Did Egyptians Believe Osiris Rose Again?

Question

There have been many claims that the Bible borrowed from Egyptian mythology and pagan sources for the story of the resurrection of Christ. I contend that truth need not fear probing, so I encourage you to check both of the resources shown below, then weigh in on the case each has made.

Here is a source critical of the claim that Christianity borrowed from the myth of Horus:
http://www.frontline-apologetics.com/resurrection_of_osiris_.htm

And here is a source which supports that claim:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa.htm

What is the truth you were able to glean from the research?

Tom

Answer 1

In regards to the claim that the Bible borrowed from mythology to tell the story of Christ, the best response can be found in the Bible itself. The first circumstance of the foretelling of Christ's death is in Genesis 3:15, which far pre-dates the Egyptian story of Osiris. Genesis 3:15 reads, "And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent/Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it (or "he" literally) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" - foretelling that Satan would be successful in his bid to kill Jesus Christ. The first specific prophecy regarding the virgin conception of Jesus Christ is in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore YHWH Himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel ("God with us")" (. It is estimated by scholars that the book of Isaiah was written between 700-740 B.C.., which was written substantially before any commentary by Plutarch, whom your frontline apologetics source above credits as having written the most common and complex version of the Osiris myth. Plutarch is credited with this version somtime between 34 - 125 a.d. - did anyone notice here that Plutarch's version was written a year after Jesus died? I wonder WHERE he ever got his idea?!? Granted, the eqyptian pyramids list Osiris as a 'god' as far back as 2400 b.c., but according to this website Plutarch apparently came up with his embellishments within a year of Jesus' death - astounding, and I am sure not at all coincidental, considering that Jesus' life and death had such a profound affect on all of Israel. Whether or not people became followers of Yeshua, his acclaim was widely known all over Israel. As to the passages in the bible that refer to Jesus virgin birth, his sinless life, his death on a cross for the sins of all mankind, his three days and nights in Sheol/hell, and his resurrection, his appearing to thousands and his ascension to heaven where He is sitting at the right hand of God, they truly are too many to list here. I will list some of them in the source section below.
As to truth I was able to glean from these two resources, I will only refer you back to Genesis 3:15, where God Himself warned Adam and Eve what would befall mankind in the future. He said this to them right before they were driven from the Garden of Eden, so this predates the birth of their children. And also predates the Egyptian pyramids given that we believe that God created man on the sixth day (Genesis 1:27-1:31), by aproximately 2,399 years! However, Moses was credited with writing it down between 1410-1450 b.c. Ultimately, we have to align ourselves with both the evidence we have at hand, and what our ability to reason together with what our spirit tells us is the truth. God's warning back in Genesis 3:15 was that he would place enmity between Satan and us. That enmity has been the driving force to keep man away from God since that day. Whatever Satan can say that is closest to the truth has the potential to keep us confused as to whether or not we can ever learn the truth, and that keeps us distant from the God we were designed to know. Also, there are many CONTRASTS to the stories of Horus and Osiris. Only Jesus/Yeshua of Nazareth came and completely fulfilled the Jewish feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and told us He was coming again to fulfill the fall feasts days: The Feast of Trumpets (or literally "Shofars") - where He says "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first!" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18) and he says to comfort each other with these words. He is also going to fulfill all of the fall feast, known as the Harvest Feasts - in John 4:35, Jesus says literally, "Say not ye there are yet four months unto the harvest, lift up your vision (literally) for they are white already to harvest!" Matthew 24:31 "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other" and Revelation 21:3 shows that the Feast of Tabernacles will one day be literally fulfilled in heaven, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold the tabernacle (literally "tent") of God is with men, and he will dwell (literally "tent" or "encamp") with them and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, and He shall be their God." This was the whole point that YHWH had in the the book of Leviticus where He told the Jews to hold these feasts each year as holy rehearsals. And as they are completed, then the Jews were to keep them as memorials forever! There is not one pagan 'God' who can claim to keep the Jewish holy days - ALL of them in the order they were prescribed, on time to the exact moment they were to be fulfilled, and fulfilling every symbol the feasts gave. The whole reason for the symbols was the Great and Awesome Love of God in showing His people over and over again, "This is who my beloved Son is. These are the things he will fulfill. When you see these things fulfilled, then you can know that you can follow him. Conversely, any so-called 'god' that doesn't meet these criteria (not just the ones assigned to Osiris and Horus), but ALL of the ones listed in the Bible is not the Messiah! He is not the savior of the world, so don't waste your lifetime following him because he's an impostor! In addition to Leviticus, there are many wonderful resources that describe how Jesus fulfilled all of the Jewish feast. Among these are: www.lionlamb.net - a Messianic Christian website that offers material on the feast/holy days. A site that lists several of the more than 300 prophecies Christ fulfilled: http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/messianicprophecies.html
I know that I have gone on from what the original websites you've listed were talking about in terms of Osiris and Horus and whether or not Jesus took claims about Himself from their mythology and assigned it to Himself. Ultimately though, I believe that the perponderance of evidence shows that it is Yeshua, Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth that history supports. His life and death are well known and well catalogued. Over and over again, people are recorded in the bible as having said, "I testify as one among you who saw these things occur". So mythology is a tale. But what we have in the bible is a recounting of eyewitness events substantiated by history and archaelogy. In terms of Horus and Osiris, truly there is nothing new under the sun and I would say they are the impostors, the pretenders to the throne. As a hypothetical... if they are authentic, where are their millions of believers today? As opposed to the believers in Yeshua? A good question, though, and I wish I was more of a scholar!

Answer 2

Christianity was based in part on the Egyptian religion.There were others, too. Mithra-ism played a part, too. Too many more to mention here. The old testament in part is based on the Sumerian texts and religion. There was a lot of borrowing of religious ideas going on then.There wouldn't be a Bible if not for earlier and current religions.

Answer 3

Most Egyptians today are Muslim (85 % or more) or Coptic Christian (possibly 10%), so few are followers of ancient gods. But whatever number there are, yes, they believe in the resurrection of Osiris

Answer 4

well I'm Egyptian and i know its legend folk nothing more