A friend of mine sent a youtube video to me to challenge my belief in God. After viewing it I noticed the thousands of hits it had received. It was quite well done and presented a compelling argument. I did a search for a rebuttal to its claims and found none. So I determined it might be helpful to present one here on the blog. I do not take credit for the information presented as it is all second hand from several sources. I will post links for personal follow-ups in case anyone is interested. You can view the video at the link below, it claims to know the true origin of all religion and to prove beyond any doubt they are all false.
(The truth about religion and its origin)
The following is some of my response:
(The truth about religion and its origin)
The following is some of my response:
This video has been around for years, some attribute this award-winning documentary to Christopher Hitchens, however, I can find no reference to him being associated with it. It is a well-done video and craftily put together with misleading and inaccurate facts both concerning the Bible and Mythology. As presented, it forms a compelling argument about the origin of all religions. However, the first question one must ask is, if the video is what it claims to be, why are the leading opponents to Christianity not using their arguments? It has been around for years, yet the heavy hitters of atheist apologetics seem to ignore this well-hidden truth that exposes the myth of all religions. It is all over youtube being propagated by a huge number of youtube channels hosted by people no one has ever heard of for the most part. They have little more notoriety among the public than I do.
It loses its credibility with the Christian community when it gets a number of its Biblical references completely wrong. It loses its credibility with the none religious community when it gets its mythology references completely wrong.
There is much to talk about in the video, but Horus seems to be a foundation stone on which to build, so let's start there. It says Horus was conceived by a virgin named Meri and had a stepfather named Seb (Joseph). He was born in a cave and his birth was announced by an angel, heralded by a star and attended by shepherds. He attended a special rite of passage at the age of twelve (although the ancient texts describing this God are silent about His life from the age of 12 to 30). At 30 years of age, he was baptized, his baptizer was later beheaded. He had 12 disciples, performed miracles, exorcized demons, raised someone from the dead, and even walked on water. They called Him “Iusa”, the “ever-becoming son” and the “Holy Child”. He delivered a “Sermon on the Mount”, and his followers recounted his sayings. He was transfigured on a mount and eventually crucified between two thieves. He was buried for three days in a tomb and rose from the dead. His followers called Him “Way”, “the Truth the Light”, “Messiah”, “God’s Anointed Son”, “Son of Man”, “Good Shepherd”, “Lamb of God”, “Word made flesh”, “Word of Truth”, “the KRST” or “Anointed One”. He was also known as “the Fisher” and was associated with the Fish, Lamb, and Lion. According to this ancient religion, he came to fulfill the Law and was supposed to reign one thousand years.
Wow! But really?
Horus was not conceived of a virgin. In fact, mural and textual evidence from Egypt indicates Isis (there is no evidence that “Meri” was ever part of her name) hovered over the erect penis she created of Osiris to conceive Horus. While she may have been a virgin before the conception, she utilized Osiris’ penis to conceive. She later had another son with Osiris as well. There is no evidence of three wise men as part of the Horus story at all. Seb was actually the “earth god”; He was not Horus’ earthly father. Seb is not the equivalent of Joseph and, in most cases, Seb is described as Osiris’ father.
There is no reference to a cave or manger in the Egyptian birth story of Horus. In fact, none of these details are present in the ancient Egyptian stories of Horus, though there are various differing accounts. Horus was born in a swamp. His birth was not heralded by an angel. There was no star.
There is no continuous effort in the Horus mythology to account for all these years, so there are no real gaps in the chronology. Horus never taught in any temple at twelve.
Horus was never baptized, therefore his baptizer could not have been beheaded, there is no such person in the Horus’ story.
Horus had only four disciples, but at some point in his story, there is a reference to sixteen followers and a group of unnumbered followers who join Horus in battle.
Horus certainly performed miracles, he was, after all, described as a god. But there was no mention of exorcizing demons, raising people from the dead or walking on water.
No one in Egyptian history was ever called “Iusa” (the word does not exist) nor was anyone ever called (Holy Child).
Horus never delivered a “Sermon on the Mount”, nor was he transfigured.
Horus is not reported to have died at all in the vast majority of Egyptian narratives. There is also no crucifixion story. Crucifixion was not a known manner of execution until the Roman era. Instead, Horus is usually described as eventually merging with Re (the Sun god) after which he “dies” and is “reborn” every day as the sun rises. They did come close to being accurate in this reference, however, tying that to a resurrection is more than a far stretch. There is a parallel account describing Horus’ death and detailing how he was cast in pieces into the water, later fished out by a crocodile at Isis’ request.
None of these titles are in Egyptian history, the “Way”, “the Truth the Light”, “Messiah”, “God’s Anointed Son”, “Son of Man”, “Good Shepherd”, “Lamb of God”, “Word made flesh”, “Word of Truth”, “the KRST” or “Anointed One”. However, Horus is called by several names you might expect for any god in mythology: “Great God”, “Chief of the Powers”, “Master of Heaven”, and “Avenger of His Father”. The word “Krst” in Egyptian means “burial” (it wasn’t a title at all).
In case you are thinking I retrieved this information from some bias Christian site, here are a few secular links you can go to and read the story of Horus.
Another seeming important stone of this video is an ancient God by the name of Mithras. There is no surviving Mithraic scripture; most of what is known about Mithras comes from statues and murals that have no captions, or from the writings of ancient Christians who described Mithraic rituals many years after the arrival of Jesus. The vast majority of scholarly work on this mythological character is pure speculation.
It is stated that Mithras was born of a virgin on December 25th, in a cave, attended by shepherds.
Mithras was actually born out of solid rock, leaving a cave. He was not born of a virgin unless you consider the rock mountain to have been a virgin. His birth was celebrated on December 25th, but both Mithras worshippers and the earliest Christians borrowed this celebration from earlier winter solstice celebrations. Nowhere in the Bible is the date of Jesus birth given. The December 25 celebration of the birth of Christ is an adoption of pagan holidays by the church and cannot be supported by the Bible. The earliest version of the Mithras narrative that includes shepherds appears one hundred years after the appearance of the New Testament; it is far more likely Mithraism borrowed the shepherds from Christianity than the other way around.
Mithras was considered a great traveling teacher and master. However, there is nothing in the Mithras tradition that indicates he was a teacher of any kind, but he could have been considered a master of sorts. But why would we expect any deity to be anything less than a great teacher and master?
It is said that Mithras had 12 companions or disciples. There is no evidence for any of this in the traditions of Iran or Rome. It is possible that the idea that Mithras had 12 disciples came from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by twelve signs and personages of the Zodiac (two of whom are the moon and the sun), but even this imagery is post-Christian.
It is said that Mithras performed miracles, this claim is true, but what mythological god didn’t perform miracles?
It is said that Mithras was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again, and Mithras was celebrated each year at the time of His resurrection (later to become Easter).
There is nothing in the Mithras tradition that indicates he ever even died, let alone was buried or resurrected. Tertullian, the ancient Christian Case Maker, did write about Mithraic believers re-enacting resurrection scenes, but he wrote about this occurring well after New Testament times. This again appears to be another example of Mithras followers borrowing from Christianity.
Though presented well, this video is nothing more than a false and deceptive means to discredit not only Christianity but all religions. In reality, there has never existed a religion similar to Christianity. All other religions have their rituals and works to try and please a deity, and if done well enough, one can warrant eternal life in some form or fashion. Christianity alone offers forgiveness without works of righteous meriting its favor. Man is given Commandments as a means to bring him to the understanding he is not capable of pleasing his deity. He, therefore, must look to another. You do not believe there is a God, I understand that. This is only to demonstrate that you cannot look to this video as a support for that belief. It is obvious from the views that are posted on the various versions of this video it has lead thousands upon thousands of minds into deception. It was intended for that very purpose, for one cannot present such a false misrepresentation of widely available facts by accident. The propagation of it across the internet is much attributed to deceived minds thinking they are doing society a service by revealing a hidden conspiracy. However, what they are unknowingly doing, is increasing the deception.
For more information concerning the Horus / Jesus Controversy see the link below:
May the Grace of God be upon each of you,
David
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