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Atheists Attack Christianity with the Myth of Mithra?
by Robert Driskell It seems that the Christmas season has a way of stirring the ire of the atheist. In their attempt to separate the season from the Christian beliefs that founded it, atheists bring up every manner of argument to throw out into the open market of thought. One of the arguments they offer is that the Christian message is merely a myth which was co-opted from one of the many religions floating around at the time. They say that it wasn't Jesus who was born on December 25, but someone else. Did Christianity Copy Mithraism? Atheists use the alleged similarities between Christianity and the myth of the god Mithra to say that Christianity is a false belief. They say that it is merely a religion based on the age old Persian religion of Mithraism. They claim that the Christian beliefs about Jesus are actually taken from the myth of Mithraism and are really pointing to the god Mithra. Although the Persian version of Mithraism had its origin around 1400 BC, it is the Roman version that has even the slightest similarities with the life of Jesus. However; the tenets it has in common with Christianity didn't appear until the first or second century ADwell after the founding of the church of Jesus. The similarities shouldn't surprise us. Consider this: if the life of Jesus really happened as the Bible records, then stories and rumors would be circulating like crazy through a world that transmitted much of its information by word of mouth. Those close to Jesus would know the true story, but those who ignored the truth, would only be hearing part of it. This would leave them to fill in the blanks using their imaginations. Shades of Gilgamesh! The same thing can be seen with the Gilgamesh account of a flood happening in ancient times. Atheists point to this writing as proof positive that the Genesis account in the Bible is merely one of many fabricated stories, or fables, of how the earth began. However, if the Creation of the earth happened just as the Bible says it did, but some people didn't know the details of the truth, they would form their own story using the bits and pieces they were hearing. So... The time-line simply does not allow this hypothesis of the Mithras legend to be true. Jesus really lived, really did what the Bible says He did, and He provides the only true way to forgiveness and a relationship with God. (C) 2010 Robert Driskell Seeking to introduce people to Jesus Christ and to help them become "transformed by the renewing of their mind." Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |