How do you respond to critics who maintain that Jesus’ story is a plagiarized version of Horus’ story?

Posted by admin on March 7th, 2010 and filed under story critics | 12 Comments »


A little bit of research shows otherwise. Here are some responses to the common comparisons used for Horus and Jesus.

Horus’ mother was a virgin:

Horus’ mother was not a virgin. She was married to Osiris, and there is no reason to suppose she was abstinent after marriage.

Horus’ mother’s name was Meri:

There is no evidence for the claim of his mother Isis being a virgin or for "Meri" being part of her name. Only Christ-mythers make the claim that "Meri" was part of her name.

Horus is crucified accompanied by two thieves:

Horus was never crucified. There’s an unofficial story in which he dies and is cast in pieces into the water, then later fished out by a crocodile at Isis’ request. This unofficial story is the only one in which he dies at all.

There is little validity in the claims that the story of Jesus’ life, as recorded in the Gospels, was modeled after the story of the Egyptian god Horus.

Even if there are a few commonalities, Jesus still fulfilled hundreds of the detailed Messianic prophecies given in the Old Testament that Horus did not fulfill, proving that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior that God promised, not a made-up character based on a mythical Egyptian god.

As a sidenote, there is this site which compares Horus to Hitler in the same way that Acharya compares Horus to Jesus, so we can see that if someone knows enough about to people, they can misconstrue the facts enough to make you think twice about the validity of the stories.

The broad majority of those in academia, whether liberal or conservative, do not agree that early Christianity borrowed pagan doctrine. Some scholars have engaged the public on this and spoken out against it, but others frankly see it as beneath them and don’t bother, because these ideas are so fringe and lacking in evidence…

12 Responses

  1. dead fundie Says:

    Usually with a thumbs-up.
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  2. The Canadian Atheist Says:

    What can they say? It is, after all, the truth.
    Don’t forget the Mithras myth too. The story of jesus is plagerized from that myth as well.
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  3. Red Says:

    How about some evidence it isn’t? Oh right…
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  4. Қєlly Says:

    I say that they are wrong. It was actually plagiarized from Mithras http://near-death.com/experiences/origen048.html
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  5. trollhouse cookies Says:

    it’s also very similar to the romans and the greeks…..
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  6. HTacianas Says:

    I shrug my shoulders and think "not that again". Then I refer them to the Horus page on wikipedia so they can educate themselves.
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  7. novangelis Says:

    Emphasize that elements were taken from other stories, as well.
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  8. thundercatt9 Says:

    A little bit of research shows otherwise. Here are some responses to the common comparisons used for Horus and Jesus.

    Horus’ mother was a virgin:

    Horus’ mother was not a virgin. She was married to Osiris, and there is no reason to suppose she was abstinent after marriage.

    Horus’ mother’s name was Meri:

    There is no evidence for the claim of his mother Isis being a virgin or for "Meri" being part of her name. Only Christ-mythers make the claim that "Meri" was part of her name.

    Horus is crucified accompanied by two thieves:

    Horus was never crucified. There’s an unofficial story in which he dies and is cast in pieces into the water, then later fished out by a crocodile at Isis’ request. This unofficial story is the only one in which he dies at all.

    There is little validity in the claims that the story of Jesus’ life, as recorded in the Gospels, was modeled after the story of the Egyptian god Horus.

    Even if there are a few commonalities, Jesus still fulfilled hundreds of the detailed Messianic prophecies given in the Old Testament that Horus did not fulfill, proving that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior that God promised, not a made-up character based on a mythical Egyptian god.

    As a sidenote, there is this site which compares Horus to Hitler in the same way that Acharya compares Horus to Jesus, so we can see that if someone knows enough about to people, they can misconstrue the facts enough to make you think twice about the validity of the stories.

    The broad majority of those in academia, whether liberal or conservative, do not agree that early Christianity borrowed pagan doctrine. Some scholars have engaged the public on this and spoken out against it, but others frankly see it as beneath them and don’t bother, because these ideas are so fringe and lacking in evidence…
    References :

  9. The_Cricket misses her mom Says:

    Let’s see:
    1. First, I go after their sources. I can usually show that their sources are no more qualified to quote on Egyptian mythology than young Earth creationists are to quote on science. Gerald Massey, for example, was a "self-taught" Egyptologist who died over a century ago. EA Wallis Budge may have been excellent for his time, but most of his theories are no longer used in scholarly circles today. And Acharya S is no more qualified than I am.
    2. Then, I provide my sources, who are actual modern Egyptologists, who maintain that Horus is nothing like Jesus.

    I can also do the same with Mithra/Mithras, Attis, Romulus, Dionysus, Krishna, and the Buddha.

    It has nothing to do with my faith, and everything to do with the fact that I demand intellectual honesty. The people who tend to subscribe to the Horus-Jesus connection hypothesis also laugh at YECs. Hypocrisy at its finest. If it was Christians attempting to use non-scholarly sources to disprove something established by professional mythologists, historians, or scientists, they would be rightly laughed at and disregarded.

    Goes to show that people will believe anything as long as it’s what they want to believe.
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  10. One Brave Mouse Says:

    As far as mithra. It seems that mithra was a recent addition to zoroastrianism and wasn’t a construct of mr zoro himself. Mithra had five sons, Christ had none. I found no references to mithra’s disciples, Mithra was created by several gods and not a god of his own. the list goes on, but this looks like revisionism at it’s finest… Nice try.
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  11. ...virginiaO Says:

    read the story of nimrod and his wife easter that took the knowledge of the Messiah to come and applied it to themselves pretending that they were the mother and child to gain a following.
    References :
    alexander hislop’s the 2 babylons

  12. lynn Says:

    Personally? I wouldnt respond at all. Dont let yourself get upset about what people believe
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