NONSENSE FROM THE BIBLE by Brian Baker

ministry of Jesus is remarkably parallel to the story of Horus who preceded him by several thousand years. The story of the mythical Horus would still have been known among the people of Egypt at the time of Jesus. According to Matthew’s Gospel the infant Jesus lived in Egypt for many years during his early childhood. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
     
    Matthew 2:13-15
    And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
     
     
    There are many others with similar credentials: Osiris, Krishna, Bacchus, Orpheus, Adonis, Attis, Hercules, Mithras, Thor son of Odin, Tammuz of Syria, Beddru of Japan and Deva Tat of Siam to name but a few.
     
    Gerald Massey (1828-1907) An Egyptologist who studied and lectured for many years on his research of ancient religions concluded that:
    Christianity was neither original nor unique, but that the roots of much of the Judeo/Christian tradition lay in the prevailing Kamite (ancient Egyptian) culture of the region. We are faced with the inescapable realisation that if Jesus had been able to read the documents of old Egypt, he would have been amazed to find his own biography already substantially written some four or five thousand years previously.
    Gerald Massey traced 180 examples of close similarity between Horus and the life and story of Jesus.
     
    The question now is: can we accept the story of the birth, life and death of Jesus as a factual account of a real person who lived at that time or was it only a myth about one of many who claimed to be the Messiah or the Son of God? There is virtually no evidence, apart from the Bible, whereby we can say for certain that this man ‘Jesus’ existed or that he was who he said he was. The fact that the Christian religion has grown to be the largest single religion in the world from those stories does not mean we can assume the story is completely or even partly based on truth. A good story which is entirely a myth, legend, fable or invented has the ability to be believed over a period of many centuries. In Greek and Roman mythology there are myriad mythical heroes and creatures and gods which were believed by many to have existed and were worshipped accordingly during many centuries.
     
    As I have already suggested, the Biblical accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are seriously flawed by alternative, sometimes contradictory, information or by the obviously invented, amazing and bizarre accounts concerning the happenings at the time.
     
    Historically, there is a great lack of evidence and the Biblical accounts were all written some 30 to 60 years after those events had allegedly taken place. There are no known credible records of the crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus. The best known Jewish historian of this time was Flavius Josephus *14  (37CE to 100CE) who briefly mentioned Jesus twice - the following passage concerns the crucifixion and resurrection:  
     
    From: Testimonium Flavianum (written 93CE)
    About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease to  follow him, for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him.