Humans don't have much of an imagination when it comes to making up stories. Just look at the movies that are out now: half of everything is a remake and the other half is a Superhero movie. The same could be said thousands of years ago when people began making up religious stories. Christianity is just a "remaster of a remaster of a remake of a re-release" of Pagan stories. Let's look at the top 5 of my favorite original stories that influenced the Christian bible writers. Judge for yourself if the original was better than the remake.
#5: The Garden of Eden
The Persian scriptures of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta, tells the story of how Ormuzd created the world and the first two people, Adama and Evah, in six days and then slept on the seventh (because Gods need sleep for some reason). These stories go back as far as the 10th century BCE. Christians wouldn't have gotten away with this on Turnitin, but luckily plagiarism wasn't a crime back then.
#4: The Great Flood
Flood stories were basically the super hero movies of the ancient world, everybody had their own version and some where more popular than others, tons of cultures have a "great flood" story about a man warned of an imminent flood by some God, he builds a big boat and survives. I choose the Hopi Mythology because it involves a spider: "Tawa destroyed the Third World in a great flood. Before the destruction, Spider Grandmother sealed the more righteous people into hollow reeds which were used as boats. On arrival on a small piece of dry land, the people saw nothing around them but more water, even after planting a large bamboo shoot, climbing to the top, and looking about. Spider Woman then told the people to make boats out of more reeds, and using island "stepping-stones" along the way, the people sailed east until they arrived on the mountainous coasts of the Fourth World." Here's a big list of flood stories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flood_myths
#3: Proverbs
The book of proverbs is very close to the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope.
Proverbs 22:17-18: “Incline thy ear, and hear the words of the wise: and apply thy heart to my doctrine. Which shall be beautiful for thee, if thou keep it in thy bowels, and it shall flow in thy lips.”
Amenemope ch1: “Give thine ear, and hear what I say, And apply thine heart to apprehend; It is good for thee to place them in thine heart, let them rest in the casket of thy belly; That they may act as a peg upon thy tongue.”
Proverbs 22:22: “Do no violence to the poor, because he is poor: and do not oppress the needy in the gate.”
Amenemope ch1: “Beware of robbing the poor, and oppressing the afflicted.”
Proverbs 23:1: “When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.”
Amenemope ch23: “Eat not bread in the presence of a ruler, And lunge not forward with thy mouth before a governor. When thou art replenished with that to which thou has no right, It is only a delight to thy spittle. Look upon the dish that is before thee, And let that (alone) supply thy need.”
Although, some of these sound like common sense or just something a school guidance counselor would say.
#2: The Trinity
Putting stuff in three's isn't very original to begin with, but what the hell? Also, the bible never makes a mention of the word "Trinity" that name was invented later as a sort of branding or logo by Christians. Examples of Pagan trinities include: Amun, Re, and Ptah of Egyptian Mythology; Anu, Enlil, and Ea of Sumerian Mythology; and Ishtar, Baal, and Tammuz of Babylonian Mythology.
#1: The Messiah
Again, there's a LOT to choose from: came down to Earth in human form, performed magic/miracles, was executed and then rose to become a God. That story is all over the place. Examples include: Buddha: Both went to their temples at the age of twelve, where they are said to have astonished all with their wisdom. Both supposedly fasted in solitude for a long time: Buddha for forty–seven days and Jesus for forty. Both wandered to a fig tree at the conclusion of their fasts. Both were about the same age when they began their public ministry. You hear that? Buddha lasted 7 days longer without food than Jesus!
Hercules: Heracles makes a descent into Hades and returns from it with Theseus and Peirithoüs, just as Jesus descends into the “lower parts of the earth” or Hades (Ephesians 4:7-8). Also, Hercules was born of a virgin conception.
Horus: Born of a virgin, Isis, he was Osiris's only son and Ancient Egyptians paraded a manger and child representing Horus through the streets around December 21st. Both Horus and Jesus have a missing time line between the ages of 12 to 30. Both Horus' and Jesus' baptizer was beheaded. Both walked on water and both exorcised demons. Both were crucified and both ascended into heaven as a God. The only big difference: Horus predates the existence of Jesus by hundreds of years and Horus had more witnesses. Millions of witnesses! You can't prove he didn't have millions of witnesses.
Conclusion: Who is the real Messiah?
Well Jesus promised to remove all wicked people, but the Earth is full of a*holes. Thor and Odin promised to remove all the Ice Giants. I don't see any ice giants, do you?
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