Was the death and resurrection of Jesus based on earlier stories from other civilizations?

Answer 1

A:The stories of the virgin birth and of the death and resurrection of Jesus could indeed be based on earlier stories of gods and godmen, with credible reasons to believe the gospel authors based their stories on those earlier accounts. However, there is no actual proof that this is so. Answer:

A prevailing myth widely circulated is that the similarities between Christianity and the mystery religions are striking. Take, for example, the alleged similiarities between Christianity and the cult of Isis. The god Osiris is supposedly murdered by his brother and buried in the Nile river. The goddess Isis recovers the cadaver, only to lose it once again to her brother in law who cuts the body up into fourteen pieces and scatters them around the world. After finding the parts, Isis "baptizes" each piece in the Nile river and Osiris is "resurrected." Alleged similarities as well as the terminology used to communicate them are greatly exaggerated. Parallels between the "resurrection" of Osiris and the resurrection of Christ are an obvious stretch. This fallacy is committed whenever someone reasons that just because two things exist side by side, one of them must have caused the other. As we all should know, mere coincidence does not prove causal connection. Nor does similarity prove dependence. Far from being dependent on mystery religions, Christianity can be tracd back to the life of a real flesh and bone person named Jesus as well as to Old Testament Judaism.