The following is a guest post by OpenDiary blogger Atheist Under Ur Bed. This is part of an ongoing series that will be posted each Monday. You can read the introduction to this series by clicking here.

Last week I gave a hint of just how derivative the Old Testament really is. The question becomes, “Is the New Testament any better?” Research reveals that the answer is clearly “No!” The claims the NT makes for Jesus seem to owe at least as much to prior peoples, myths, and cultures as the stories of the OT.

Consider:

1. The Scapegoat

The New Testament’s claim that Jesus died for the sins of all mankind is apparently considered by many to be its most important and unique assertion. Yet it seems to have been derived from the ancient concept of the scapegoat. Primitive Jews symbolically burdened this animal with their sins and then killed it to placate a demon. In ancient Greece, human scapegoats were used to mitigate plagues and other calamities.

In early Roman law, an innocent person was allowed to take upon himself the penalty of another who had confessed his own guilt. Christianity reflects this notion in its doctrine of justification and in its belief that Jesus Christ was the God-man who died to atone for the sins of all mankind. The Encyclopedia Britannica, “Scapegoat”

2. The Essenes

Today’s Christians seem to believe that Jesus and the New Testament were God’s way of communicating a revolutionary set of unique teachings. Yet virtually all of these teachings seem to have been borrowed from the Essenes, a Jewish splinter group which came into existence perhaps 200 years before Jesus was born. Many of their beliefs exactly match those of Jesus and the early Christians, including those related to baptism, love of neighbor, simple living, criticism of conventional Jewish society, an abhorrence of blood sacrifice, celibacy, the coming of a Messiah, and the imminent end of the world. They were led by a Righteous Teacher and his disciples, whose meals closely resemble the Bible’s Last Supper. Their Righteous Teacher even suffered a violent death after preaching against society’s sins. Curiously, the New Testament is utterly silent about them. Their existence (unlike Jesus’s) is convincingly attested to by independent sources. The famous Dead Sea Scrolls seem to have been written by them.

3. The Phoenix

Although Jesus’s nature and resurrection as described in the Bible are believed by many to be unique in the annals of history, the fact is that numerous pre-Christian mythological beings embody these later New Testament concepts. The Phoenix was one. This legendary bird of ancient Egypt allegedly dies in fire, only to miraculously rise again from the ashes. It was widely interpreted as an allegory for resurrection and life after death in antiquity.

4. Osiris

This very ancient Egyptian deity was part of a trinity (with Isis and Horus) and intimately involved in heaven, hell, and a judgment day. After a violent death, Osiris was miraculously given a new life and acted as judge and ruler of the dead. Following him was said to bestow immortality. For good measure, Isis was supposed to have been a virgin mother – hundreds of years before Mary.

5. Mithra

This ancient Aryan/Iranian god was considered the guardian of truth, the judge of souls, and the one who would determine when the devil’s reign on earth was at an end. His birth on December 25 was allegedly witnessed by shepherds. His second coming “amid the homage of the meek and lowly” was eagerly awaited. Mithra’s blood sacrifice supposedly bestowed eternal life on humans. His worshipers practiced baptism, followed a strict moral code, held Sunday to be the holiest day of the week, and had regular communion meals of bread and wine. Widely popular in the ancient Near East, Mithraism first entered Rome in about 60 B.C.

6. Zoroaster

The founder of Zoroastrianism, the Iranian religion which interprets life and the universe as an intense struggle between the Evil forces of darkness and the Good forces of light in which every person has to pick one side or the other and will be judged accordingly in the hereafter. Concepts of creation, heaven, hell, and even purgatory were developed in detail. The forces of Good were believed certain to win. Zoroaster was born around 600 B.C.

7. Orpheus

Ancient Greek legendary hero and alleged founder of Orphism. He was supposedly the son of a god and descended into Hades and returned. He was killed by the followers of a rival religion. The Orphic life required strict self-denial and put great stress on judgment after death. Orphism exalted the next life at the expense of this one. It was dogmatic, being firmly guided by an authoritarian priesthood and sacred writings. Through Plato and Neo-Platonism, Orphism is believed to have influenced Christian thought.

8. Dionysus

Ancient Greek god whose stories and worship were well-developed by 400 B.C. Virtually every important belief about Jesus can be found in his story. He was the son of God (Zeus) and a mortal woman. He traveled widely, spreading his religious beliefs. He performed many miracles. He went to Hades and defied Death. He was ordered arrested by a haughty king, who ignored the warnings of a prophet and the testimony of his own soldiers about Dionysus’s divinity and confronted the mild Dionysus anyway, to his ruin. Dionysus was alleged to give his followers courage and peace, to be in them as well as outside them, and to be able to transform them into beings like himself. His suffering was great, as he died by being torn apart; yet he rose again, and his joyful resurrection was celebrated in theaters and with Easter-like spring festivals. His worshipers believed that his death and resurrection proved that the soul will live on forever after the body dies.

9. Romulus

This legendary founder of Rome was described in the 4th century B.C. as having had a virgin human mother and a God (Mars) for a father. While still an infant, Romulus’s murder was ordered by a tyrant/king. He was saved from this early death by being put in a trough and floated down river. When he eventually disappeared in a storm, people believed he himself had become a god.

10. Alexander the Great

The story of the virgin birth of Alexander was used to “prove” his divinity as far back as the 4th century B.C. Indeed, the more one studies the ancient world, the more it seems that everyone who was anyone resulted from the union of a god with a human female who somehow managed to retain her virginity.

Once again, it seems that people who believe in the Bible are guilty of a fundamental error of logic: They are treating very similar things very differently. Why believe in Jesus but not Mithra? On what basis do they reject Dionysus but not Christ?

If a real God is behind one of these fellows but not the others, it is difficult to see how we might determine that fact. Precedence could be defended as one basis as good as any other, but if so, the Bible must be rejected many times over.

If a real God is behind all of these fellows, He seems to be a rather sloppy nut case, doesn’t He?

In the end, it seems simpler and saner to reject all of these men, gods, virgins, and religions as mere human inventions than to try to elevate one particular set above all the others.

Still feel compelled to believe your particular virgin/savior/god combo is special regardless? Please tell me why.