The Mythological and Political Origins of Christianity

By David Haasbroek

Previous research about Jesus was confined to Israel only. Researchers did so because they took it for granted that Christianity had begun on Jewish soil only. Therefore the lacking information of the gospels forced researchers to conclude that Jesus was mythical, and not historical. This conclusion was due to the many Old Testament quotations that attribute to Jesus in the New Testament. The Old Testament deals with Jewish history and the myths of the ancient world with whom the Jews have come into contact. On that basis, any nation can write an overview of its history and then use the myths of the ancient world to explain the intervention of gods in its history. Likewise, evangelists, several centuries later, have also been able to associate Jesus, an orthodox Jewish king, with the myths and politics of their times.

Researchers found that the New Testament was written by Greek believers (almost a century or more after the nativity) and based on Jewish history. Furthermore, it is full of contradictions, miraculous stories, and Pagan spirituality. Ludeman wrote that most preserved traditions about Jesus were in blatant contradiction to what he had said and did.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erica de Kok
• Release date: Sep 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005186999

David Haasbroek

Professor Haasbroek (1920 - 2003), was educated at the Universities of Potchefstroom and Stellenbosch and was on the staff of the University of Zululand1962 - 1983. There he has lectured on the struggle of a British minority for political dominance in multi-ethnic South Africa through a variety of constitutional safeguards, checks and balances. Because of that struggle, which has led to party political conflicts, and to the Wars of 1880-1881 and 1899-1902 he has also explained the rise of a policy of ethnic segregation (apartheid) which envisaged devolution of political power to overcome ethnic conflict. (1841-1994)Since the S. A. Council of Churches, supported by atheist Communists has also been politically involved in the struggle, he has also investigated the political and mythological pagan origins of Christianity to determine the true nature of the conflict. This research is recorded in the bibliography, and it explains how the struggle of monotheistic Jews for self- determination has been confronted by pagan Hellenist and Roman worshippers of heads of state, heroes and martyrs after the crucifixion. Evangelists shifted the Jewish conflicts against Stephen and Paul AFTER the crucifixion to Jesus personally BEFORE the crucifixion and thus made Jesus, the anointed orthodox candidate for the crown, a pagan Son of God. Such a son of god would be contrary to the provisions of the Ten Commandments. The object was to blame the Jews for the crucifixion. The outcome, despite vehement Jewish opposition to the deification of Jesus, has been: the deification of their monotheistic anointed crucified king by Hellenists and subsequently by the Romans; and the destruction of the Jewish state in 138CE. After 325CE, Jews were severely persecuted for refusing to worship the Roman emperor and the deified Jesus. This shows us how dangerous it is when different ethnics struggle for political dominance in the same country.

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THE MYTHOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY

(With special reference to the deification of Jesus and his claim to the Jewish throne)

By

David J.P. Haasbroek MA. DPhil

CONTENTS

1 Preface

2 Introduction

3 The Size And Age Of The Visible Universe

3.1 Life On Earth

3.2 Research About Man

3.3 Eternal Life

4 Creation Myths Of Egyptians, Greeks, Romans And Jews

4.1 Egyptian Gods

4.2 Greek And Roman Mythology

4.3 The Son Of God

4.4 Gods Have Wives And Children

4.5 The Gods Of The Underworld

4.6 The Judgement Of The Dead

4.7 The Resurrection Of Gods

5 Mithraism Of The Parsees

6 The Universal Mother Goddess

6.1 Attis And Cybele

7 The Pharaoh's Funeral

8 Monotheism

8.1 The Ten Commandments

9 The Son Of God

9.1Alexander The Great (Son Of Zeus/Amon)

9.2. Roman Emperors

9.2.1 Julius Caesar

9.2.2 Caesar Octavian (Augustus Divi Filius)

9.2.3 The Statue Of Gaius In The Jerusalem Temple, 40-41 CE

9.2.4 Sol In Victus And Aurelian (Aurelius 270- 275 CE)

9.2.5 Constantine The Great

10 Pagan Mythological Influence On Christianity

10.1 Jewish Communities

11 Christian Mythology

12 Internal Jewish Party Political Conflicts

12.1 Herod's Kingship

12.2 Archelaus And Herod Antipas

12.3 Jewish Opposition To Rome

12.4 Tiberius (14-37) And Gaius (Caligula) 37-41 CE

12.5 The High Priests

12.6 The Israeli Kingdom

12.7 The Political Role Of Jesus

12.8 The King And Messiah

12.9 Herod's Reaction

12.10 Jesus King Of The Jews

12.11 Why Did Herod Murder His Son?

12.12 The Messiah And King Of The Jews

12.13 Herod Antipas

13 Virgin Births

13.1 Messianic Expectations

13.2 Crucifixion

14 Further Developments

14.1 The Decision At Nicaea 325 CE

14.2 The Dispute About The Trinity

14.3 The Parentage Of Jesus

15 Conclusion

16 Summary

16.1 Jewish Mythology

16.2 Pagan Mythology

16.3 Human Worship

16.4 Party Political Conflicts

16.5 The Crucifixion And Son Of God

16.6 What Does The Bible Report

16.7 The Resurrection Gods

16.7.1 What Did Stephen Say?

16.7.2 What Did Paul Say?

16.7.3 The Gospel Of Matthew

16.7.4 The Gospel Of Mark

16.7.5 The Gospel Of Luke

16.7.6 The Gospel Of John

17 Bibliography

Author

11.0 Preface

Previous research about Jesus was confined to Israel only. Researchers did so because they took it for granted that Christianity had begun on Jewish soil only. Therefore the lacking information of the gospels forced researchers to conclude that Jesus was mythical, and not historical. This conclusion was due to the many Old Testament quotations that attribute to Jesus in the New Testament. The Old Testament deals with Jewish history and the myths of the ancient world with whom the Jews have come into contact. On that basis, any nation can write an overview of its history and then use the myths of the ancient world to explain the intervention of gods in its history. Likewise, evangelists, several centuries later, have also been able to associate Jesus, an orthodox Jewish king, with the myths and politics of their times.

Researchers found that the New Testament was written by Greek believers (almost a century or more after the nativity) and based on Jewish history. Furthermore, it is full of contradictions, miraculous stories, and Pagan spirituality. Ludeman wrote that most preserved traditions about Jesus were in blatant contradiction to what he had said and did. He concluded that Jesus was so distorted that it was impossible to recognise him. Researchers drew similarities between the characteristics of Jesus, Horus, son of Osiris and Isis of Egypt and to the many gods who have also suffered crucifixion before Jesus.

Researchers are also adversely affected by the fact that few other authors than the evangelists have taken the trouble to mention Jesus. According to interpolation in the history written by the Jewish historian, Josephus (38-107CE) Pontius Pilate had crucified Jesus, and that those who loved him did not forsake him. But Josephus, who was born eight years after the crucifixion, wrote nothing of the Wise Men, the nativity or the crucifixion by Pontius Pilate. Yet Josephus gave much attention to the Herodians and Herod's sons. However, Josephus' reference to the Herodians, the execution of Herod's sons, to James the brother of Jesus and to John, the Baptist, seems to be so authentic that Jesus must have lived at the same time as these men. Josephus must have omitted the crucifixion for some special reason which will be explained in the course of this discussion. This analysis assumes that Jesus has lived and that he was not merely a mythic being.

More than eighty years after the crucifixion Pliny, the younger wrote to Emperor Trajan in 111CE that Christianity was a popular movement. Hymns were sung to Christ as a god, although those same people refused to pay homage to the Roman Emperor who was worshipped by Pagans as the Son of God. However, although Jesus was supposed to have been born of a virgin mother, no one took the trouble to describe what Jesus looked like or that he had a virgin birth. Some did try to ascribe his so-called virgin birth to Mary's alleged adulteress relations with a Roman soldier. No writer referred to the traditional virgin births of Pagan gods, or that such deliveries had anything to do with the Virgin Mary, who was declared a virgin goddess by the Synod of Ephesus in 431CE.

These facts convinced researchers that scribes had doctored the story of Jesus to fit in with the ideas of Pauline Christian Churches. To them, it appears that they have invented the words spoken at the Last Supper; the stories of his burial; and the empty tomb to play with the idea of the Eucharist and the risen Saviour. Consequently, David F. Strauss in LIFE OF JESUS concluded in 1835 that the resurrection of Jesus did not have the slightest foundation and that the gospel story was pure fiction. He suspected that it was only after Jesus' death that other influences had made him a god. All these facts have convinced researchers that the gospels are fictitious and that Jesus was mythical because the evangelists did not know him but had only heard of him.

The disagreements during the brutal Inquisition, the equally bloody Protestant Reformation and the numerous schisms undermined the authenticity of the New Testament. Critics therefore not only draw attention to the many historical faults and contradictions in the Bible but reject the biblical miracles and divinity of Jesus. They conclude that the motivation of the authors of the books of the New Testament is not clear and that the gospels are therefore unreliable as historical documents.

The obstacles mentioned above are not the only stumbling blocks. The available documents were Greek and not Hebrew (Aramaic). Greek was used as one of the three languages on the cross. Both the Acts and the gospels were for Greek readers – for people who ever since the Roman occupation of their land suffered oppression in much the same way as Jews and other eastern nations. At that stage, Jews and Greeks in Palestine and elsewhere opposed the same political enemy, the Romans. Researchers have thus to contend with pro-Jesus evangelists who during the next century, addressed their gospels to Greeks. They were supposed to be converts of Paul. The latter was a Jew from Tarsus where there was a centre for the mysteries of the resurrection god, Mithra.

But Paul, who was initially supporting the orthodox Jewish objection to a deified Jesus, then claimed that Jesus had spoken to him in a vision, and therefore that Jesus was still alive. He believed that Jesus Christ was an incarnation of the Holy Ghost, an idea quite foreign to Judaism. Jews did not believe that Jesus, who was dead, was a god, or that he revived from the grave. Paul's vision took place long after the crucifixion. Instead, they wanted to kill Paul, leader of the Nazarene Sect, for heresy, because he was proclaiming in Jewish synagogues all over the Greek world, that Jesus was the Son of God, and that the Jews had killed Jesus and their prophets. (Acts 2:23-24-36; 3:12-15; 4:10) Pagans worshipped such a Son of God. Brandon (p.19-20) gives an excellent explanation of Paul's views and how they violate the Jewish principle of monotheism. Despite Jewish objection, Christians worshipped Jesus in those eastern lands during nearly two thousand years as their redeemer and the Son of God. This worship took place in the same countries where heads of state, heroes, and martyrs and the resurrection gods and saviours Dionysos, Attis, Osiris, Adonis, Mitha and Tammuz were respected. Their worship flourished throughout the Mediterranean world for many centuries.

Researches must move beyond the New Testament and explain how the Life and crucifixion of Jesus were affected by those religions. Without such an explanation, the rejection of Christianity by Judaism will not make sense. Unfortunately, the Roman Church has destroyed the sacred literature of Pagans that might illuminate the matter. That left researchers in the dark for many centuries. Fortunately, excellent recent research about Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology has thrown light on this period of the Mediterranean world, and Jewish history. Therefore, historians can tackle the problem once more.

Until now, researchers gave very little attention to the internal political struggle in multi-ethnic Palestine. Therefore an effort will be made to analyse the matter mythological and politically from the time that the Romans annexed Greece and Palestine. Palestine was annexed in 63BCE and was subsequently controlled by Arabs who influenced the struggle of monotheistic Jews about the Palestinian crown. That control caused considerable Jewish opposition. Jews also objected to divining of Roman heads of state and the worship of the emperor in a temple for Caesar Octavian built by Herod the Great in Caesarea. It is against such a background that Jesus' claim to the crown and his subsequent deifying must be understood.

To explain Jesus' political role attention will be focussed on the attempts of the Hasmoneans (Maccabees), who had lost political popularity and power in 63 BCE, to crown Antigonus in 35 BCE, and the murder of his mother and sister after 31BCE by Herod the Great. The execution of Herod's Hasmonean sons Alexander and Aristobulus in 7/6BCE, and his Arab son Antipater in 4 BCE followed these events. Herod died soon after. Jesus was announced as the king of the Jews from the time of his birth 7/4 BCE. This announcement came from the House of David and not the Hasmonean dynasty. That announcement indicated that there was a struggle for political dominance by Jews and that Herod had tried to avoid Jewish supremacy in Palestine, hence the execution of his Hasmonean sons.

Hopefully, by analysing the issue historically against an Egyptian/Hellenistic mythic background, the New Testament will be understood more fully. Since the New Testament and Christian dogma permeates the myths of Pagan nations, one realises how a monotheistic orthodox Jew and his mother, were deified by Hellenist evangelists and priests at Nicaea, Chalcedon, Constantinople, and Ephesus long after the crucifixion.

I wish to extend a word of thanks to my friends for the many book loans. An exceptional word of thanks to my daughters Idalet and Erica. Idalet, for her painting of the virgin mother goddess and to Erica, who has designed the cover page and who has not only assisted me financially but has printed many alterations during my study. Hopefully, this revised edition will draw a fine line between monotheistic Judaism and the Mysteries of the Mediterranean World that have influenced Christianity.

D J P Haasbroek, Lyttelton RSA 2002

22.0 Introduction

To understand: Why Jesus of the House of David claimed the Palestinian crown; Why he was called a messiah, i.e. the anointed one; Why he, a human, was deified and given the title Son of God, i.e. a son of a Trinitarian God that was an ancient pagan title to which the Jews objected (John 19:7 and 10:33); Why he, a human, had a said virgin birth and resurrection after three days; and Why there was the Lord's Supper; then one has to analyse the political conflicts in Palestine and the myths of the Mediterranean world that had existed for at least 4 000 years before Christianity appeared on the religious scene. This analysis is essential since the Old and New Testaments contain information and beliefs that were found earlier in other religions. Also, one must remember that the New Testament that includes much of the opinions of the Mysteries, Egyptian, Greek, Persian, and Roman myths is mainly the product of Greeks commonly known as Hellenists. These opinions were from Palestine and adjacent territories such as Egypt, Phoenicia, and Syria.

Although Freke and Gandy think that the story of Jesus is a Jewish adaptation of the ancient Pagan Mystery religion concerning a dying and resurrected godman, here it is assumed that Pagans and not the Jews were responsible for such deifying. Jews could not have been accountable since they refused to worship humans such as the Roman emperors. A few years after the crucifixion they vehemently opposed the attempts of Emperor Gaius in 40-41CE to place an image of himself in the Jerusalem temple for public worship. Apart from the provisions of the Ten Commandments about a monotheistic God, it is also evident that irrespective of Pagan influence in the Mediterranean countries, perhaps no more than two Jews, who include Paul and Barnabas, were converts of Christianity. Although Paul Barnabas and the Greeks were not eye-witnesses of Jesus, they have nonetheless been influenced by the political conflicts and Pagan myths who believed in incarnation, and who have celebrated the victory of life over death for so many centuries.

The authors of the books of the Bible simply wrote according to their mythologies, ethical standards and limited unscientific knowledge. Also, polytheism was a general phenomenon and therefore Pagans, who worshipped humans, had no problem believing that the political leader or head of state was a Son of God. This idea was first found in Egypt and then in Greece and Rome long before the birth of Jesus. That title caused much tension in Palestine because ever since Emperor Octavian declared himself Divi Filius in 12 BCE, and Herod the Great built a temple in Caesarea for him, orthodox Jews were confronted in their land by a pagan title that Jews regarded as sinful. They had a law that imposed a death sentence on a person who called himself the Son of God (John 19-7 and 10:33). Consequently they refused to worship the Roman emperors, or their statues in temples, that claimed to be divine and the Sons of God.

Jews appear to have changed their views about that title from the time of the Ten Commandments or when the Roman emperors became Sons of God. Yet after the execution of Stephen who regarded Jesus as a divine person sitting or standing at the right hand of God, the apostle Paul, i.e. Saul of Tarsus, who was the leader of the Nazarene Sect, would call Jesus the Son of God whom he said was alive - this was the key to the evolution of Christianity. From then on, his followers believed that Jesus was physically resurrected from the grave on the third day and that Jesus was the Son of God. But because the Sanhedrin had failed to prevent the crucifixion, Paul like Stephen the Hellenist, blamed Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus, a divinity. (Acts 13:27-30). Stephen represented the Hellenist followers of the new movement. That started a bitter controversy with orthodox Jews who have found this man (Paul) to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.

At Caesarea, thirty years after the crucifixion, orthodox Jews still had a dispute with him about a dead man named Jesus whom Paul claimed was alive. (Acts 24:5, 25:19 and 28:22) Because of this general and often violent orthodox Jewish opposition, Paul was attacked in the Jerusalem temple, and nearly killed for heresy, i.e. in 59 or 60CE. When Roman soldiers protected him, more than forty Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. That dispute and the persecution of Paul for heresy have influenced Christianity and Judaism until the present day. Hence it is necessary to analyse Eastern myths and Jewish history to find a satisfactory explanation of the issue and evaluate the impact of their mythic differences.

Not only Pagan mythology influenced the struggle, but Jesus' claim to the throne did so too. That claim became part of the spiritual battle. So it is essential to study Jewish history and the messianic ideology that took place during the Babylonian Captivity a few centuries earlier. Greeks in Palestine and Alexandria were also acquainted with that ideology ever since the Talmud was translated in Greek during the third century BCE. The translation reached its final form about 100 BCE. Ever since then, Greeks, who worshipped human gods, were also trying to regain their independence from the Romans. This fact is essential to explain the initial divining of Jesus, the Jewish messiah (i.e. the one that is anointed king), by Stephen, Paul and their Greek supporters.

Pagan Romans, but more particularly after the crucifixion 30 CE, revived the messianic ideology when Palestine was annexed in 63CE. That annexation enabled Pagans to turn a human martyr into a messianic god. Paul spoke of him as the Son of God and Lord of Glory. Such a belief violated the Jewish principle of monotheism as formulated in the Ten Commandments. Orthodox Jews refused to worship deified heads of state, heroes, and martyrs. Therefore they tried to kill Paul for propagating the worship of a human being in their synagogues and the Temple.

The most important political factor was the attempt of orthodox Jews to get rid of Herod the Great, regain independence from Rome and crown their conventional Jewish king. It became a struggle for Jewish supremacy in multi-ethnic Palestine despite Greek and Samaritan claims. When Herod married Malthace, of the Samaritans, Jews feared that a Samaritan descendant might claim the throne and upset the balance of power between Jews, Arabs, Hellenists, and Samaritans. For these reasons, despite the unpopularity of the Hasmonean dynasty, orthodox Jews initially tried to overcome the dilemma by crowning the Hasmonean Antigonus. When they lost the battle of Arbela in 37BCE, they arranged marriage of Herod and Mariamne, a Hasmonean princess, and when they tried to appoint her brother, the youthful Aristobulus in 35 BCE as the anointed high priest. But continued intrigues and attempts on his life forced Herod, in turn, to drown Aristobulus in a swimming pool, murder his Hasmonean wife, Mariamne, and her mother, Alexandra, after the Battle of Actium in 31BCE. Then towards the end of his reign, he murdered his two Hasmonean sons, Alexander and Aristobulus in 7/6BCE, and his Arab son, in 4BCE. The latter was in league with orthodox Jewish leaders. After that, the son of Antipater was killed in Alexandria, and attempts were made to kill Jesus, king of the Jews from the House of David. He was born in 6 or 4 BCE shortly before the aged Herod died of sclerosis. It was a struggle of non-Jews against an independent Palestine under an orthodox Jewish king.

Herod's conciliation policy after the Arbela War of 37BCE was a failure. He had tried to overcome the conflict with orthodox Jews by marrying Mariamne of the Hasmonean dynasty that had lost popularity. But continued intrigues and alleged attempts on his life caused a total failure of that policy. Now, shortly before his death, he willed that Philip, son of his wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem, perhaps a Hellenist, be appointed in Ituraea in northern Palestine that had a large Greek and Syrian population, and his Samaritan sons Archelaus and Herod Antipas be appointed in Judaea-Samaria-Idumaea and Galilee respectively. From these decisions, it appears that Herod's main struggle was against orthodox Jews whom he tried to exclude from top political posts in Palestine. In broad terms, the battle was not so much for a messiah in the religious sense of the word, but merely an anointed Jewish king to replace Herod the Great and his dynasty. But in the minds of Hellenists who were using the translated Talmud (Septuagint), it became a struggle for a messiah, an anointed king, in the religious sense of the word. That meant an anointed king, who had died a martyr's death, who could be worshipped as the Son of God. Pagans worshipped such a head of state.

It is, however, useful, for the sake of modern man and a better understanding of the issue, to give a brief overview of scientific discoveries regarding the universe and life on earth. Then the mythologies will be better understood, and the concept Son of God, pagan divining of prominent leaders, heroes and martyrs will have closer relevance to ancient religions, and the political struggle of orthodox Jews and Maccabees (Hasmoneans) and Herod the Great about the Palestinian crown. The main issue is to explain against the political and religious background of Palestine how it has come about that Jesus, candidate for the Jewish crown, not of Hasmonean descent, but the son of Mary of the House of David, who at his birth was called the King of the Jews has become Paul's Christian God, who is rejected by monotheistic Jews. For this reason, conflicting Pagan and Jewish mythologies will have to be explained against the political background of multi-ethnic Palestine because Pagans, like Paul and Stephen, believed that Jesus was an incarnation of God and the Holy Spirit. Such a belief violated the Jewish principle of monotheism as formulated in the Ten Commandments.

33.0 The Size And Age Of The Visible Universe

Since Christians still claim that the universe was created 6 000 years ago, it is essential to look at the age of the universe before priests of the Mediterranean world and the Near East started speculating about its origins. This will enable man, whose knowledge of creation was wrong until the 20th century, to gain a better perspective of the matter. Before that century the Church rejected the views of Corpernicus, and Kepler, and gaoled Galileo for stating that the earth was a planet that was revolving around the sun. Later on, even astronomers believed that our Galaxy that was at least 100 000 light-years across presented all of creation. But owing to intensive research, astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered in 1929 that the size of the visible part of creation was at least 15 000 000 000 light-years across and that the visible part of creation was at least