Free Jesus Lied - He Was Only Human: Debunking the New Testament by C.J. Werleman Page B

shall still not be able to find there the myth of Jesus being born in a stable. None of the Gospels state that he was born in a stable, and nearly all the details of the nativity scenes which have inspired great artists, and delighted generations of churchgoers on Christmas Eve, stem neither from history nor from Scripture, but from folk-lore. [...] Which is the more powerful figure of our imaginations - the ‘real’, historical Jesus of Nazareth, or the divine being, who in his great humility came down to be born as a poverty-stricken outcast?”
     
    Now, have you ever thought how possible it was for a star to lead someone to an actual house? Considering that stars are hundreds, thousands, times larger than earth (notwithstanding that the nearest star – Alpha Centauri – is almost 17 freaking light-years away!), it’s like giving directions of a new restaurant to a friend by saying, “It’s located on the third rock from the sun. See you there at 7pm sharp.”
    Scholars believe the star mythology was borrowed from Zoroastrianism. This now mostly defunct religion was, until the rise of Islam, the national religion of the Iranian people (Persian) from the fourth to the sixth century. In Matthew’s biblical narrative, the magi are given Zoroastrian titles and bear the same gifts as stated in Zoroastrian myth. Therefore, it seems likely that later scribes added this story into Matthew’s Gospel, centuries after.
Ancient Mythology
     
    A study of ancient literature reveals that virgin birth mythologies were commonplace throughout the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia before, during, and after the commencement of the myth of Christianity. “The gods have lived on earth in the likeness of men” was a common saying among ancient pagans, a belief that supernatural events led to the existence of gods upon earth in human form.
    The Egyptian god Horus was said to have been born to his virgin mother Isis. Attis, the Phrygian god, was said to be the son of the virgin Nana, who conceived him by putting in her bosom a ripe almond or pomegranate. Dionysus, the Grecian God, was said in one version of the myth concerning him to be the son of Zeus out of the virgin goddess Persephone. Jason, who was slain by Zeus, was said to have been another son of the virgin Persephone, and to have had no father, either human or divine. At the time when Christianity arose, all these gods were worshipped in various parts of the Roman Empire. It is well documented that religions with their origins in this part of the world borrowed mythology from one another. Christianity was not exempt from ‘sharing’ myth.
    Don’t forget that the likeness of God, the old dude with the flowing white hair and beard, is stolen from both Zeus (King of the Greek gods) and Jupiter (King of the Roman gods).
The Murder of the Innocents
     
    The wise men find the family in the house, offer their gifts and flee quickly to their home nations as an angel warned them in a dream that King Herod, fearful of a Jewish newborn king, would hunt them down and kill them. Matthew finds an obscure passage in the Old Testament to validate his story:
    “ Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children.” (Matthew 2:18)
     
    Similarly, Joseph receives the same dream; only the angel warns them that Herod has put out a decree that all Hebrew boys under the age of two are to be slaughtered. Joseph grabs his family and flees to Egypt for sanctuary, not to return until they learn of Herod’s death some years later.
    Where have you heard such a baby killing decree before? That’s right, the story of Moses. The Pharaoh learns of a new born child that will one day become the Hebrew ‘deliverer’, and subsequently issues an edict that all Hebrew children under the age of two are to be executed. Moses’ mother places him in a papyrus basket, and you know the rest of the