Exploding the Mithras Myth

In an effort to cast doubt on Christianity, skeptics will attempt to point out parallels between the beliefs and practices of Christians to those of the Roman cult of Mithras. In this article we will examine the most commonly encountered parallels and answer their claims. Lists of parallels can be found in skeptic literature or by searching the Internet and they usually appear as follows: Mithras preceded Christianity by roughly 600 years. Mithras was born on December 25. He was considered... Read More

Four Reasons I Think Jesus Really Existed

A small handful of scholars today, and a much larger group of Internet commenters, maintain that Jesus never existed. Proponents of this position, known as mythicists, claim that Jesus is a purely mythical figure invented by the writers of the New Testament (or its later copyists.) In this post I’ll offer the top four reasons (from weakest to strongest) that convince me Jesus of Nazareth was a real person without relying on the Gospel accounts of his life. 4. It is the mainstream position... Read More

Horus Manure: Debunking the Jesus/Horus Connection

Many atheists, neo-pagans, and other disbelievers of Christianity claim the story of Jesus Christ was borrowed from earlier mythologies. In recent years, a claim has been making the rounds that Jesus is based on the Egyptian god, Horus. Who was Horus? Horus is one of the oldest recorded deities in the ancient Egyptian religion. Often depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon head, Horus was believed to be the god of the sun and of war. Initially he appeared as a local god, but over time... Read More

No Naysayers at NASA: Responding to Bob Seidensticker

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post from Fr. Dwight Longenecker is in response to atheist Bob Seidensticker's post yesterday titled 10 Reasons to Just Say Nay to the Naysayer Hypothesis.   Atheist Bob Seidensticker has a quip at the bottom of yesterday's blog post which reads, “If a million people say a foolish thing it is still a foolish thing.” I couldn’t agree more, and we should remember this as we read the rest of his post. His basic argument is this:   “Apologists tell us... Read More

10 Reasons to Just Say Nay to the Naysayer Hypothesis

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today we share our first atheist guest post. It's from Bob Seidensticker who writes for the Patheos Atheist Channel at Cross Examined. Be sure to read Fr. Dwight Longenecker's reply: No Naysayers at NASA: Responding to Bob Seidensticker.   Apologists tell us that the gospels were written at a time when many disciples—the eyewitnesses—were still alive. If they heard an inaccurate story, they’d say, “I was there, and that’s not the way it happened!” They’d... Read More

Jesus Would Have Been an Atheist?

In a recent interview with The Guardian, popular atheist Richard Dawkins made a strange and audacious claim:   "I wrote [an] article called ‘Atheists for Jesus,’ I think it was...Somebody gave me a t-shirt: ‘Atheists for Jesus.’ Well, the point was that Jesus was a great moral teacher and I was suggesting that somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known what we know today."   His proposal, of course, gives rise to the question, what new... Read More

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