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Something to think about

edited September 2005 in Faith & Religion
Something to think about

I was looking for ebooks and I found an excerpt from a book I found. I forgot the name of it though. It really makes you think and question alot.

This astonishing book completely undermines the traditional history of Christianity that has been perpetuated for centuries by the Church. Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, authors Tim Freke and Peter Gandy present overwhelming evidence that the Jesus of the New Testament is a mythical figure.

Far from being eyewitness accounts, as is traditionally held, the Gospels are actually Jewish adaptations of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting godman Osiris-Dionysus. The supernatural story of Jesus is not the history of a miraculous Messiah, but a carefully crafted spiritual allegory designed to guide initiates on a journey of mystical discovery.

A little more than a century ago most people believed that the strange story of Adam and Eve was history; today it is understood to be a myth. Within a few decades, Freke and Gandy argue, we will likewise be amazed that the fabulous story of God incarnate -- who was born of a virgin, who turned water into wine, and who rose from the dead -- could have been interpreted as anything but a profound parable.

Excerpt
Jesus said, "It is to those who are worthy of my Mysteries that I tell my Mysteries."

The Gospel of Thomas

On the site where the Vatican now stands there once stood a Pagan temple. Here Pagan priests observed sacred ceremonies, which early Christians found so disturbing that they tried to erase all evidence of them ever having been practiced. What were these shocking Pagan rites? Gruesome sacrifices or obscene orgies perhaps? This is what we have been led to believe. But the truth is far stranger than this fiction.

Where today the gathered faithful revere their Lord Jesus Christ, the ancients worshiped another godman who, like Jesus, had been miraculously born on December 25 before three shepherds. In this ancient sanctuary Pagan congregations once glorified a Pagan redeemer who, like Jesus, was said to have ascended to heaven and to have promised to come again at the end of time to judge the quick and the dead. On the same spot where the Pope celebrates the Catholic mass, Pagan priests also celebrated a symbolic meal of bread and wine in memory of their savior who, just like Jesus, had declared:

He who will not eat of my body and drink of my blood, so that he will be made one with me and I with him, the same shall not know salvation.

When we began to uncover such extraordinary similarities between the story of Jesus and Pagan myth we were stunned. We had been brought up in a culture which portrays Paganism and Christianity as entirely antagonistic religious perspectives. How could such astonishing resemblances be explained? We were intrigued and began to search farther. The more we looked, the more resemblances we found. To account for the wealth of evidence we were unearthing we felt compelled to completely review our understanding of the relationship between Paganism and Christianity, to question beliefs that we previously regarded as unquestionable and to imagine possibilities that at first seemed impossible. Some readers will find our conclusions shocking and others heretical, but for us they are merely the simplest and most obvious way of accounting for the evidence we have amassed.

We have become convinced that the story of Jesus is not the biography of a historical Messiah, but a myth based on perennial Pagan stories. Christianity was not a new and unique revelation but actually a Jewish adaptation of the ancient Pagan Mystery religion. This is what we have called The Jesus Mysteries Thesis. It may sound far-fetched at first, just as it did initially to us. There is, after all, a great deal of unsubstantiated nonsense written about the "real" Jesus, so any revolutionary theory should be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism. But although this book makes extraordinary claims, it is not just entertaining fantasy or sensational speculation. It is firmly based upon the available historical sources and the latest scholarly research. While we hope to have made it accessible to the general reader, we have also included copious notes giving sources, references, and greater detail for those who wish to analyze our arguments more thoroughly.

Although still radical and challenging today, many of the ideas we explore are actually far from new. As long ago as the Renaissance, mystics and scholars saw the origins of Christianity in the ancient Egyptian religion. Visionary scholars at the turn of the nineteenth century also made comparable conjectures to our own. In recent decades, modern academics have repeatedly pointed toward the possibilities we consider. Yet few have dared to boldly state the obvious conclusions that we have drawn. Why? Because to do so is taboo.

For 2,000 years the West has been dominated by the idea that Christianity is sacred and unique while Paganism is primitive and the work of the Devil. To even consider that they could be parts of the same tradition has been simply unthinkable. Therefore, although the true origins of Christianity have been obvious all along, few have been able to see them, because to do so requires a radical break with the conditioning of our culture. Our contribution has been to dare to think the unthinkable and to present our conclusions in a popular book rather than some dry academic tome. This is certainly not the last word on this complex subject, but we hope it may be a significant call for a complete reappraisal of the origins of Christianity.

Comments

  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited September 2005
    Let me direct you to Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy's Jesus and the Goddess (Thorsons 2001 ISBN 0-00-710071-X)

    I have quite an extensive list of books on similar aspects of Christian origins, including Elaine Pagels' wonderful books on the Gnostics.

    Unfortunately, Lockhart's book Jesus the Heretic is out of print but I think you can still find his Dark Side of God.

    BTW: if anyone has a copy of Lockhart's Jesus the Heretic which they no longer want, I would be able to pay the postage, were they to be kind enough to want to give it to me.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited September 2005
    As this is an almost entirely Christian subject, I am not sure how far to go into it here.

  • buddhafootbuddhafoot Veteran
    edited September 2005
    You know... I always had this thought about Christianity even when I was a Christian...

    If we are to believe the scriptures, Jesus said that after he was gone there would come "wolves in sheeps clothing" to wreak havoc in the church. We also read that Satan is the lord of lies, the Deceiver. We have also been taught that the road to Heaven straight and narrow while the road to Hell is broad and easy.

    Now, that having been said - everyone is worried about devils and Satan. You see movies about spirits inhabiting people, demons, all kinds of awful stuff. That's the devil that everyone is worried about. The grotesque monster who causes pain and bloodshed. Christians in the United States preach about rock bands that use Earthly, man-defined satanic images as worshipping the devil and all such nonsense - when most people know that it's just shock value to make money.

    Now.. with all of that being said...

    The Bible teaches that Satan is the deceiver. We've read where there will be peace on Earth and all people will acknowledge God as the only God - then God will release Satan from the Bottomless Pit and he will once again deceive just about everyone out there...

    Do you think, if you believe in Christian teachings, that Satan is going to deceive everyone with a bloody "mark of the beast"? Pentagrams? Blood and gore? Sacrifices? Orgies and everything that scares the normal person about Satan?

    Is that how you would deceive the masses into following and believing you?

    I wouldn't. No one would follow me. But...if I were a deceiver I'd try to paint myself as something clean, wholesome and righteous. A holy, religious figure - like the Pope or a Evangelist. It would certainly be something that would cause people to trust, love and believe in me.

    Who knows? Maybe the Deceiver painted himself to be Buddha or a boddhisatva!!?!?!

    Just a little thought...

    -bf
  • edited September 2005
    buddhafoot wrote:
    Who knows? Maybe the Deceiver painted himself to be Buddha or a boddhisatva!!?!?!

    As the saying goes, if you meet the Buddha on the street, kill him.

    Regarding Satan and deception, I have long found it interesting that Jesus taught "Love your enemy," and yet so much energy is directed towards hating the devil. If anything, wouldn't Satan be overjoyed that his mere existance could get so many people thinking hateful thoughts? It seems the best way to really defeat the devil would be to learn to stop hating, even the devil.

    But, the real wisdom I find in "Love your enemy" is it gives people a useful little means by which they can overcome dualism and undermine the whole notion of self/other. That whole quote goes, "Love your enemy as yourself," which to me points directly at overcoming dualism. It also leads people to see that two enemies actually have a very intimate relationship. They rely on each other for who they are. They define each other through their opposition. Their opposition is their union. They, in fact, create each other through it. I make my enemy. I define him by how I define myself. I define myself by how I define him. The attachments he and I cling to make him and I enemies.

    If you meet your self on the street, love it.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited September 2005
    Indeed so, Moontriangle. And also the Leviticus statement that Jesus quotes: "Love your neighbour as yourself", set alongside "Deny yourself": together they seem to me to bring us to the Neti Neti statement of non-dulaity and non-identity.
  • edited September 2005
    maybe buddha is the "deciver" I dont really know. From a christian viewpoint his idea of Nirvana would be decieving because to achieve Nirvana you would have to transcend suffering and in order to do that you would have to become like God. Personally though I think Buddha was a good man.
  • edited September 2005
    If "God" is perfect, wouldn't he want us to be more like him?
  • edited September 2005
    If "God" is perfect, wouldn't he want us to be more like him?
    If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
    Voltaire
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