Quote from Wallet:
I was going to stay out of this debate, but now feel led to post. From past personal experience it's hard to share one's faith at times ( especially when people feel like your pushing religion on them) Most of the time the recipient of such does not understand the nature of the sharer.
One can try and prove the non-existence of God, most who try this and really dig, if they are honest with themselves eventually come to the conclusion that they were wrong. This big blue marble in space we live on, didn't happen by chance, the odds alone make it impossible.
The only real proof that I can give is the evidence of what he has done in my life, I know God exists, because I feel the presence of his Holy Spirit in my life, given to me by God's grace and made possible by the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. I can see Him work in my life, answered prayers, His protection, guidance and when I get out of line His correction.
Difficult to prove in books, but the real life examples of His work are evident in the lives of all true Christians. It's a Faith issue!
Wishing all Grace and Peace.
the deluded are always sure that the delusion is true. the jesus story is not unique. throughout history there have been many gods with similar attributes:
"It seems to me like there are an awful lot a Christians out there that seem absolutely positive that Jesus is, of course, unique and the first of his kind. They are unaware that the myth of their Christ is similar to several other god-men myths. Here are some of those other mythical god-men that Jesus, the Christian Messiah, apparently shares roots with. Does anything about these Gods that predate the christian God sound familiar? Think about these the next time you read the bible and ask yourself why do Gods that predate christianity have the same attributes as biblegod.
Of course the answer is very clear if you open your mind to the truth. Christianity is a mismash of earlier religions that borrowed its myths from earlier gods. Here is a list of some earlier gods. Does anything sound familiar":
Zoroaster/Zarathustra
--Zoroaster was born of a virgin and âimmaculate conception by a ray of divine reason.â
--He was baptized in a river.
--In his youth he astounded wise men with his wisdom.
--He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil.
--He began his ministry at age 30.
--Zoroaster baptized with water, fire and âholy wind.â
--He cast out demons and restored the sight to a blind man.
--He taught about heaven and hell, and revealed mysteries, including resurrection, judgment, salvation and the apocalypse.
--He had a sacred cup or grail.
--He was slain.
--His religion had a eucharist.
--He was the âWord made flesh.â
Zoroasterâs followers expected a âsecond comingâ in the virgin-born Saoshynt or Savior, who is to come in 2341 CE and begin his ministry at age 30, ushering in a golden age.
Mithra of Persia
--Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25 in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds bearing gifts.
--He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
--He had 12 companions or disciples.
--Mithraâs followers were promised immortality.
--He performed miracles.
--As the âgreat bull of the Sun,â Mithra sacrificed himself for world peace.
--He was buried in atomb and after three days rose again.
--His resurrection was celebrated every year.
--He was called âthe Good Shepherdâ and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
--He was considered the âWay, the Truth and the Light,â and the âLogos,â [Word] âRedeemer,â âSaviorâ and âMessiah.â
--His sacred day was Sunday, the âLordâs Day,â hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
--Mithra had his principal festival on what was later to become Easter.
--His religion had a eucharist or âLordâs Supper,â at which Mithra said, âHe who shall nto eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.â
--âHis annual sacrifice is the Passover of the Magi, a symbolical atonement of pledge of moral and physical regeneration.â
Virtually all of the elements of the Catholic ritual, from miter to wafer to altar to doxology, are directly taken from earlier Pagan mystery religions.
Attis of Phrygia
--Attis was born on December 25 of the Virgin Nana.
--He was considered the savior who was slain for the salvation of mankind.
--His body as bread was eaten by his worshippers
--His priests were âeunuchs for the kingdom of heaven.â
--He was both the Divine Son and the Father.
--On âBlack Friday,â he was crucified on a tree, from which his holy blood ran down to redeem the earth.
Dionysus/Bacchus
Dionysus or Bacchus is thought of as being Greek, but he is a remake of the Egyptian god Osiris, whose cult extended throughout a large part of the ancient world for thousands of years. Dionysusâs religion was well-developed in Thrace, northeast of Greece, and Phrygia, which became Galatia, where Attis also later reigned. Although a Dionysus is best remembered for the rowdy celebrations in his name, which was Latinized as Bacchus, he had many other functions and contributed several aspects to the Jesus character:
--Dionysus was born of a virgin on December 25 and, as the Holy Child, was placed in a manger.
--He was a traveling teacher who performed miracles.
--He ârode in a triumphal procession on an a##.â
--He was a sacred king killed and eaten in an eucharistic ritual for fecundity and purification.
--Dionysus rose from the dead on March 25.
--He was the God of the Vine, and turned water into wine.
--He was called âKing of Kingsâ and âGod of Gods.â
--He was considered the âOnly Begotten Son,â Savior,â âRedeemer,â âSin Bearer,â Anointed One,â and the âAlpha and Omega.â
--He was identified with the Ram or Lamb.
--His sacrificial title of âDendritesâ or âYoung Man of the Treeâ intimates he was hung on a tree or crucified.
Horus/Osiris of Egypt
In the Egyptian myth, Horus and his once-and-future Father, Osiris, are frequently interchangeable, as in âI and my Father are one.â Concerning Osiris, Walker says:
Of all savior-gods worshiped at the beginning of the Christian era, Osiris may have contributed
more details to the evolving Christ figure than any other. Already very old in Egypt, Osiris was
identified with nearly every other Egyptian god and was on the way to absorbing them all. He
had well over 200 divine names. He was called the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God of Gods.
He was the Resurrection and the Life, the Good Shepherd, Eternity and Everlastingness, the god
who âmade men and women to be born again.â Budge says, âFrom first to last, Osiris was to the
Egyptians the god-man who suffered, an died, and rose again, and reigned eternally in heaven.
They believed that they would inherit eternal life, just as he had done . . .â
Osirisâs coming was announced by Three Wise Men: the three stars Mintaka, Anilam, and
Alnitak in the belt of Orion, which point directly to Osirisâs star in the east, Sirius (Sothis),
significator of his birth . . .
Certainly Osiris was a prototypical Messiah, as well as a devoured Host. His flesh was eaten
in the form of communion cakes of wheat, the âplant of Truth.â . . . The cult of Osiris contributed
a number of ideas and phrases to the Bible. The 23rd Psalm copied an Egyptian text appealing
to Osiris the Good Shepherd to lead the deceased to the âgreen pasturesâ and âstill watersâ of the
nefer-nefer land, to restore the soul to the body, and to give protection in the valley of the shadow
of death (the Tuat). The Lordâs Prayer was prefigured by an Egyptian hymn to Osiris-Amen
beginning, âO Amen, O Amen, who are in heaven.â Amen was also invoked at the end of every
prayer.
As Col. James Chruchward naively exclaims, âThe teachings of Osiris and Jesus are wonderfully alike. Many passages are identically the same, word for word.â
