An Apologetic Christmas Meditation

 

 

Do the Gospels borrow from Pagan myths, as often alleged? Timothy Paul Jones claimed that the alleged similarities are quite superficial:

 

·       “When these claims are compared carefully with the New Testament Gospels, the distinction between Jesus and the supposed parallels becomes quite distinct, for at least two reasons: (1) these parallels aren’t as parallel as the proponents claims, and (2) many of the supposed parallels confuse later Christian practices with the actual affirmations in the New Testament Gospels.” https://www.timothypauljones.com/what-if-the-gospel-was-based-on-pagan-myths/

 

Bart Ehrman, an agnostic and head of the Dept. of Religion at North Carolina University and perhaps the most famous and quoted Bible critic today, also regards such allegations as baseless:

 

·       The idea of Jesus’ resurrection did not derive from pagan notions of a god simply being reanimated. It derived from Jewish notions of resurrection as an eschatological event in which God would reassert his control over the world.

 

·       There is no unambiguous evidence that any pagans prior to Christianity believed in dying and rising gods, let alone that it was a widespread view held by lots of pagans in lots of times and places. (Christian Research Journal, Vol.39/Number 05, 22)

 

Instead, we find the antecedents of the Gospel of Jesus throughout the OT. We, therefore, need not look further for references of a God-man dying for the sins of humanity:

·       But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:5–7)

 

We also have the eyewitness testimonies of the Apostles, which they certified with own martyrdom, that Jesus died and rose. Why then would they go fishing for Pagan myths!