Now that we have looked at the birth and birthdays of each of these deities we can move on to their lives on earth and how each of them died, if indeed they even lived on the earth or were said to have passed into a grave. We will continue on in the same fashion as before, recounting each of the gods in the same order.
(click on the name to jump to the section on this page)
A.
Horus
B.
Attis
C.
Krishna
D.
Dionysus
E.
Mithra
G.
Perseus
HORUS
When the makers of the film compare the “life” and “death” of Horus with that of Jesus there is something wrong with this comparison from the start, namely that Horus was never human! In all my research I could not find one story or account of Horus himself ever traveling about the earth, much less him having 12 disciples and going about teaching. The only sense in which Horus was ever on the earth was when the kings of Egypt began to claim that they were his incarnation, in essence a god on earth.
As to the death they claim for Horus, I could not find it anywhere. What I did find however made me skeptical as to weather or not it exists, for “Zeitgeist” says that Horus was betrayed by “Typhon”. The problem with this is that Typhon is the GREEK name for the god Set, and Set is never said to have “betrayed” Horus. Indeed, there was no reason for him to trust this dark god for it was Set who killed his father, and who he fought a long time with in orger to recover the throne of Egypt.
Moving to the crucifixion of Horus, this too is something I could not find mentioned anywhere in ancient Egyptian writings. There are a number of scholars who purport this but they give no source from the past to validate it and as such is nothing more than an opinion.
The resurrection of Horus is as doubtful as the crucifixion. If any can send me an original EGYPTIAN source I would be happy and thankful to view it and readjust my understanding to fit the new evidence. Until then however, I must label the claim that Jesus’ life and death are copies of Horus as a bogus myth perpetuated by people who have degrees but no proof.
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ATTIS
This ancient Phrygian god is also claimed to have followed a similar course as both Jesus and Horus. Again however, there is not one shred of evidence I have found to back this up in all of the encyclopedias and collections of myth I could find.
All the sources that I looked through say the same thing relating to the end of Attis, that he cut off his genitals and died. As for Attis’ body being put in a tomb and the time which elapsed from death to his resurrection (rebirth as a pine tree?) these are also mere opinions which have no facts to support them.
As with Horus, I am open to any ancient source which states otherwise but until the evidence is clear, I must label the Attis comparison a massive mistake at best.
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KRISHNA
As we come to Krishna, at least here is some similarity in the lives they live. Both did miracles upon earth and taught those who followed them about the nature of reality and the human condition. That however is where the likenesses stop. If one reads about the life of Krishna and his teaching there is really not much similarity between his words and that of Jesus.
Yes, there is some general spiritual truths which they agree on but the view of the universe, the cycle of human life, how they lived their lives, and their explanations of divinity are markedly different, each being clearly a continuation of the systems from which they came (Krishna-Hindu, Jesus-Jewish).
The moive would also have you believe that Krishna was resurrected. This is really a twisting of the truth. In the Hindu faith they believe that Krishna was an avatar of Vishnu and as such he was never born and never died. He merely entered space time, played the role of a man for awhile and then returned to heaven. He had been to earth before Krishna’s form, has been since, and will come again. This cycle of reincarnation is foreign to the teachings and story of Jesus. Only once did he come to earth, and only once will he return (in the same body and as the same person since resurrection and not reincarnation is the teaching of the Bible). At the time of that return it is said that Jesus will destroy all evil forever, thus ending his need to ever return as a human again. So even though there are some commonality between these two god men, the overall teachings and death of Jesus stand apart from those of Krishna’s, being not at all plagiarized.
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DIONYSUS
When one reads with an open mind the lives of Dionysus and Jesus the only fair correlations to be made is that they both traveled and taught things, anything beyond this is a stretch and a twist.
To begin with, it is said that Dionysus (whose Roman name was Bacchus) turned the water into wine. I did not however find in my research anywhere this happened. That being said however he still may have done so because he was THE GOD OF WINE. This small but very important fact is not mentioned at all in the movie.
Why is it surprising that any deity would perform a miracle relating to the realm over which he ruled? Thus wine was a reoccurring theme in most of the Dionysian services and myths as were all the lacks of self control which come with the over consumption followers of Dionysus became known for.
When we lay Dionysus’ miracles of wine and teachings beside, those of Jesus there is plainly a great difference. The life and teaching of Jesus were filled with absolute self-control and temperance while those of Dionysus were very sensual and vengeful. So deeply did Jesus value the powers of a clear mind that he even refused to take the wine offered him upon the cross to numb his pain (Mark 15:23).
The only fact from Dionysus’s life which might, and I emphasis the might, have been mixed into Christ’s life would be the turning of water into “wine” at a wedding feast to which he had been invited (John 2:1-10). Even this however is highly suspect because Jesus was a devout follower of the Old Testament which has a number of direct prohibitions against drinking alcohol, as well as horror stories of people who did (Genesis 9:21-24, 19:32-35, Leviticus 10:9, Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-35, etc.). It is more likely that the “wine” Jesus made was unfermented grape juice, the same Greek word (oinos) being used in the New Testament to describe juice if it is fermented or not.
|When you add to the above fact that Jesus said that even wrong thoughts are sin (Mt.5:28), the idea that he would make six water pots (John 2:6) full of a drink which removes the mental filters becomes silly.
As for the names which the film attribute to Dionysus, “Gods only begotten son”, “King of kings”, “Alpha and Omega” I could find not one reference to this in ancient sources. I hope this is only another failure to “check the checkers” as it were, and not a deliberate twisting of fact.
Coming finally to the death of Dionysus, the creators of Zeitgeist state that he was “resurrected” after death. This is really only a half truth and even then it depends upon which version of the Dionysian myth you are using as your source. In one myth there is not any reference to the death of Dionysus, rather he wanders around earth fighting, instructing in the arts and benefits of the vine, and after proving his godhood ascends to Mount Olympus. In the other myth, it is not Dionysus that dies at all but rather Zagreus who is killed by Titans at the request of Hera. After this Zeus makes Dionysus from all that remains of the young Zagreus, his heart.
Though this contains some elements of being brought back from death, it is more like a reconstruction than a resurrection. This is very unlike the teaching of Jesus regarding death as well as the story told of Jesus’ own resurrection, which was a reanimation of the very same body and consciousness that came before.
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MITHRA
Moving now to the “life” and teachings of this ancient Indo-Iranian god we must question when Mithra was ever upon the earth walking, breathing, and instructing his followers? He in fact was not at all. As we have already seen Mithra was fully divine having no trace of humanity in him (just as it is with Horus). No serious comparison can be made between the lives of these two beings.
Even if we “overlook” the fact that Mithra was totally divine and move on with our comparisons most of the points which Zeitgeist claims he shares with Jesus are no where to be found in Mithric writings.
Though it may be true that the figure was considered to have done miracles (indeed what god is not thought to have done such?), it is never stated that he had twelve disciples, that he died or was buried, and certainly not that he was resurrected ESPECIALLY within a time frame (three days)!
Even the day which they point out as the holy day of Mithra and the one that is now kept by most of those who follow Jesus (Sunday) was not the day that Jesus or his early new testament followers kept.
Jesus, as mentioned before, was not starting a new religion but merely bringing to pass all that was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus he and his followers kept the seventh day, the Sabbath day (Saturday), holy (Luke 4:16; 23:56, Mark 2:27-28) as it was stated in the 10 commandments which Jesus swore would never pass away (Matthew 5:17-18).
As far as the titles which are said to be attributed to Mithra, “The Truth”, and “The Light” this is perfectly possible because he was a solar god and the old god of contracts. It was he who rode the solar chariot across the sky and enforced the contents of agreements with truth and justice. However, merely because it is said of two beings that each of them are “truth” and “light” doesn’t mean one copied from the other, especially when a great many of the gods and deities which were considered “good” are spoken of as being “truth” and “light”.
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PERSEUS
Does this gorgon slayer have any similarity to Jesus when it comes to how he lived his life or the teachings he left behind? Not really. Perseus spent most of his life traveling from one point to another slaying monsters and foes with the aid of Medusa’s head. His final end was not a jealous death but he ended up either being killed to satisfy another’s vengeance or became the ruler of a kingdom.
There is no sort of grand philosophy that is attributed to Perseus, nor was a martyrs death or a majestic resurrection his. The quests he went on in this world were mostly for temporal gain and personal glory, both of which are not found in the motives of Jesus who said that the things of life all rot and fade (Matthew 6:19,20) and his kingdom wasn’t to be found in this world (John 18:36). Other than being spoken of as half human and half divine, there is really very little similarity between these two men.
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Observations
I would like to point out a fact that would be a disservice to any reading not to mention. Most all the gods and their children I have read about in the ancient myths and writings were all very petty, selfish, and narrow. In other words, almost all these “divine” beings were very much human. They threw pointless tantrums, got jealous, hated, lusted, murdered, tormented and toyed with humanity etc. They all were partakers of the very same flaws and problems that we all have.
There is one exception I am sure of (Krishna perhaps being another exception) and that is found in Yehova and Jesus. If you study through the Bible (not just skim it), you have presented to you a picture of a divine being who is flawless, perfect in justice, mercy, wisdom and love. The Bible says God spoke to Isaiah the following, “…My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8. Yehova is an superior being who acts only with the benefit of his creations in mind and doesn’t find joy in harming them. As it says in Proverbs 8:36, “He that sins against me wrongs his own soul, all who hate me love death” and again in Lamentations 3:33, “For He [Yehova] does not afflict willingly nor grieve the sons of men”
Granted there are times in the Bible when I have to question the actions of Yehova but the justice of them comes through when I consider the totality of Scripture. The things hard to understand usually are not Yehova Himself acting in harsh or unknowable ways but it is the acts of others, recorded not for the sake of examples but for the sake of history, For sure, the Bible is not empty of horrors, puzzles and hard sayings, nor do I presume that the words are as they were when the left the hand of their author, BUT I have found in the Bible a picture of a Being which is big enough and pure enough to worship.
It is a shame I think that selfish, blind, and ignorant souls do such a disservice to the words of the Bible so as to make others hate it before they read it. I also find distasteful those who flip through it not to see what is really there but merely to find reasons for hating it. This should not surprise me however for it has been done to almost every book which pertains to inner or outer truth by those who did not have an open mind and a will to seek tirelessly for what is factually accurate.
Another thing that has come to my mind as I have compared all the stories of these ancient figures is that many of them are almost cartoonish in nature. Gods go around having trees grow from their genitals, their heads cut off only to appear shortly thereafter, even becoming a bull and riding off over the ocean with a fair maid upon their back. So much of the writings are not written in a way which indicates they are meant to be taken for anything other than parables, fictions, or moral stories.
The writings of the life of Jesus are different however, they are written in such a way so that it is apparent that they are meant to be taken literally. Even though the events which occur are not natural phenomena, they still do not leave those reading it feeling as though they have picked up a comic book or a graphic novel.
I know that there are some which seem to draw no line between a divine being which is recorded to have made a piece of iron float and one who turns a sailor that slighted him into a dolphin. In the realm of argument this may be the case, for in both cases one must allow for that which seems to go against logic and all received data. However, the way you come by the stories, how the stories are told, and what else you must mentally allow for the story to be made true, all have a factor to play in believability.
To help explain this imagine is a man you have know for ten years comes to you one day and says, “Pete I have an amazing story! I just dropped my dad’s axe head into the lake off the boat I was fishing from. It was given him by his dad and it meant a tremendous amount to him. Well I didn’t know what to do so I decided to pray and low and behold it floated back to the top!” Would you be Skeptical? I would be, but Paul is a honest guy who has never lied and is drug free and he swore it happened just the way he said. Would you then be inclined to believe him? It would at least puzzle you and remain in the realm of consideration.
Now let’s say that the same friend comes to you and says, “Pete I have an amazing story! I was out on the lake fishing and a boat came up beside of me with five guys on it. One seemed to be almost glowing, three wanted to throw him in and one was trying to convince them not to. Then suddenly the one that seemed to glow made a motion and he was instantly surrounded by lions, panthers, and ivy vines. He then made another motion and the three who wanted to toss him over board tuned into giant turtles and swam away!” Would you even give any consideration to the possibility of this actually happening? Probably not because not only is Paul asking you to allow the illogical, he is suggesting that you cast off all mental restraint and allow the mythological.
Thus it is with the information contained in the life of Jesus when compared with many of the myths and stories of old. The first is suggesting that there is a divine power which operates and bends the laws of the universe for the good and judgment of man. The latter however asks you to throw out every law and reasonable rhyme. It is the difference between believing that someone saw a pig jump a seven foot fence and believing that someone saw a pig fly by their window.
Conclusions of Comparisons
What we have read and studied here by no means covers all the material available on any one of these figures, yet it is sufficient to illustrate that their stories are not just copies of each other. All of these figures recorded by ancient writers are distinct in the mannerisms, examples, actions, demises, as well as in the systems of belief which guided and controlled their life.
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Part Six: Other Miscellaneous Errors
