Two items appear below:

1 Bible Stories are Recycled Myth                            B De Kretser
2 The Bible – Original Truth, Not Recycled Myth     Anonymous

BIBLE STORIES ARE RECYCLED MYTH

Brian De Kretser

(Investigator 73, 2000 July)

The story of Horus, a major Egyptian God, is told in the "Book of Vivifying the Soul Forever" over 3,000 years before the birth of Christ.

The Jesus story in the Bible is a recycled version of the Horus story.  The comparisons given below prove without a doubt that the whole Bible is full of myths and stories recycled from earlier times and made to fit the various characters of the Bible.   

EGYPTIAN MESSIAH – HORUS	BIBLICAL MESSIAH – JESUS
1 Horus is the Father seen in the son..	Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life.
2 Horus claims to be the light of the world represented by the symbolic eye, the sign of salvation.	Jesus stated that he is the light of the world.
3 Horus said that he was the way, the truth, the life.	Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life.
4 Horus was the plant, the shoot.	Jesus says "I am the true vine."
5 Horus says "It is I who traverse the heavens, I go round the Elysian Fields.  Eternity has been assigned to me without end, Lo! I am heir to endless time and my attribute is eternity.	Jesus says "I am come down from heaven, for this is the will of the Father, that everyone who beholdeth the Son and believeth in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
6 Horus – I open the Tuat  that I may drive away the darkness.	Jesus says I am come a light unto the world.
7 Horus says "I am equipped with thy words O Ra [Father in Heaven] and repeat them to those who are deprived of breath."  These were the words of the Father in heaven.	Jesus says "The Father which sent me, he hath given me a command-ment, what I should say and what I should speak. Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me."
8 Horus baptized with water by Anup.	Jesus baptized with water by John the Baptist.
9 Horus – Aan, the name of the divine scribe.	Jesus – John the divine scribe.
10 Horus born in Annu, the place of bread.	Jesus Born in Bethlehem, the house of bread.
11 Horus The good shepherd with  the crook  on his shoulders.	Jesus The good shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders.
12 Horus Seven on board the boat with him.	Jesus Seven fishermen on board the boat with Jesus.
13 Horus Depicted as the Lamb	Jesus depicted as the lamb.
14 Horus as the Lion.	Jesus as the lion.
15 Horus identified with the Tat or cross.	Jesus identified with the cross.
16 Horus of 12 years.	Jesus of 12 years.
17 Horus A man of 30 years.	Jesus a man of 30 years at his baptism.
18 Horus the KRST.	Jesus the Christ.
19 Horus the manifesting son of God.	Jesus the manifesting son of God.
20 Horus The trinity – Atum the Father, Horus the son, Ra the Holy Spirit.	Jesus – God the Father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit.
21 Horus The first Horus as a child of the virgin, the second as son of Ra.	Jesus as a child of the virgin, Christ as the son of the Father in heaven.
22 Horus – Horus the sender and Set the destroyer in the harvest field.	Jesus – Jesus the sender or the good seed, Satan the sender of tares.
23 Horus carried off by Set to the summit of Mount Hetep.	Jesus carried by Satan to an exceedingly high mountain.
24 Horus and Set contending on the Mount.	Jesus and Satan contending on the Mount.
25 Horus –The star was the announcer of the child Horus.	Jesus – The Star in the East indicated the birth-place of Jesus.
26 Horus – the avenger.	Jesus who brings the sword.
27 Horus – as Iu-em-hetep comes with peace.	Jesus – the bringer of peace.
28 Horus – the afflicted one.	Jesus – the afflicted one.
29 Horus – as the type of life eternal.	30 Jesus – as the type of life eternal.
30 Horus as Iu-em-hetep the child teacher in the temple.	Jesus as the child teacher in the temple.
31 Horus The mummy bandage was woven without seam.	Jesus The vesture of the Christ was without seam.
32 Horus As Har-Khutti has twelve followers.	32 Jesus has twelve disciples.
33 Horus The revelation written down by divine scribe Aan (Tehuti).	Jesus the Revelation written down by John the Divine.
34 Horus – Aani bears witness to the word of Ra.	Jesus – John bears witness to the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ.
35 Horus  The secret mysteries revealed by That-Aan.	Jesus  The secret mysteries made known by John.
36 Horus  The morning star.	Jesus  The morning star.
37 Horus  Who gives the morning star to his followers.	Jesus who gives the morning star to his followers.
38 Horus  The name of Ra on the head of the deceased.	Jesus  The name of the father written on the forehead.
39 Horus  The paradise of the Pole star–Am-Khemen.	Jesus  The Holy City lighted by one luminary that is neither the sun nor the moon.
40 Horus  Har-Seshu or servants of Horus.	Jesus  The servants of Jesus Christ.

Reference: 
Albert Churchward Horus: The Way, The Truth, The Life.  In:
The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read (1924) Jim C Leedom
 

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THE BIBLE:

ORIGINAL TRUTH, NOT RECYCLED MYTH

Anonymous

(Investigator 74, 2000 September
   

DEMISE OF GODS PREDICTED

The Old Testament states that the gods of the nations were valueless:

Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak,
They have to be carried, for they cannot walk.
Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good…
The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth
shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.
(Jeremiah 10:5, 11)

In particular the gods of Memphis [the main city of Egypt and hence representative of all Egypt] would be destroyed:

Thus says the Lord God:
I will destroy the idols,
And put an end to the images, in Memphis…
(Ezekiel 30:13)

But "God Almighty" would be known in every generation:

Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And thy dominion endures throughout all generations.
(Psalm 145:13)

Given these predictions it would be inconsistent and silly if the New Testament employed and rehashed myths based on worthless gods.

Yet Mr De Kretser makes that very claim. He listed forty alleged similarities between the ancient Egyptian god Horus and the Gospel accounts about Jesus and alleges the similarities are proof of "recycled myth".

MYTH OF HORUS, OSIRIS, ISIS AND SET

"Horus" was the name of two gods "Horus the Elder" and "Horus the Child".  Later they were regarded as one god.

Horus the Elder was represented either as a falcon or as a human with a falcon's head.  He was the sky god of Upper Egypt and brother of the gods Osiris, Isis and Set (the god of evil). Osiris and his wife Isis were the parents of Horus the Child. In the myth Set murdered Osiris, and Horus the Child later killed Set. (Cavendish 1980; Graves 1968)

In the myth the murder of Osiris happened this way: Set invited Osiris to a banquet and offered a gift of a wooden chest to anyone of the right size to fit exactly inside.  The chest was designed to fit only Osiris.  After Osiris was inside the chest was closed and set adrift and Osiris died.

Isis the wife later found the chest and posthumously conceived a son – Horus the Child – by Osiris. Set then found the body of Osiris and cut him into 14 pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis searched and found the pieces and, using magic, fitted them back together and in that way resurrected Osiris.

Horus the Child was then born and later took revenge against Set for his father's (Osiris') murder.

The story contains much more detail. But even the detail as given shows virtually nothing in common with the gospel accounts about God the Father, Jesus, the virgin birth and the resurrection

THE TRICK

The trick in De Kretser's approach of listing similarities is the degree of similarity.

Here is a list of some similarities between Horus and Hitler.  Ive retained the same numbering as De Kretser.

 

1 Horus is the father seen in the son	Hitler's superior qualities reflected in many sons of Germany
2 Horus claimed to be the light of the world	Hitler claimed to enlighten Germany politically
5 Horus says "It is I who traverse the heavens… Eternity has been assigned to me without end	Hitler traversed the skies by aeroplane and offered to make Germany forever powerful
8 Horus baptized with water	Hitler baptized as an infant in water
9 Horus had a divine scribe	Hitler had scribes
10 Horus born in Annu, the place of bread	Hitler born in a town with a bakery
11 Horus the good shepherd	Hitler at first like a good shepherd
16 Horus of 12 years	Hitler at 12 years in highschool
17 Horus A man of 30 years	Hitler joined Nazi Party at 30
18-19 Horus the KRST and manifesting son of God.	Hitler seen as a saviour
20 Horus the Trinity	Hitler, Goebels and Himler
21 Horus Child of a virgin	Hitler's mother a virgin prior to being mistress of H's father
23-24 Horus taken by Set to the summit of Mount Hetep	Hitler's retreat at Berchtesgarten
26 Horus the avenger	Hitler avenger of Versaille Treaty
27 Horus comes with peace	Hitler repeatedly promised peace
28 Horus the afflicted one	Hitler the afflicted one
32 Horus has 12 followers	Hitler had 12
33 Horus Revelation written down by divine scribe Aan	Hitler's secretary wrote down his Will and Testament in 1945
34 Horus – Aani bears witness	Hitler–Goebels his propaganda minister
35 Horus – The secret mysteries revealed by That-Aan	Hitler – Albert Speer wrote a book "Inside the Third Reich"
36 Horus The morning star	Hitler comforted by astrology
39 Horus The paradise of the Pole star	Hitler had a model of how Berlin would be rebuilt
40 Servants of Horus	Servants of Hitler

Someone who is expert on both Horus and Hitler would probably find hundreds of vague correlations between the two.  The declaration of Hitler's death in July 1944 and his reappearance is loosely analogous to the alleged resurrection of Horus!

For number 32 in the table I've said "Hitler had 12" without specifying twelve of what.  Panzer leader Guderian (1974) writes of the "Hitler's close circle", "old comrades", "party comrades", "Hitler's entourage", "the Party", "Gauleiters", "Hitler's disciples", etc. Surely, in one of these categories we could somewhere find a group of twelve.

Judging by the above list the story of Hitler initially appears to be a mythical rehash based loosely on Horus.  However, we all know that such an idea is silly.

Although, I have not found correlations between Horus and Hitler for all 40 of De Kretser's points this may merely be a matter of my lacking expert knowledge on Horus and Hitler. Alternatively, I could probably find 40 similarities but not the same 40 as De Kretser.

The trick is the level of generality used.

Consider Point 23 in the table. Probably everyone's been on a hill or mountain at some time. If we ignore the name of the mountain, the date, the purpose for being there, and lots of other detail, we might think that the mention of a mountain is relevant and suggests that one story is derived from another. However, if we list the specific details about the "mountain(s)" in different stories and find that nothing beyond the word "mountain" matches up, we need to conclude that the word "mountain" does not imply one story is derived from the other.

And we could argue similarly with all the other points.

To prove that a Bible story is a rehash from some older story would require a statement by a Bible writer that he used or is citing the older story. Or failing this we need to demonstrate a few entire sentences being reused word for word or almost word for word.

Theologians and historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries debated the origins of various Bible stories – whether they were derived from vaguely similar ideas in the myths of nations around Israel.  Such debates included the virgin birth, Samson, Jonah and others. To my knowledge no connection was ever proven.
 

REFERENCES

Cavendish, R (Editor)1980 Mythology An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Orbis Publishing, Great Britain.
De Kretser, B 2000 Bible Stories are Recycled Myth  Investigator No. 73 July
Graves, R (Introduction) 1968 New Larouse Encyclopedia of Mythology, Crescent Books, New York
Guderian, H 1974 Panzer Leader, Futura Publications, London.
The Bible Revised Standard Version 1952, Wm. Collins Sons & Co., Great Britain.