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All (9) Mike Winger (9)
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-16

Objection: Jesus's deity borrowed from pagan deities — and response

Addressing the popular online claim that the deity of Jesus was borrowed from pagan mythologies.

deity of Christ Jonathan McLatchie pagan deity parallels
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

The dying and rising gods parallel argument fails because Paul and non-Christian sources still have to be explained independently of the Gospels

Initial response to the Greco-Roman dying/rising gods parallel argument

Paul Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

First-century Christians were pious, Torah-observant Jews who debated minutiae of Jewish law — making wholesale borrowing from pagan myths implausible

Cultural argument against the pagan parallels theory

early Christianity dying and rising gods pagan mythology
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Analogy: Parallel details in the B-29 Empire State Building crash (1945) and 9/11 do not mean 9/11 was copied — you need a causal connection

Illustrating that parallel details alone prove nothing without demonstrating causal connection

historicity of Jesus argument from analogy dying and rising gods
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Historians are unpersuaded by pagan parallels because the parallels are not actually that similar; Asclepius is the closest pre-Jesus parallel and only heals/occasionally raises dead

Examining specific pagan parallels to Jesus

historicity of Jesus dying and rising gods pagan mythology
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Apollonius of Tyana, the closest post-Jesus parallel, did not believe in resurrection and has only one account of an after-death appearance — in a dream to one disciple

Examining the post-Jesus pagan parallel most cited by mythicists

resurrection Apollonius of Tyana historicity of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Mythicists must composite multiple figures (Dionysus, Horus, Asclepius, Apollonius, Hercules) to approximate Jesus — historians reject this method

Exposing the composite methodology of Jesus-myth parallels

Apollonius of Tyana Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Audience Q on mimesis: pagan parallels fail for the same reasons, plus early Christians were Torah-observant Jews who would not borrow from pagan myths

Audience question about mimesis / pagan parallel arguments

historicity of Jesus dying and rising gods pagan mythology
Mike Winger idea 2019-08-07

Contrast with pagan gods: biblical wrath is moral, pagan wrath is capricious

Mike draws a contrast between the God of Scripture and ancient pagan deities.

Genesis flood God's wrath divine holiness Leon Morris