Bible Myths And Their Parallels In Other Religions Being A Comp

_Eucharist_, _Baptism_, the _Worship of the Virgin_, _Christian Symbols_, the _Birthday of Christ Jesus_, the _Doctrine of the Trinity_, _Why Christianity Prospered_, and the _A...

ABBOT (LYMAN). A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, for Popular and Professional Use; comprising full information on Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Subjects. Edited b...

The Old Testament commences with one of its most interesting myths, that of the Creation and Fall of Man. The story is to be found in the first _three_ chapters of Genesis, the...

After "man's shameful fall," the earth began to be populated at a very rapid rate. "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all...

[30:5] We know that many legends have originated in this way. For example, Dr. Robinson, in his "Travels in Palestine" (ii. 586), mentions a tradition that a city had once stood...

We are informed that, at one time, "the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they (the inhabitants of the earth) journeyed from the East,...

The story of the trial of Abraham's faith--when he is ordered by the Lord to sacrifice his only son Isaac--is to be found in Genesis xxii. 1-19, and is as follows:

In the 28th chapter of Genesis, we are told that Isaac, after blessing his son Jacob, sent him to Padan-aram, to take a daughter of Laban's (his mother's brother) to wife. Jacob...

The children of Israel, who were in bondage in Egypt, making bricks, and working in the field,[48:1] were looked upon with compassion by the Lord.[48:2] He heard their groaning,...

"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and there Israel camped bef...

This Israelite hero is said to have been born at a time when the children of Israel were in the hands of the Philistines. His mother, who had been barren for a number of years,...

In the book of Jonah, containing four chapters, we are told the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, saying: "Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it, for their w...

The first mention of Circumcision, in the Bible, occurs in Genesis,[85:2] where God is said to have commanded the Israelites to perform this rite, and thereby establish a covena...

[86:1] We have it also on the authority of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, that: "this custom was established long before the arrival of Joseph in Egypt," and that "this is proved by the a...

There are many other legends recorded in the Old Testament which might be treated at length, but, as we have considered the principal and most important, and as we have so much...

According to the dogma of the deity of Jesus, he who is said to have lived on earth some eighteen centuries ago, as _Jesus of Nazareth_, is second of the three persons in the Tr...

Being born in a miraculous manner, as other great personages had been, it was necessary that the miracles attending the births of these virgin-born gods should be added to the h...

At the time of the birth of Christ Jesus, there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord appeared among them, and...

The next in order of the wonderful events which are related to have happened at the birth of Christ Jesus, is the recognition of the divine child, and the presentation of gifts.

The writer of that portion of the Gospel according to _Matthew_ which treats of the _place_ in which Jesus was born, implies, as we stated in our last chapter, that he was born...

The biographers of Jesus, although they have placed him in a position the most humiliating in his infancy, and although they have given him poor and humble parents, have notwith...

Interwoven with the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus, the star, the visit of the Magi, &c., we have a myth which belongs to a common form, and which, in this instance, i...

"And when he had fasted _forty days and forty nights_, he was afterward an hungered. And when the _tempter_ came to him he said: 'If thou be the Son of God, command that these s...

The punishment of an individual by crucifixion, for claiming to be "King of the Jews," "Son of God," or "The Christ;" which are the causes assigned by the Evangelists for the Cr...

The _Luke_ narrator informs us that at the time of the death of Christ Jesus, the sun was darkened, and there was darkness over the earth from the sixth until the ninth hour; al...

"The Lord preached the gospel to those in Hades, as well as to all in earth, in order that all might believe and be saved, wherever they were. If, then, the Lord descended to Ha...

The story of the resurrection of Christ Jesus is related by the four Gospel narrators, and is to the effect that, after being crucified, his body was wrapped in a linen cloth, l...

The second coming of Christ Jesus is clearly taught in the canonical, as well as in the apocryphal, books of the New Testament. Paul teaches, or _is made to teach it_,[233:1] in...

According to Christian dogma, "God the Father" is not to be the judge at the last day, but this very important office is to be held by "God the Son." This is taught by the write...

"By _him_ were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; _all thin...

The legendary history of Jesus of Nazareth, contained in the books of the New Testament, is full of prodigies and wonders. These alleged prodigies, and the faith which the peopl...

Believing and affirming, that the _mythological portion_ of the history of Jesus of Nazareth, contained in the books forming the Canon of the New Testament, is nothing more or l...

"The more I learn to know Buddha the more I admire him, and the sooner all mankind shall have been made acquainted with his doctrines the better it will be, for he is certainly...

"He took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, _this is my body_. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, say...

Baptism, or purification from sin by water, is supposed by many to be an exclusive _Christian_ ceremony. The idea is that circumcision was given up, but _baptism took its place_...

The worship of the "Virgin," the "Queen of Heaven," the "Great Goddess," the "Mother of God," &c., which has become one of the grand features of the Christian religion--the Coun...

Overwhelming historical facts show that the cross was used, _as a religious emblem_, many centuries before the Christian era, by every nation in the world. Bishop Colenso, speak...

Christmas--December the 25th--is a day which has been set apart by the Christian church on which to celebrate the birth of their Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus, and is considere...

The doctrine of the Trinity is the highest and most mysterious doctrine of the Christian church. It declares that there are _three_ persons in the Godhead or divine nature--the...

Our assertion that that which is called Christianity is nothing more than the religion of Paganism, we consider to have been fully verified. We have found among the heathen, cen...

For many centuries before the time of Christ Jesus there lived a sect of religious monks known as _Essenes_, or _Therapeutæ_;[419:1] _these entirely disappeared from history sho...

We shall now compare the great antiquity of the sacred books and religions of Paganism with those of the Christian, so that there may be no doubt as to which is the original, an...

After what we have seen concerning the numerous virgin-born, crucified and resurrected Saviours, believed on in the Pagan world for so many centuries before the time assigned fo...

have been selected and impregnated by the Holy Ghost. In some cases, a serpent was supposed to be the form which it assumed. This was the incarnation of the Logos.

We now come to the last, but certainly not least, question to be answered; which is, what do we really know of the man Jesus of Nazareth? How much of the Gospel narratives can w...

[516:6] According to Dio Cassius, Plutarch, Strabo and others, there existed, in the time of Herod, among the Roman Syrian heathens, a wide-spread and deep sympathy for a "_Cruc...