Similar figures of Christ?
Posted on: September 26, 2006 - 3:20am
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Similar figures of Christ?
Greetings all,
I have been reading Achayra S.'s book "The Christ Conspiracy". There are some conflicts that I would a second opinion on. I cannot cover all of them, so I will be posting from time to time.
The first concern are the several similarities that Ms. Murdock makes such as the ones of Krishna, Buddha, and Osiris. Many of these descriptions I have never heard of. Moreover, I have read a refutation of her book by Mike Licona, who apparently spoke and wrote to many professors regarding these claims, only to see that many of these claims were wrong.
What are your thoughts on this?
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Moreover, I do not want to make it look like I have searched for the information any further. I still have not been able to find any info related to this subject. I also grew up a Buddhist for the first couple of years of my life, and I do not remember much of what Ms. Murdock claims. Any info would be appreciated.
Regards,
Sekigahara
Like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMTp_TBPaHM
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca
thre are also amazing similarities between paganism and christianity
http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/index.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa1.htm
"In depriving myself of the acorns... what have we learned? Nothing! Not one of us has learned!
"Which isn't my point, but very well could have been."
— Ashley Raymond, Olympia, 1989
Thank you for the link. It was appreciated. However, I am looking for scholarly work on this subject. I guess to narrow down the focus, I will start with Krishna. I would like to know the credibility of the Acharya's info regarding the similarities between the two. Here is a portion of Mike Licona's refutation on the case for Krishna:
"a. Similarities to Krishna
Ms. Murdock contends that Jesus as crucified savior was merely borrowed from other religions. For her, one of the most striking similarities is found with Krishna, the Hindu god. Indeed, her forthcoming book, "Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled" expounds on this position.(21)
What about Ms. Murdock’s claim that Krishna is so similar to Jesus that Christianity must have borrowed from Hinduism? Dr. Edwin Bryant, Professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University is a scholar on Hinduism. As of the writing of this paper, he has just translated the Bhagavata-Purana (life of Krishna) for Peguine World Classics and is currently writing a book to be titled, In Quest of Historical Krishna.
When I informed him that Ms. Murdock wrote an article claiming that Krishna had been crucified, he replied, "That is absolute and complete non-sense. There is absolutely no mention anywhere which alludes to a crucifixion."(22) He also added that Krishna was killed by an arrow from a hunter who accidentally shot him in the heal. He died and ascended. It was not a resurrection. The sages who came there for him could not really see it.(23)
Then I read a statement by Ms. Murdock from her article "Krishna, Crucified?" an excerpt from her forthcoming book, Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled.(24) In it she states, "it appears that Krishna is not the first Indian god depicted as crucified. Prior to him was another incarnation of Vishnu, the avatar named Wittoba or Vithoba, who has often been identified with Krishna." To this Bryant responded, "She doesn’t know what she’s talking about! Vithoba was a form of Krishna worshipped in the state of Maharashtra. There are absolutely no Indian gods portrayed as crucified." Then he became indignant and said, "If someone is going to go on the air and make statements about religious tradition, they should at least read a religion 101 course."(25)
Later I emailed him regarding her 24 comparisons of Krishna to Jesus which the reader may find in The Christ Conspiracy.(26) He stated that 14 of her 24 comparisons are wrong and a 15th is partially wrong.(27) What about her 9 _ that are correct; especially Krishna’s virgin birth, the story of the tyrant who had thousands of infants killed (a parallel to Herod), and Krishna’s bodily ascension? Benjamin Walker in his book, The Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism provides an answer. After tracing similarities related to the birth, childhood, and divinity of Jesus, as well as the late dating of these legendary developments in India, "[t]here can be no doubt that the Hindus borrowed the tales [from Christianity], but not the name."(28) Bryant also comments that these parallels come from the Bhagavata Purana and the Harivamsa. Bryant believes the former "to be prior to the 7th century AD (although many scholars have hitherto considered it to be 11 century AD."(29) Yet this is hundreds of years after the Gospel accounts. Of the Harivamsa, Bryant is uncertain concerning its date. However, most sources seem to place its composition between the fourth and sixth centuries, again hundreds of years after the Gospel accounts had been in circulation.(30) An earlier date is entertained by David Mason of the University of Wisconsin, who states that there is no consensus on the dating that he is aware of but that it may be as early as the second century.(31) Even if this early date is accurate, it is still after the Gospels, not before as Murdock’s thesis requires."
I apologize for the length.
Again, any info is welcome.
Regards,
Seki
I guess I will also bring up the case for Buddha in Acarya's book as well. Again, many if not all of the similarities between Buddha and Christ I have never heard of and stil cannot find any reliable source to support it. Here is another portion by Mike Licona:
"b. Similarities to Buddha
In addition to Krishna, Ms. Murdock cites similarities between the Buddha and Jesus as an example of how Christianity has borrowed from Buddhism. As with Krishna, she lists 18 similarities Jesus shares with Buddha in The Christ Conspiracy.(34) Regarding these, I emailed Professor Chun-fang Yu, Chair of the Department of Religion at Rutgers. Dr. Yu has specialized in Buddhist studies. I listed the 18 similarities recorded by Ms. Murdock and asked if these were actual traditions of the Buddha. She replied writing, "None of the 18 [are] correct. A few, however, have some semblance of correctness but are badly distorted." She then listed a total of eight that had some similarities and provided details.(35)
Dr. Yu ended by writing, "[The woman you speak of] is totally ignorant of Buddhism. It is very dangerous to spread misinformation like this. You should not honor [Ms. Murdock] by engaging in a discussion. Please ask [her] to take a basic course in world religion or Buddhism before uttering another word about things she does not know."
It is appropriate to mention here that Ms. Murdock claims to have mastered several religions. Her book, The Christ Conspiracy claims a mastery of Christianity and her new book, Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled, with excerpts found on her web site also indicate that she believes Hinduism and Buddhism to be two other religions which she has mastered in terms of her knowledge of them. However, as we have seen, she is terribly ignorant of the actual traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. And as we are about to see, she is likewise mistaken when it comes to her understanding of Christianity."
Again any info is welcome.
Regards,
Seki
I don't really know all the teensy details of ANY religion.... I must say, this is rather compelling. I did some poking around....still don't know one way or the other.... this site addressed some points...
edit: okay, this site looks owned by the person who wrote the book... I HATE that. http://www.truthbeknown.com/kcrucified.htm
I found a discussion on infidelguy.com
Just curious, but are you saying ALL the gods are real? Or none of them? Or are you just concerned about the spread of misinformation? Cause I hate misinformation, and I do what I can to stop it.
It's just.....I don't really CARE in a major way which resurrected son/sun gods are similar to whom. I care, I just wouldn't devote a lot of effort trying to PROVE or DISPROVE it.
I only wonder why this is "dangerous". How can she think it "dangerous" to question and compare things? Even if Murdock was innocently wrong or purposefully lying, it's still only a comparison.
Greetings,
I apologize for the late reply. I should have looked at one of the links that you provided earlier. The links themselves gave me a clue as to where to look next.
As for the questions asked, I don't believe that any of those gods are real. Also, I am concerned about misinformation which will utlimately affect my own conclusion over what I have studied. As for proving or disproving, I guess I would say that I am a sucker for information. I love to study, and I really do not like to keep questions unanswered. Thanks again.
Regards,
Seki