Christianity: Myths and Legends

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

INTRODUCTION

THIS BOOK IS NOT INTENDED to debate the existence, or lack of existence, of any deity. Nor is this book meant to persuade anyone from their beliefs, regardless of what those beliefs are. This book is intended to educate people on the myths and legends of Christianity.

It must also be understood that simply believing in something does not make it true. For instance, ancient man believed the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth. Believing in this did not make it fact. While it is true that most myths and legends hold at least a grain of truth, truth is not a necessary component of myths or legends. After all, we are all familiar with David Crocket and his role at the Alamo; however, does anyone really believe that he killed a bear when he was only three?

I present the argument, however, it is up to you, the reader, to ponder the evidence and decide for yourself what is fact and what is fiction. While I could have given many, many more examples, I doubt anyone would be willing to read a five thousand page book; therefore, I have limited the number of examples to what I believe is realistic for the average person to read through.

CHAPTER ONE

I DEDICATE THIS CHAPTER TO the facts about the history of Christianity. However, since there are so few actual historical facts to mention, this will be more of a footnote than a full chapter.

The problem with religion is that too often people confuse what they are told with what is fact. The first fact we deal with is the fact that Christianity was not born of itself. It is an offshoot of Judaism. We, therefore, must have a working knowledge of Judaism. To understand the history of Judaism, we must have the understanding that most of the history of Judaism is a collection of myths and legends. We must take the history of Judaism, and thus Christianity, with a grain of salt; or more appropriately, with a pillar of salt.

There have been attempts to connect the people of Judea to people and events described by the Egyptians, however, these attempts require a great deal of manipulation of the facts. What we do know from Egyptian sources is that Egypt loosely controlled Judea. Their records show that the god of Judaism replaced the polytheistic beliefs in the region sometime around 650 BCE. We also note the historical fact that people of Judea were taken prisoner by Babylon and held in slavery between approximately 597 BCE and 537 BCE. This is not only mentioned in the book of Ezra, it is also supported by Babylonian sources.

The second fact we know is that the first Jewish bible was canonized around 200 BCE, and it contained the stories from Genesis to Ezra. The Jewish bible was constructed from ancient Jewish literature that arose about the same time as Babylonian slavery. The Jewish literature bares a very strong similarity to the Babylonian mythology, suggesting a common source. It is also notable that not all the Jewish legends were incorporated in the Jewish bible; however, that is another subject for another day.

The fact is that for Judaism there was a written law and an oral law. This fact left room for interpretation. This also explains why there were a number of sects, including the Pharisees. In fact, most of what Jesus is supposed to have preached echoed the particular Jewish beliefs observed by the Pharisees.

According to Christian theology, the universe was created in 4004 BCE, the flood occurred in 2150 BCE, and the exodus from Egypt took place in 1350 BCE. These dates are held as fact by Christian theology for basically two illogical reasons. First, there are ancient church records of known historical events which carry the phrases in the year of the world or in the year since creation. The logic here is that they assume that if it’s a church document, it must be true. The second way theology has come to this assumption is through tracing back the biblical genealogy of Adam and Eve. Even if we consider the biblical genealogy to be accurate, there is no information to base it on.

The next fact we will discuss is the story of Paul. Paul never met Jesus, and therefore, was a self-proclaimed disciple. Paul, by his own admission, was instrumental in the deaths of many of Jesus’s followers. Also, according to Paul, he had a change of heart after experiencing a vision on the road to Damascus. It is also noted that Paul did not preach to Jews. Paul focused on the conversion of non-Jews.

Paul is also the largest contributor to the New Testament, focusing heavily on what a Christian should believe. Paul has undisputedly written seven books, those being Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon. It is also in dispute whether or not he wrote six others: Hebrews, Colossians, Ephesians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus. Then again, he could have written them all.

The first Christian Bible was canonized in 394 AD at the Synod of Carthage. How was this done? It was a simple process of elimination. The bishops in attendance simply went through the books and decided which they thought were the word of God and which were not. So basically it was a matter of picking and choosing which books stated what they wanted to state. And that is about all there is to say in this small chapter.

CHAPTER TWO

THIS CHAPTER DEALS WITH THE myths which are contained in the Old Testament. Keep in mind that the earliest written sources for the Old Testament first surfaced sometime around the seventh century BCE. This shows that the contents were not written at the time of their purported occurrences. It would indicate that the contents were either passed down word of mouth over centuries or borrowed from other legends of other civilizations, depending on one’s point of view.

One thing that I have never heard a reasonable explanation of is the fact that when we read the Christian Bible, and specifically the Old Testament, the names are English names, not Hebrew names. You don’t have to take my word for this. If you want to find out if I am correct, simply ask a Jewish person.

Now, you will find below characters and events listed in the Old Testament. I will not detail every character or every event. This is not because I am conceding that those individuals or events are not drawn from a myth or legend, but rather, because it would require me to write a book even longer than the Bible itself. I am simply focusing on those characters and events that most people are probably more or less familiar with.

MYTH #1: CREATIONISM

The first myth we will deal with is in the very beginning of the Bible, and it is the most controversial of all Christian myths. It is known as creationism: the creation of the universe by the god of Judea/Christians. This concept of creation is not unique, nor is it original; however, this also is not as cut and dry as the church would like us to think it is. There is not just one definition of the creation; there are two definitions of creation. While religion tries to combine them into one definition, the two versions are significantly different. They are too different to be simply two version of the same story from different points of view.

We will start by analyzing each of the versions separately; after which, we will then compare them to each other, pointing out the very obvious contradictions between them.

With the first version of creationism, we are given a time frame to work with. We are told that God created the universe in six days; from nothingness to complete universe in just one week, with one day left over. The problem with creationism is that there are a few very obvious discrepancies. The ancient man did not see these discrepancies because he was lectured on the Bible, not being able to read even if a copy of the Bible was available.

First, let us take a look at what the Bible actually says. I will include the verses here, since it’s possible that a reader either does not own a Bible or is not familiar with where these verses are in the Bible.

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the water from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the water which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the water he called the seas: and God saw it was good.