djet, on Nov 12 2008, 03:50 PM, said:
are you really claiming that the story of Mithras is the same as of Jesus?
As is the story of Buddha and Horus. Study your history and you will see that is was common place back then to take a popular story, change one or two elements - and
then create a new story. Clearly this is where the story of Jesus came from. The Orthodox Christian hierarchy is practically identical to the Mithraic version. Virtually all of the elements of the Orthodox Christian rituals (
wafer, doxology, water baptism and alter) were adopted from the Mithra and earlier pagan religions. Let's see what they took from other stories to create the story of Jesus:
• Next to the god Ormuzd, Mithra held the highest rank among the gods of ancient Persia. Next to God, Jesus holds the next highest rank.
• Mithra was born on December 25th as an offspring of the Sun.
• Both had virgin births.
• He was represented as a beautiful youth and a mediator.
• He was considered a great traveling teacher.
• He had twelve companions (
Jesus had twelve disciples).
• Mithra was called "the good shepherd,” "the way, the truth and the light,” “redeemer,” “savior,” “Messiah."
• He was identified with both the lion and the lamb.
• Could also redeem the souls of the dead into heaven.
• Ceremonies included a sort of baptism to remove sins, anointing, and a sacred meal of bread and water, while a consecrated wine, believed to possess wonderful power.
• The mysteries of Mithras, which fell in the spring equinox, were famous even among the many Roman festivals, much like Easter is today among christians.
• Purified themselves by baptism.
• Their conceptions of the world and of the destiny of man were very similar.
• They both believed in the existence of a Heaven inhabited by beatified ones, situated in the upper regions, and of a Hell, peopled by demons, situated in the bowels of the earth.
• They both placed a flood at the beginning of history.
• Both performed the same exact miracles.
• They both believed in the immortality of the soul, in a last judgment, and in a resurrection of the dead.
• They both had disciples which formed an organized church, with a developed hierarchy.
• They both possessed the ideas of Mediation, Atonement, and a Savior, who is human and yet divine, and not only the idea, but a doctrine of the future life.
• They both had a Eucharist or "Lord's Supper."
• They were both buried in a tomb and after three days they both rose again. Their resurrection was (is) celebrated every year.
• They both had the sacred day of Sunday, "the Lord's Day."
• "I am a star which goes with thee and shines out of the depths." - Mithraic saying" - I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star." - Jesus, (Rev. 22:16)
• Both were believed to be mankind's savior.
• Both were known as the Light of the world.
Now let's look at Buddha (
who also preceded the story of Jesus) to see eerie similarities between Buddha and then afterward
*cough* Jesus...
- Both Buddha and Jesus were baptized in the presence of the "spirit" of G--d. (De Bunsen, p. 45; Matthew 3:16.)
- Both went to their temples at the age of twelve, where they are said to have astonished all with their wisdom. (Ibid., p. 37; Luke 2:41--48.)
- Both supposedly fasted in solitude for a long time: Buddha for forty--seven days and Jesus for forty. (Arthur Lillie, Buddha and Early Buddhism (London, 1881), p. 100, Matthew 4:2.)
- At the conclusion of their fasts, they both wandered to a fig tree. (Hans Joachim Schoeps, An Intelligent Person's Guide to the Religions of Mankind (London, 1967), p. 167; Matthew 21:18--19.)
- Both were about the same age when they began their public ministry:
"When he [Buddha] went again to the garden he saw a monk who was calm, tranquil, self--possessed, serene, and dignified. The prince, determined to become such a monk, was led to make the great renunciation. At the time he was twenty--nine years of age...". (Encyclopedia Americana (New York: Rand McNally and Co., 1963), vol. 4, p. 672.)
"Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age" (Luke 3:23).
- Both were tempted by the "devil" at the beginning of their ministry:
To Buddha, he said: "Go not forth to adopt a religious life but return to your kingdom, and in seven days you shall become emperor of the world, riding over the four continents." (Moncure D. Conway, The Sacred Anthology (London, 1874), p. 173.)
To Jesus, he said: "All these [kingdoms of the world] I will give you, if you fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9).
- Buddha answered the "devil": "Get you away from me." (De Bunsen, p.38)
Jesus responded: "...begone, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10).
- Both experienced the "supernatural" after the "devil" left:
For Buddha: "The skies rained flowers, and delicious odors prevailed [in] the air." (Ibid.)
For Jesus: "angels came and ministered to him" (Matthew 4:11).
- The multitudes required a sign from both in order that they might believe. (Muller, Science, p. 27; Matthew 16:1.)
- Both strove to establish a kingdom of heaven on earth. (Beal, p. x; Matthew 4:17.)
- Buddha "represented himself as a mere link in a long chain of enlightened teachers." (Muller, Science, p. 140.)
Jesus said: "Think not that I have come to abolish the law, and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17).
- According to the Somadeva (a Buddhist holy book), a Buddhist ascetic's eye once offended him, so he plucked it out and cast it away. (Ibid., p. 245)
Jesus said: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, and throw it away;" (Matthew 5:29).
- "Buddha taught that the motive of all our actions should be pity or love of our neighbor." (Ibid., p. 249)
Jesus taught: "...love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
- Buddha said: "Hide your good deeds, and confess before the world the sins you have committed." (Ibid., p.28)
Jesus said: "Beware of practicing your piety before men to be seen by them;" (Matthew 6:1) and "Therefore confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed..." (James 5:16).
- Both are said to have known the thoughts of others:
"By directing his mind to the thoughts of others, [Buddha] can know the thoughts of all beings." (R. Spence Hardy, The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists Compared with History and Science (London, 1866), p. 181.)
"But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: `Why do you think evil in your hearts?' " (Matthew 9:4).
- After "healing" a man born blind, Buddha said: "The disease of this man originates in his sinful actions in former times." (Prof. Max Muller, ed., Sacred Books of the East (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879--1910), vol. 21, p. 129f.)
"As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples said to him: `Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' " (John 9:1--2).
- Both were itinerant preachers with a close group of trustees within a larger group of disciples. (James Hastings, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (New York: Edinburgh T. & T. Clark, 1918), vol. 6, p. 883; Matthew 26:20.)
- Both demanded that their disciples renounce all worldly possessions. (Hardy, Monachism, p. 6; Luke 14:33.)
"The number of the disciples rapidly increased, and Gautama sent forth his monks on missionary tours hither and thither, bidding them wander everywhere, preaching the doctrine, and teaching men to order their lives with self--restraint, simplicity, and charity." (Hastings, vol. 6, p.883)
"And [Jesus] called to him the twelve [apostles], and began to send them out two by two.So they went out and preached that men should repent" (Mark 6:7, 12).
- Both had a disciple who "walked" on water:
To convert skeptical villagers, Buddha showed them his disciple walking across a river without sinking. (Lillie, p. 140)
"He said: `Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out: `Lord, save me!' " (Matthew 14:29--30).
- "One day Ananda, the disciple of Buddha, after a long walk in the country, meets with Matangi, a woman of the low caste of the Kandalas, near a well, and asks her for some water. She tells him what she is, and that she must not come near him. But he replies: `My sister, I ask not for your caste or your family, I ask only for a drought of water. She afterwards became a disciple of Buddha." (Muller, Science, p. 243)
"There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her: `Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him: `How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:7--9).
- Each repeated a question three times:
"The Buddha next addressed the bhikkhus and requested them three times to ask him if they had any doubt or question that they wished clarified, but they all remained silent." (Encyclopedia Britannica (New York: William and Helen Benton, 1974), vol. 2, p. 373.)
"[Jesus] said to him the third time: `Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time: `Do you love me?'" (John 21:17).
- Both received similar receptions:
"The people swept the pathway, the gods strewed flowers on the pathway and branches of the coral tree, the men bore branches of all manner of trees, and the Bodhisattva Sumedha spread his garments in the mire, [and] men and gods shouted: `All hail.' " (Hardy, Legends, p.134)
"And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on it; and he sat on it. And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields" (Mark 11:7--8).
- Both had an archival:
"[Buddha's] chief rival was Devadatta, a cousin of the Buddha, who is represented as being jealous of his influence and popularity, and as repeatedly seeking to compass his death." (Hastings, vol. 6, p.883)
"While [Jesus] was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying: `The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him!' And he came up to Jesus at once, and said: `Hail, Master!' And he kissed him" (Matthew 26:47--49).
- Before his death, Buddha said to his disciple: "Ananda, when I am gone, you must not think there is no Buddha; the discourses I have delivered, and the precepts I have enjoined, must be my successors, or representatives, and be to you as Buddha." (Hardy, Eastern Monachism (London, 1860), p. 230.)
Before his "ascension," Jesus said to his disciples: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:19--20).
- When Buddha died: "The coverings of [his] body unrolled themselves, and the lid of his coffin was opened by supernatural powers." (De Bunsen, p. 49.)
When Jesus died: "And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it" (Matthew 28:2).
- "In the year 217 B.C. Buddhist missionaries were imprisoned for preaching; but an angel came and opened the prison door, and liberated them." (Thomas Thornton, A History of China from the Earliest Records to the Treaty with Great Britain in 1842 (London, 1844), vol. 1, p. 341.)
"They arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out" (Acts 5:18--19).
- Both men's disciples are said to have been miracle workers. (Maria L. Child, The Progress of Religious Ideas Through Successive Ages (New York, 1855)vol. 1, p. 229, Acts 3:6--8.)
Maybe you shouldn't be asking if mormons are christian... maybe you should be asking if christians are Buddhist. LOL
The story of Horus also contributed the following to the story of Jesus:
• Horus was born of the virgin Isis-Meri on December 25th in a manger.
• His birth was being announced by a star in the East and attended by three wise men.
• His earthly father was named "Seb" ("
Joseph").
• He was of royal descent.
• At age 12, he was a child teacher in the Temple.
• A aget 30, he was baptized, having disappeared for 18 years.
• Horus was baptized in the river Eridanus or Iarutana (
Jordan) by "Anup the Baptizer" ("
John the Baptist"), who was decapitated.
• He had 12 disciples, two of whom were his "witnesses" and were named "Anup" and "Aan" (
the two "Johns").
• He performed miracles, exorcised demons and raised El-Azarus (
"El-Osiris"), from the dead.
• Horus walked on water.
• His personal epithet was "Iusa," the "ever-becoming son" of "Ptah," the "Father." He was thus called "Holy Child."
• He delivered a "Sermon on the Mount" and his followers recounted the "Sayings of Iusa."
• Horus was transfigured on the Mount.
• He was crucified between two thieves.
• He was buried for three days in a tomb, and then resurrected.
• He was also called the "Way, the Truth, the Light," "Messiah," "God's Anointed Son," the "Son of Man," the "Good Shepherd," the "Lamb of God," the "Word made flesh," the "Word of Truth," etc.
• Like Jesus, "Horus was supposed to reign one thousand years."
• Horus fed thousands (
5000 to be exact) with just a few loaves of bread.
• Horus was called "the KRST," (
pronounced Christ) or "Anointed One."
• He was "the Fisher" and was associated with the Fish ("
Ichthys") and the Lamb.
I find it simply astonishing that religions instruct their followers to 'read the bible' - but they
never tell their followers to learn the history of the contents of the bible. Weird. Now one or two similarities I can see, but when you can comprise a
long, long list as shown above, from more than one other PRECEDING story, that speaks volumes to the open minded person
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