I hope this is the best place to post this. He keeps pointing out similarities between pagan religions and Christianity, things such as Horus saying “I am the way, the truth, the life” and Hades being cast out from “Heaven” to rule the Underworld, just as Lucifer was cast out. I know there’s gotta be an answer to this, but I don’t know the answer. Is there anywhere I can read up on this, or does anyone here have an answer?
Hi Burubara, you raise some interesting points.
The similarity between Christianity and pagan religions is, at best, superficial. Purported parallels such as dying and rising gods, baptism (for instance, in the Mithras cult), are hardly credible once one considers the context in which these disparate religions developed (Christianity came from Judaism and adopted mostly Jewish beliefs and practices), the historical evidence for pagan claims, etc.
Is Jesus just like a pagan dying-and-rising god? Well, no. Pagan gods reflected the order of nature and, just as crops die and rise with the seasonal cycle, or the Nile falls and rises, so these gods were perceived. Jesus was a flesh and blood human being. He was actually, historically crucified (and thus died) and his followers claimed to have witnessed him rise again. If you had gone to someone in the first century world and told them you witnessed a pagan god rise again, they would not take you seriously nor literally. Yet this is how Christians understood Jesus’ rising - look at what the Gospels attest, what Paul says, what John says.
If Horus said he was the “Lord of light” that cannot be akin to Jesus’ saying. Again, look at the context. When Jesus says that he is the “light of the world” he is speaking during the Feast of Tabernacles, and what he means about “light” has a specific Jewish connotation. It means something very different from Horus. You can’t equate the two because they use “light” as a symbol (in fact, most teachers have used “light” to suggest enlightenment, wisdom, etc.).
As for Hades and Lucifer, well, firstly, Lucifer doesn’t “rule” Hell - he’s in it! God is the ultimate ruler of Heaven and Hell. Secondly, Hades wasn’t “cast out” from Heaven, but drew a bad draw in a game of chance! There is no moral quality to the incident, nor is it a question about authority and submission.
Lastly, read Cardinal Newman’s “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine”, where he explores how the Church sanctified pagan rituals and/or ideas, and also (C.S. Lewis points at this too) how you would expect to find small mutterings of the truth in different religions before Christianity (and since) because humans are naturally able to recognise some truth about God and because God inspires in non-Christian cultures “good dreams” (Lewis) so that it can help them to recognise the truth, which people then mythologise.
All the best with your friend.
Jonathan
