Is the story Jesus stolen for Horus the Egyptian God?

Question

If so, what of "Gods" used similar stories in order to conjure up believers?

I'm really enjoying the responses so far. Seems that if you are willing to read the story of Horus then you are already skeptical but simply say "no" or this question should be stopped, or try reading similar questions if it goes against your belief.

Just seems like it should be considered that maybe there are so many similar questions because there is no messiah. Also, Horus was around 3000 years before Jesus so it's not the other way around:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm

Answer 1

Yes. There are several virgin-borne, miracle-working, crucified, savior gods. The Jesus story is stolen, in whole or part, from the older legends of Mithras, Horus, Attis, Osiris, Dionysus, Krishna, and others.

The Christian church worked very hard to keep its followers from learning about them, or blatantly deceiving people about other religions, since the real history of Christianity would probably lead lots of people to stop giving it money - but thanks to the internet and cable/satellite television, people are finally being educated.

Answer 2

The whole religion of Christianity and Catholicism are adapted from the Romans beliefs, which is adapted from Greek beliefs, which is adapted from the ancient Egyptian belief, so Christians, Catholics, and Hebrews are all inadvertently worshipping Ra, the Egyptian sun god. Some saints also come from Egyptian gods, such as Jesus comes from Horus, St. Peter from Anubis, and ? (I forgot this one) comes from Isis (the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility, not the terrorist organisation). Another thing is that the bible has been adapted and changed by the people in charge of the religion throughout the years to suit them and strengthen their rule by: making Jesus white (to fortify the belief that he was the son of god and a holy, divine being (which is kind of racist but the Romans didn't care at the time)), changing parts of the stories, and changing certain parts of the belief systems to make people donate to 'make god happy'. One last thing, Horus was the son of Osiris, the god king of the dead, and pharaohs were worshipped as and were believed to be the embodiments of Osiris, while princes were worshipped as the pharaohs' successor and Horus.

Answer 3

Funny, the very source you cite has a disclaimer at the bottom. Did you miss that?

Copied and pasted from religioustolerance.org:

On the other hand, Christian theologian Ward Gasque surveyed twenty contemporary Egyptologists. He asked them about the relationship whether Horus experienced a virgin birth. Ten responded, They all agreed that there is no evidence that Horus was born of a virgin.

Glenn Miller wrote:

...my research in the academic literature does not surface this fact. I can find references to four "disciples"--variously called the semi-divine HERU-SHEMSU ('Followers of Horus'). I can find references to Sixteen human followers. And I can find reference to an unnumbered group of followers called mesniu/mesnitu ('blacksmiths') who accompanied Horus in some of his battles. ... But I cannot find twelve anywhere." 17

Of course, the early Christian movement might have imported the concept of disciples from Egypt and changed the number so that the number of Jesus' disciples matched the number of the tribes of Israel.

Again, Gasque's survey came up blank on the matter of Horus' disciples as well.



Okay, me again. I've read many books on Egyptian mythology, trying to find everything I could on Horus, son of Isis. Guess what I found?
1. Horus was not born of a virgin.
2. He was not placed in a cave or a manger.
3. He did not have twelve disciples.
4. His purpose was to avenge his father.
5. Isis was never known as Isis-Meri or Isis-Merion. Later Egyptian mythology did combine her with Hathor, though.
6. Horus was associated with a fish because he could BECOME a fish, or at least have a fish's head.
7. Horus was never crucified. In the earliest myths, Horus didn't even die.
8. Horus did not raise his father from the dead. He couldn't have anyway, because Osiris was buried in fourteen different places.
9. None of Horus' followers were known as Anup or Aan.
10. Horus wasn't transfigured on a mount or anywhere else.
11. There was no "sermon" that Horus "preached."

By the way, the version of the Egyptian Book of the Dead they quote from only dates back to the 1st century A.D., though it was perhaps copied from earlier versions. The question is, did the earliest versions have the same details? Drawings and engravings from earlier times say NO.

Edit: One final point. The Horus/Jesus comparison began in around the 19th century. Why not earlier? They had the same facts 2000 years ago, and yet NOTHING was said of it then. Why is that?

And most of the "Christ myth/conspiracy" people don't even cite any valid sources. It'd be like me using the president to prove that the government had nothing to do with 9/11. Pretty ludicrous, don't you think?

Answer 4

It's a mixture of Horus and Osiris.

Horus was the son of the morning and Osiris the risen God.

There are so many other Gods' profiles mixed in with the Jesus myth that it becomes impossible to separate them.

Personally, I'd go back to the Osiris myth,the longest lived of the various cults that venerate a God risen from the Dead as being the original, (although I have vague memories of something like this mentioned in Gilgamesh but can't be certain).

There is nothing new in all the world - only recycled fairy tales to stop children being afraid of the dark.

Answer 5

Hard to say. However, quite a bit of the bible can be traced to pagan religions of various sorts. For example, Satan comes from the Egyptian god Set; the story of Noah comes from Gilgamesh (2100bc); and there are so many more examples I could give. I suppose since most of the populations were illiterate in biblical times, the biblical writers did not really consider that anyone would figure these things out.

Answer 6

He was stolen from a mix of lots of different Gods. His story was nothing new but was designed in such a way as to broaden the appeal of this new religion which would prevent chaos breaking out across the Roman Empire as it began to fall.

Answer 7

Mythras(sp), was a figure of greek mythology who was born of a divine spirit, and a human virgin, and lived as a human, he was killed and decended into the nether world for three day, he rose rejoin the gods/goddesses.
Persephone a greek goddess, decends into hades every winter, and arises in the spring.
all religious cultures have almost simillar stories

Answer 8

what has my interest is Job 38:19.. 'where is the way in which light dwells' rather than 'where is the PLACE'
we didn't know that light doesn't stop moving 'till Eienstein; it didnt make SENSE for 4000+yrs ;)
so either they had some ADVANCED tech, or it's actually from God :P

if you're checking into the horus/other gods junk.. checkout sites on 'zeitgeist debunked' some interesting stuff in there

Answer 9

Everything's stolen nowadays. The fax machine is just a waffle iron with a phone attached.

Answer 10

Quite possible. There are further elements if you study religious history.
Also, for the REAL truth, watch the movie 'Life of Brian'. Quite an eye-opener.