Has anyone researched Mithras or Horus and their similarities to Christ?

Question

Their stories are similar to Jesus' yet they predate Him...
Do you think they are coincidences? Were they fore-shadowing Christ? Are they the basis for Christianity?

Tony: Don't think they claim to have...But that's just from my limited (internet) research...

Dewcoons: That is interesting, hadn't thought of that. I'll keep researching, where did you read that?

Answer 1

Check out this link: http://www.geocities.com/inquisitive79/godmen

It lists Mithras, Horus/Osiris, and MORE.

The similarities are very very interesting. Perhaps even the basis for Christianity.

There was also:

--Dionysus was born of a virgin on December 25 and, as the Holy Child, was placed in a manger.
--He was a traveling teacher who performed miracles.
--He “rode in a triumphal procession on an ***.”
--He was a sacred king killed and eaten in an eucharistic ritual for fecundity and purification.
--Dionysus rose from the dead on March 25.
--He was the God of the Vine, and turned water into wine.
--He was called “King of Kings” and “God of Gods.”
--He was considered the “Only Begotten Son,” Savior,” “Redeemer,” “Sin Bearer,” Anointed One,” and the “Alpha and Omega.”
--He was identified with the Ram or Lamb.
--His sacrificial title of “Dendrites” or “Young Man of the Tree” intimates he was hung on a tree or crucified.

AND

The similarities between the Christian character and the Indian messiah Krishna number in the hundreds, particularly when the early Christian texts now considered apocrypha are factored in. It should be noted that a common earlier English spelling of Krishna was “Christna,” which reveals its relation to “Christ.” Also, in Bengali, Krishna is reputedly “Christos,” which is the same as the Greek for “Christ” and which the soldiers of Alexander the Great called Krishna. It should be further noted that, as with Jesus, Buddha and Osiris, many people have believed and continue to believe in a historical Krishna.

Answer 2

While Mithras and Horus pre-date Christ their Christlike "similarities" were not part of their respective "personalities" until after Christ came on the scene. Many historians think that Christianity grew with such astounding vigor many religions revamped their gods' qualities in the early first century in an attempt to compete!

If you are interested in researching this here are two resources for you. This is taken from books by Paul Maier and Lee Strobel. Specifically "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel has a fantastic bibliography describing exactly where he gets this information from. Paul Maier is a world renowned expert on ancient languages so his thoughts on this are of course from his own translations of the various texts of these religious groups. Of course, both are Christians so you might consider them unreasonably biased. Mr. Strobel was an atheist when he began his research and Dr. Maier academic credentials are greatly respected by non-Christians and he received atleast one of his advanced language degrees at a highly acclaimed Jewish University in Israel.

So of course I don't think there are any coincidences involved! I also think that Christ is the basis for many of the rituals that eventually revolved around Mithras and Horus.

Answer 3

In my humble opinion, I believe that the man Jesus did live. He may have been a prophet, but he was surely a good man anyway. Then Paul comes along. He used the story of Mithras to sell his story of Jesus being the "son" of God.

I mean, Mithras was born of a virgin on Dec. 25. He was crucified and rose from the dead. Now, can you get any more similar? Why is this not big news to the believers of the bible? How do they just ignore this? It amazes me.

Answer 4

ok here's the thing it's true that these stories happened before christ however the prophecy of christ was in effect longer then people realize which is what lead satan to start these false religions you see lucifer knew what god had intended for the world so he started up quite a few schemes to fool people back then and some people to this day will still be fooled into believing christianity is a sham but christ was the true savior intended to save the world and still is the true savior

Answer 5

Coincidences?? Foreshadowing Christ?? Dude, the Christ myth is a direct rip off from these two myths..... Mithras was born of a virgin and died and was ressurrected after spending three days in a cave tomb....sound like anyone familiar?

Answer 6

Yes, pretty amazing stuff.

"Pagan Christs by J.M Roberts, page 52.

What about the man Jesus then? Was he divine? Did he exist? Is/was he the Savior?

Most, if not all, of the Christian Belief System is Pagan in origin. It is indeed hard to force oneself to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God when such titles were readily copied from Pagan doctrine. Perhaps the only item not borrowed from Pagan sources was the Messiah concept. That, of course, was taken from the Jewish hysteria of the time. In the siege of Jerusalem in 72 CE there were some 18 Messiahs inside Jerusalem alone. Neither the God man Jesus nor the self proclaimed militant messiahs saved Jerusalem. Such was the measure of hysterical superstition upon the nation of Israel.

"There is not a conception associated with Christ that is not common to some or all of the Savior cults of antiquity. The title Savior was given in Judaism to Yahweh; among the Greeks to Zeus, Heilos, Artemis, Dionysus, Hercales, the Dioscurui, Ceybele and Aesculapius. It is the essential conception of Osiris. So, too, Osiris taketh away sin, is the judge of the dead and of the last judgment. Dionysus, the Lord of the UnderWorld and primarily a god of feasting ('the Son of Man commeth eating and drinking'), comes to be conceived as the Soul of the World and the inspirer of chastity and self purification. [J. M. Robertson may be referring to Attis here.] From the Mysteries of Dionysus and Isis comes the proclamation of the easy 'yoke'. Christ not only works the Dionysiac miracle, but calls himself the 'true vine.'"

"Like Christ, and like Adonis and Attis, Osiris and Dionysus also suffer and die and rise again. To become one with them is the mystical passion of their worshippers. They are all alike in that their mysteries give immortality. From Mithraism Christ takes the symbolic keys of heaven and hell and assumes the function of the virgin-born Saoshyant, the destroyer of the Evil One. Like Mithra, Merodach, and the Egyptian Khousu, he is the Mediator; like Khousu, Horus and Merodach, he is one of a trinity, like Horus he is grouped with a Divine Mother; like Khousu he is joined to the Logos; and like Merodach he is associated with the Holy Spirit, one of whose symbols is fire."

"In fundamentals, therefore, Christism is but paganism reshaped. It is only the economic and doctrinal evolution of the system-the first determined by Jewish practice and Roman environment, the second by Greek thought-that constitutes new phenomena in religious history."

Answer 7

And has anyone stop to think that the most of the records we have of the myths of Mithras, Horus, and many of the others were not written down until after the time of Christ? How much of them are the actual myths, and how much have they been altered by the truth of Christ?

Answer 8

Yes

Answer 9

Yes, the writers of the bible couldn't be bothered to think up something new, they thought nobody would find out, they were wrong

Answer 10

I"ve read them, I'm CAtholic, and frankly, I don't care about them. I don't care what you believe or anything. I don't chose to put any stock in those myths. I don't care if you say I"m closing my eyes. I will believe in my God and nothing on this earth will shatter that and if no one can respect me for my faith then tough!