one is completely sinful. Generally, everyone pays the consequences for their behaviors at some point of life.
Karma has yet to find a way to explain death and why good things happen to bad people, and the other way around. Why do all humans want to strive and think of themselves as "good" in some form, but everyone understands that they are not perfect. Something is wrong....we know that right exists....what's going on here?
Christianity can say that God's grace coexists with mankind's fallenness, and their interactions are sometimes mysterious to us. Why does God heal, feed, and bless people who will never acknowledge these things as coming from Him? Why do Christians experience pain and suffering?
Karma?
It's just not that easy....
Too Many Resurrections
I was reading a book on Ancient mythology the other day, and I noticed something: there are a lot of ancient myths from the Near/Middle East that involve the death and resurrection of a god, usually celebrated in early spring (sound familiar?).
I have heard of some of these before, such as Baal, Adonis, Osiris, Mithras, Hercules, but I found that the list goes on and on (Wikipedia listed about 30!). It would appear on first glance that Jesus is just one in a long line of myths with a recycled story line and a different nationality.
But wait...not quite...
Interestingly, all the ancient myths before Jesus, involve a PAIR of deities, usually a consort. Baal is rescued by Asherah, Osiris by Isis, Persephone has several rescuers and lovers, and every myth is riddled with countless variations of characters, actions, and timeframes. But, generally speaking, a deity dies, the lover mourns/prays/searches, and the dead deity is reborn.
Jesus doesn't fit this pattern, not surprisingly, because of the lack of consort deities in a monotheistic system. I find it fascinating that Mary Magdelene becomes the consort/rescuer, in a sense, of later Jesus myth traditions put forth by Gnostics and other groups who stole Jesus to make up their own stories. Looks like those guys are the ones who are guilty of several counts of plagiarism...
My point in all this meandering is that despite what comparative religion professors may claim, Jesus is not just one of many dying and rising gods. His story doesn't fit any of the details of the other stories, except for coming back from the dead. Some may claim a parallel with Hercules's three day trip to Hades, but guess what, Jesus never went to Hell...it ain't in the Bible!
Hope this helps somebody.
I have heard of some of these before, such as Baal, Adonis, Osiris, Mithras, Hercules, but I found that the list goes on and on (Wikipedia listed about 30!). It would appear on first glance that Jesus is just one in a long line of myths with a recycled story line and a different nationality.
But wait...not quite...
Interestingly, all the ancient myths before Jesus, involve a PAIR of deities, usually a consort. Baal is rescued by Asherah, Osiris by Isis, Persephone has several rescuers and lovers, and every myth is riddled with countless variations of characters, actions, and timeframes. But, generally speaking, a deity dies, the lover mourns/prays/searches, and the dead deity is reborn.
Jesus doesn't fit this pattern, not surprisingly, because of the lack of consort deities in a monotheistic system. I find it fascinating that Mary Magdelene becomes the consort/rescuer, in a sense, of later Jesus myth traditions put forth by Gnostics and other groups who stole Jesus to make up their own stories. Looks like those guys are the ones who are guilty of several counts of plagiarism...
My point in all this meandering is that despite what comparative religion professors may claim, Jesus is not just one of many dying and rising gods. His story doesn't fit any of the details of the other stories, except for coming back from the dead. Some may claim a parallel with Hercules's three day trip to Hades, but guess what, Jesus never went to Hell...it ain't in the Bible!
Hope this helps somebody.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Naming the Elephants, part the first
In my conversations with people, I am amazed by all the reasons people have for following certain religions: "Jesus Christ will give you peace in your life," "Judaism meets my spiritual needs," "Meditation helped me be a better person," "Satanism is for people with brains," "I just try to follow my heart," and many more.
One guy I talked to said, "I shouldn't matter if what we 'believe' is true or not, as long it helps you be happy and a better member of society."
Frequently, people will cite the ancient Indian proverb about the blind men and the elephant, (one blind man feels the trunk and says "an elephant is like a snake." Another blind man feels the leg and says "an elephant is like a tree" and so on and so forth...) saying that all religions are trying to describe God, but every religion itself is incomplete and needs to learn from others in order to have a more informed view of God. There is some truth to this. However, three religions on earth make the claim that the elephant already told us what he is: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. So disregarding these, all other religions are indeed blind and groping around a dangerous animal.
If we are honest, we will realize that most religions (though not all) teach very similar points of morality, such as don't kill, don't steal, and help those in need. This points to the fact that there may be something transcendently unifying in all of us humans--perhaps our creator?
All this is to say, Christianity is not a self-help religion, although it does help people. Christianity is about being restored to God because of the life and death of Jesus. My sins and your sins are acts of treason against our Creator, and Jesus paid the death penalty in your place.
Christianity is not about man's attempt to find God, it's about God's attempt to find you and rescue you and make you into something new and beautiful!
One guy I talked to said, "I shouldn't matter if what we 'believe' is true or not, as long it helps you be happy and a better member of society."
Frequently, people will cite the ancient Indian proverb about the blind men and the elephant, (one blind man feels the trunk and says "an elephant is like a snake." Another blind man feels the leg and says "an elephant is like a tree" and so on and so forth...) saying that all religions are trying to describe God, but every religion itself is incomplete and needs to learn from others in order to have a more informed view of God. There is some truth to this. However, three religions on earth make the claim that the elephant already told us what he is: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. So disregarding these, all other religions are indeed blind and groping around a dangerous animal.
If we are honest, we will realize that most religions (though not all) teach very similar points of morality, such as don't kill, don't steal, and help those in need. This points to the fact that there may be something transcendently unifying in all of us humans--perhaps our creator?
All this is to say, Christianity is not a self-help religion, although it does help people. Christianity is about being restored to God because of the life and death of Jesus. My sins and your sins are acts of treason against our Creator, and Jesus paid the death penalty in your place.
Christianity is not about man's attempt to find God, it's about God's attempt to find you and rescue you and make you into something new and beautiful!
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