Has anyone else heard that Christianity was stolen from ancient Egyptian beliefs?

Question

I have been a devout Christian all my life.My mother raised me that way, and she was raised that way. Well, recently my mother has discovered some things that she has shared with me, such as there is historical evidence that Jesus never existed, and that the Trinity was taken from Egyptian beliefs, as well as the nativity idea, and many others. If Jesus did exist, then why isn't there ANY physical evidence that he did? These are questions that have always plagued me. What about all the many contradictions that the Bible contains? I believe in God, and there is no way that I will EVER stop believing in Him, but I am curious as to if anyone else has heard these claims. Is Christianity possibly the biggest hoax in human history? Please share your perspectives and findings..serious opinions only please.

Answer 1

The connection to Egyptian beliefs is primarily in the fact that the first of the Mystery Cult gods was Osiris. The cult spread through the Mediteranean, and it always entailed a god-man who was born of a virgin on December 25th, who died on a tree, and who rose from the dead. There were regional variations in name. Jesus is just the Jewish version of the old Mystery Cult, but a bunch of Gentiles away from Jerusalem started to think he actually existed and was not just an edifying myth.

I strongly urge you to get a copy of the book, "The Jesus Mysteries" by Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy. It will make it clear.

It's okay to believe in the God of Creation without believing in the Christian particulars. It's called Deism.

Answer 2

Judaism is compiled of all sorts of borrowed myths and laws. The ten commandments are a part of hammarabi's code, practically every ancient religion had a trinity, and a noah of some sort.

Does it matter? Why should God have only guided and spoken to the Isrealites?

Jesus lived in a time when people did not have personal records about them on the scale that they do today. You cannot check the archives for His carpenters union dues, or see his driving record, or check his criminal record, or review his social security earning record or his SAT scores of school records...

The problem is not that there was no Jesus, the problem is 'was there a Jesus like this?' Considering the length of time that has gone by, and the bias mythologizing of jesus that has been a part of the rise of Christianity, it would be unlikely that Jesus woul even recognize himself, at this point.

The Gospels of St Thomas offer a source regarding the teachings of jesus that paint a very different picture of him than a guy with children and lambs at his feet. Jesus was a revolutionary alright, whether he was a spiritual or political one was not clear even to his closest followers until the end, when Judas betrayed him.

The only reasonable evidence of Jesus are in the primative gospels that have only lately come to light. From them it appears he did exist, and had a lot of pretty unclear things to say. It also appears likely that he did not die at 33, and had a family after his political run-in with the powers that be. We will never know for sure... Could have been some other Jesus. He did not leave his social security number... lol

Can you have faith in a continuing revelation of God to man, across time and cultures, without sweating the details? I can.

Answer 3

There is plenty of historical evidence that Jesus existed.He is one of the best documented religious figures.Check out the writings of Josephus,a Jewish historian,as he mentions Jesus.

The trinity was not taken from Egyptian beliefs.And even if there was a trinity,of sorts,in other cultures,it would not impact on Christianity.Other cultures believe in god-that doesn''t mean that god was stolen from them!
The trinity also has Biblical support.Read Matthew 3:16–17.

The Nativity was not taken from Egyptian religions either.There are no similar stories.

Contradictions in the Bible? This webpage resolves them.
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/bible.htm

You can also read this webpage that provides a general refutation to the 'Christians copied of Eygptian gods' idea.
http://tektonics.org/copycat/osy.html

Yes,I've heard these claims before.In every case,they can be soundly refuted.No,Christianity is not a hoax.

Answer 4

Jesus did exist, definately, it's in the history books. He only lived 2000 years ago. That is not that long. Most people do believe he existed, the part that they don't believe is that he is the Son of God.

I learned in a history class, also, there was another ancient religion that Christianity is VERY similar to....That doesn't shake my faith though. All religions probably came from some sort of ancient religion....History does repeat itself.

And, God played a part in all those religions, so it's just a part of His plan. Having faith means you believe in something that you dont have all the answers to. And that is a great thing to have!!

The contradictions in the bible come from man, (many different men, probably with many different points of view). Many are compilations of ways to live or not live your life and consequences...especially the old testament.

Answer 5

What kind of physical evidence would you expect? A shoe, A robe? We have nothing of that kind from anyone who lived in that time period. And, since He rose from the dead, we would not have any evidence from His body. We do have writers outside the Bible in that time period who spoke of Him or Christians, including:

Thallus
Josephus
Letter from Pliny the Younger to Trajan (c. 110)
Tacitus (Annals, c.115-120)
A fragment of Tacitus, with implications for the existence of the "Nazarene"
Suetonius (Lives of the Caesars, c. 125)
Lucian (mid-2nd century)
Galen (c.150; De pulsuum differentiis 2.4; 3.3)
Celsus (True Discourse, c.170).
Mara Bar Serapion (pre-200?)
Talmudic References( written after 300 CE, but some refs probably go back to eyewitnesses)

The Egyptians, like most pagan religions of the the time, were polytheists, they believed in many gods. The trinitarian nature of God is touched on in several places in the Old Testament, and spoken more of in the New Testament. There will always be those who will try to discredit the Bible and weaken your faith. It comes down to which you believe, the revealed word of God, or man's ideas?

Answer 6

You are right about the contradictions. I took a class in college about ancient religions of israel and it started making me question a lot of things. A lot of the stories in the bible have stories in other cultures written many years before they were spoke of in the bible. The details i cant remember, but one was a story like the story of Noah's ark and it was written about in viking culture before it was in the bible. I believe in God as well but have a lot of questions especially about Jesus, because christianity was considered a cult by the jews, like many cults today , but it just spread, so anyway, without going on for too long , I will just say that yes, there are a lot of unanswered questions and its possible that christianity is a hoax .

Answer 7

Sir, Your question may not make meaning to knowlegable people because (1) beliefs cannot be stolen as they are not materials owe by anybody.(2) What do you refer to as ancient traditions? Christianity simply means, behaving like Christ and Christ means the creator of the traditions including the ancient and modern traditions, So what you heard is that "behaving like Christ turned a thief and stole beliefs from their master" Can you then reframe your questions to reflect your reasons? or you may be satisfied by this simply explaination. Nwaeze

Answer 8

there are a lot of things in "christianity" that came from ancient babylon egypt and the like. things like trinity easter halloween christmas rapture immortality of the soul so on and so forth all have pagan origins. they would not be part of a true christian religion. if you remove these and other improper beliefs the bible would not contradict itself. no not once. you cant stop believing in god certainly (romans 1:20) but you can stop believing a lie.

Answer 9

Of course I have heard the claims which are often used as atacks against Christ's Church. Many of these claims are based on the writing of Alexander Hislop who was an anti-Catholic who wrote spurious accounts of Christian beliefs and practices and found similarities between these and Pagan religions suggesting that similarities meant that Christian beliefs came from these pagan sources. He had no proof except accusations and these accusations do not stand up to scrutiny. He was also quoted by other anti-Catholics like Loraine Boettner. Please understand that these are just attacks against the Church and are not based on facts but lies and suppositions.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 10

Yes I have heard that. I, too was brought up christian, but like I always say, I was a forced christian. That among other things is why I turned my back on organized religion.