The Gospel of Jesus is a patchwork of plagiarized material from non-Judeo-Christian sources

To my worthy opponent, thank you for taking up this intellectual challenge. My opponent has strayed from the original point of this debate, namely my claim that ‘The Gospel of Jesus is a patchwork of plagiarized material from non-Judeo-Christian sources’, seeking rather to answer "How do we know that the new testament is historically reliable?" I am not here to debate the historicity of Jesus, the gospels, or the new testament. Let us return to the original focus of the debate, as I elaborate on the unoriginality of the gospel story. The Unoriginal ‘Jesus’ Savior Story Virgin birth of God-savior, Dec 25. Dionysus / Bacchus, Heracles, Horus of Egypt, Krishna, Mithra of Persia, Zoroaster... Dec 25 a common birth-date for saviors. Born in cave. Common (in savior myths). Star in the east. Magi / Wise Men. Common. E.g. carved in the temple of Luxor, ancient Egyptian savior-God Horus. Parents take savior and flee to avoid his being killed. Common. Baptized, dove appears. Baptism of the Egyptian God Horus in the river Eridanus / Nile where the dove represents the Egyptian Goddess Hathor who brings Horus forth as an adult in a ceremony symbolizing rebirth. Baptism was common before Christianity. Sermon on the Mount, The Beatitudes. Stolen from Buddha’s sermon 500 years prior to the gospel story. Gift of Eternal life. Common. Savior speaks many wise parables to prove his wisdom. Derived from Indian Vedas as spoken by Krishna, Dhammapada, Lao Tzu, and Egyptian God Horus. Lord’s Prayer. Maxims of Ani, from ancient Egypt, contains this almost word for word. Tempted in the wilderness. Common. Water into wine. Common (priests had a device to do this to fool the people); story of turning water into wine at Cana was modeled on a Dionysian rite of sacred marriage celebrated at Sidon, and the gospel tale wording is copied almost verbatim. Miracles. Common. E.g. Honi the Righteous, and Hanini Be Dosa, resided in the biblical lands at the time of Jesus, known for their paranormal powers. Sabbath. Pre-dates Jewish religion. Raises Lazarus from the dead. Tales of resurrection common. Lazarus tale borrowed from ancient Egypt. Alpha, Omega. Egyptian Goddess Isis, "I am all that has been, that is, and that will be." Second Coming. Pre-christian, expected of several savior Gods. Casts demons out of swine. Seen in Egyptian scenes of the Judgement, where condemned souls are ordered back into the abyss, and then make the return pdonkeyage down to the lake of primordial matter by taking the shape of the swine. Rides a donkey into Jerusalem. Greek mythos Hephaistos ascends to heaven, at the instigation of Dionysus, and is depicted as returning riding on a donkey. The Last Supper. "This is my blood you drink, this is my body you eat" is a standard part of the theophagic (God-eating) ritual of many ancient pagan religions. Peter as rock, head of the church. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Petra (Peter) is the name of the divine doorkeeper of heaven. Mithraism had Pater as head of the temple. Peter denies Savior, 3 cocks of the crow. Found in ancient pagan religions. e.g. in the Zohar a cock crowing 3 times is an omen of death. Savior is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, hangs himself in potter’s field. Sumero-babylonian Goddess Aruru was worshipped as a Potter in the Jewish temple, where she received 30 pieces of silver as the price of a sacrificial victim. Aruru owed the Field of Blood, where she mixed clay with the blood of victims so bought-- hence the origin of Potter's field. Sacrifice for sins of humanity. Common. A cloaked stranger throws off his cloak and runs away naked. Found in The Odyssey by Homer. The Pdonkeyion. Baal or Bel of Babylon/Phoenicia as seen on a 4000 year-old tablet in the British museum: Baal is taken prisoner, tried in a hall of justice, tormented and mocked by a rabble, let away to a mount, taken with two other prisoners (one of whom is released), sacrificed on a mount after which the rabble goes on a rampage, his clothes are taken, he is put in a tomb, he is sought after by weeping women, he is resurrected-- appearing to his followers after the stone is rolled away from the tomb. Sound familiar? Golgatha (“Place of Skulls", Latin: Calvary). Many ancient religions in the middle east had a habit of preserving skulls of the dead for later necromancy; their place of sacrifice was called Golgotha. Spear of Longinus plunged into Savior’s side. The Hindu God Vishnu (Bal-ii) was crucified with spear in his side. The Gods Wittba and Adonis were also crucified and "side-wounded" saviors. On the cross, cries out ‘My God, My God, Why has thou forsaken me!’. Sacrifice of Aleyin by his Virgin Mother Anath, Like Jesus, Aleyin was the Lamb of God and said "I am Aleyin, son of Baal (Lord/God). Make ready then, the sacrifice. I am the Lamb which is made ready with pure wheat to be sacrificed in expiation." After Aleyin's death and resurrection by Anath, she told him that he was forsaken by his heavenly father El. "My El, My El, why hast thou forsaken me?" Temple curtain is rendered (torn). Horus rends the curtain of the Egyptian temple. Sky darkens. No historian ever wrote about this. Odd. But this is found in other savior myths. Buried 3 days. Common. Resurrects. Common. Transfigures on the Mount of Olives. Mount Bakhu (mount of olives) was the way of ascent to the risen [Egyptian] Savior as he issued forth from Amenta to the land of the spirtis in heaven. A transfiguration on a mountain was common with many ancient savior Gods. As an unoriginal story, I find the gospel story of Jesus highly suspect in terms of being a story of an actual historical God-man. It seems more likely to be just a retelling of the common 'God comes to earth as a Virgin born man, provides moral teaching, is crucified and resurrected to provide a solution to mankind's universal fear of death'. A true Savior it seems to me would have a more undergone an original life story, have no need to plagiarize literally His entire story from previous stories. So again, I ask readers and my opponent-- what is there in the gospel story of Jesus that is original? _________________________________________________ Sources: Sixteen Crucified Saviors by Kersey Graves (book). Biblical Origins in Ancient Egypt The Christ Conspiracy- The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Acharya S. 1999. Suns of God--Krishna, Buddha, and Christ Unveiled by Acharya S. 2004. The Jesus Mysteries-- Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God? 1999. Temple of Luxor, inscriptions Parallel Myths -- A Fascinating Look at the Common Threads Woven Through the World's Greatest Myths, and the Central Role they Have Played Through Time by J.F. Bierlein (book) 1994. Christ a Fiction by Robert Price (essay) Hindu, Buddhist writings and alleged sayings of Jesus: http://oregonstate.edu... http://users.cyberone.com.au... Jesus and Buddha, the Parallel Sayings (book) Mithraism and Christianity: How are They Related? by Donald R. Morse. Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, January 1999 volume 22, issue 1, pp.33-44. Rivalling with Incipient Christianism by C.F. Dumermuth. Asian Journal of Theology, October 2002 Volume 16 issue 2 pp 409-415 Ritual, Myth, Doctrine, and Initiation in the Mysteries of Mithras: New Evidence from a Cult Vessel by Roger Beck. Journal of Roman Studies. 2000. Volume 90, page 145-193. On Mithra's Part in Zuroastrianism by M. Boyce. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 1969. 32: pp 10-34. The Competition by Everett Ferguson. Christian History. 1998. Volume 17 Issue 1. Mithras Myths and Legends of the World, John M. Wickersham editor in chief. 2000. Osirus and Horus-- Egyptian origin of Jesus savior myth? http://www.religioustolerance.org... http://en.wikipedia.org...