Jesus's story is just another version of many other ancient deities

As my opponent has requested, I won't use the last round.1. Apostles1a. MarkRandel McCraw Helms' insightful book "Who Wrote the Gospels? " discusses Mark's testimony in some depth. She concluded that Mark must have been writing at the third remove from Jesus, and almost certainly at the fourth. There was no evidence, either within Mark's gospel or outside of it, that Mark actually knew Jesus, and in fact, given that the gospel was written long after Jesus' death when less than a few percentage points of the population would be still alive (historians think maybe one or two because of the recent two wars and high mortality rate - . http://www.richardcarrier.info...). Iraeneus, the church father, himself said that Mark did not know Jesus but wrote "Peter's testimony" - which, first off, Paul revealed to be "divinely revealed" (Galatians 2), and secondly, is incredibly unlikely if you know anything about the life-story of Peter, as there is no convenient gap where he could have written memoirs (if the book of Acts is not mistaken).1b. PeterThere are two books of Peter in the Bible. The authenticity of 2 Peter is almost certainly impossible to be from Peter according to every sincere scholar that has investigated the work (. http://bible.org...). Furthermore, the style of 1 Peter makes it highly unlikely that Peter wrote it, because it seems to come from a Greek source, not a Hebrew one (. http://en.wikipedia.org...). At best, the authorship of the epistles is highly contestable.1c. PaulThe page you linked gives a "not found" error for me, but it's true, Paul was born in 5AD according to church accounts. When I made the statement, I was referring more to the secular authors than to fragmentry Christian writers, and even there, Paul would be the only known exception. Still, as I'm sure you know, the book of Acts describes Paul's conversion. His testimony is just as poor as Peters, according to his letters to the Galatians, and he admits several times to never having met or known Jesus. It isn't even Chinese whispers - he got all his knowlege about Jesus from himself! The first time he met the apostle Peter, all that is recorded in his letters is that he argued with him on theology, not learnt more about Jesus. In fact there is no biblical or extra-biblical evidence Paul ever really interviewed an eyewitness at all about Jesus.2. Contradictions2a. Matthew 1:17 and Matthew 1:2Present conflicting genelogies of Jesus Christ.2b. 2 Timothy 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 7:12One says all scripture is of God, the other that some was written by the author (apparently Paul) and is not of God.2c. Acts 20:35Passage referred to in this verse does not actually exist.2d. Thomas/JudasThomas - saying 42 "Jesus said, 'Become passers-by. '" - clearly contradicts the Good Samaritan narrative. Judas - the very end completely contradicts the Gethsemene narrative, and explains that some scribes would have betrayed Jesus anyway if Judas had not done it because they "were afraid of the people", indicating that Jesus was not a popular prophet but an infamous one.3. Lack of evidence3a. Why would others extend the book even more to include stories of Jesus that have already been told? First of all, the Bible wasn't compiled into a single "book" until at least the late third century, and gospels were not grouped together until the late second. Second of all, Mark didn't write for 30 years, and the other gospels were all much later. It's as if nobody thought to mention OPEC until about 5 years ago, and didn't put all these fragments about OPEC into a complete narrative for about another 15 years. You'd think that somebody would have thought it important enough the mention Jesus before then, would you not? Because at that time, during that 30 year gap, no stories had been told, and a whole generation lived and died.3b. Future tenseTake Romans 11 as an example. It starts with a few OT references, where God explains that the Israelites were in the dark because the savior had not yet come. He then explains that this shows God has also promised salvation to Gentiles, and he uses an analogy to explain that thus "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. " None of this is clearly about the afterlife, but prima face about things happening on Earth - ie it seems unlikely, given Paul's other teachings, that the gentiles would be able to repent after they die. This makes it clear that "The deliverer will come" refers not to a coming after death, but a future coming in life.4. Alternatives4a. Dionysus My opponent agrees he was a travelling teacher, and used similar symbols. December 25th was the date placed by the writer Macrobius for Dionysus, previously it was December 17th. Still, Macrobius assertion is likely to have derived from earlier, unpublished rituals. It seems unlikely he would have just made it up and everyone initiated into the mysteries to just accept it. Persephone's title is "the virgin goddess. " If you think it strange she can still be a virgin after mothering a child with a god, just look at Mary mother of Jesus. These are all titles taken from Orphic mystery writings and some later coins. In the Orphic sect, Dionysus had a much greater role than merely being God of wine. I suspect that my opponent is confusing Greek religion with Orphic tradition. With the death, Bacchus was slain as an infant. Here's what that looked like: And then he was slain a second time by being hung from a tree. It wasn't a crucifixtion, but many of the elements are the same: And here's an ancient plaster cast of the same thing: And here's Jesus: See the similarity?4b. Horus Similar to Persephone, Isis was called the "divine virgin," even though she clearly concieved with a God (or rather, in this case, a golden phallus made of the god's scattered body parts). Being a non-human, Horus didn't have a set "birthday," but at Winter Solstice celebrations it was custom to offer to him and parade images of a manger/baby representing him, so I think that's as clear as it gets. As you rightly point out, though, his holy month was Khoiak. His birth was not celebrated then specifically, but rather he was celebrated more generally. The point about the fleeing is that Egypt was the place of refuge for the appointed saviour. The Egyptian death myth is a bit strange, but it revolves around the idea that Gods are timeless - so when Osiris and Horus merged, the crucifixion and resurrection of Horus became that of God. Egyptian archeologist and art expert Thomas Doane wrote about this in "Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions" - he concludes "Horus . .. was represented, like . .. Jesus, with outstretched arms in the vault of heaven. " The early Christian Minucius actually wrote about how he got fustrated with Egyptian Osiris cross-symbolism. 4c. Zoroaster There are two accounts of his birth - one non-virgin, but then this was replaced by a virgin account by the time of Jesus. Also, did not Jesus have a glowing aura at his birth? Joseph even had to recoil from the aura, it was that strong. .. There is no evidence Jesus had followers before the age of 30. I never said Zoroaster was crucified. Glad we agree he was slain by his enemies. I have already shown that the Christian texts, just like the Zoroastrian, were edited over time (ie Mark's ending). ConclusionWhile it is true Jesus is not exactly the same as any of the above, it is also true that Jesus incorporates all of the elements of these Gods and more. Nothing about the story of Jesus is unique - therefore, it is all an amalgamation of many stories from many dieties. And now I have no characters left. The resolution is affirmed.