The Origins of Christianity and
the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ
Part 1
by Acharya S
Was Jesus a man, myth or God?
The answers may surprise you.
Introduction
Around the world over the centuries, much has been written about religion, its meaning, its relevance and contribution to
humanity. In the West particularly, sizable tomes have been composed speculating upon the nature and historical background of the main character
of Western religions, Jesus Christ. Many have tried to dig into the precious few clues as to Jesus's identity and come up with a biographical
sketch that either bolsters faith or reveals a more human side of this godman to which we can all relate. Obviously, considering the time and
energy spent on them, the subjects of Christianity and its legendary founder are very important to the Western mind and culture.
The Controversy
Despite all of this literature continuously being cranked out and the significance of the issue, in the public at large there
is a serious lack of formal and broad education regarding religion and mythology, and most individuals are highly uninformed in this area.
Concerning the issue of Christianity, for example, the majority of people are taught in most schools and churches that Jesus Christ was an actual
historical figure and that the only controversy regarding him is that some people accept him as the Son of God and the Messiah, while others do
not. However, whereas this is the raging debate most evident in this field today, it is not the most important. Shocking as it may seem to the
general populace, the most enduring and profound controversy in this subject is whether or not a person named Jesus Christ ever really
existed.
Although this debate may not be evident from publications readily found in popular bookstores1, when one examines this issue closely, one will find a tremendous volume of literature that demonstrates, logically and
intelligently, time and again that Jesus Christ is a mythological character along the same lines as the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sumerian,
Phoenician, Indian or other godmen, who are all presently accepted as myths rather than historical figures2. Delving deeply into this large body of work, one uncovers evidence that the Jesus character is based upon much older
myths and heroes from around the globe. One discovers that this story is not, therefore, a historical representation of a Jewish rebel
carpenter who had physical incarnation in the Levant 2,000 years ago. In other words, it has been demonstrated continually for centuries that
this character, Jesus Christ, was invented and did not depict a real person who was either the "son of God" or was "evemeristically" made into
a superhuman by enthusiastic followers3.
History and Positions of the Debate
This controversy has existed from the very beginning, and the writings of the "Church Fathers" themselves reveal that they
were constantly forced by the pagan intelligentsia to defend what the non-Christians and other Christians ("heretics")4 alike saw as a preposterous and fabricated yarn with absolutely no evidence of it ever having taken place in history. As
Rev. Robert Taylor says, "And from the apostolic age downwards, in a never interrupted succession, but never so strongly and emphatically as
in the most primitive times, was the existence of Christ as a man most strenuously denied."5 Emperor Julian, who, coming after the reign of the fanatical and murderous "good Christian" Constantine, returned rights
to pagan worshippers, stated, "If anyone should wish to know the truth with respect to you Christians, he will find your impiety to be made up
partly of the Jewish audacity, and partly of the indifference and confusion of the Gentiles, and that you have put together not the best, but
the worst characteristics of them both."6 According to these learned dissenters, the New Testament could rightly be called, "Gospel Fictions."7
A century ago, mythicist Albert Churchward said, "The canonical gospels can be shown to be a collection of sayings from the
Egyptian Mythos and Eschatology."8 In Forgery in Christianity, Joseph Wheless states, "The gospels are all priestly forgeries over a century after
their pretended dates."9 Those who concocted some of the hundreds of "alternative" gospels and epistles that were being kicked about during the
first several centuries C.E. have even admitted that they had forged the documents.10 Forgery during the first centuries of the Church's existence was admittedly rampant, so common in fact that a new
phrase was coined to describe it: "pious fraud."11 Such prevarication is confessed to repeatedly in the Catholic Encyclopedia.12 Some of the "great" church fathers, such as Eusebius13, were determined by their own peers to be unbelievable liars who regularly wrote their own fictions of
what "the Lord" said and did during "his" alleged sojourn upon the earth.14
The Proof
The assertion that Jesus Christ is a myth can be proved not only through the works of dissenters and "pagans" who knew the
truth - and who were viciously refuted or murdered for their battle against the Christian priests and "Church Fathers" fooling the masses with
their fictions - but also through the very statements of the Christians themselves, who continuously disclose that they knew Jesus Christ was a
myth founded upon more ancient deities located throughout the known ancient world. In the infamous quote he attributes to Pope Leo X in his play from 1564, Bishop of Ossory John Bale appears to be suggesting that the Pope was privy to the
truth based on his high rank: "What profit has not that fable of Christ brought us!"15 (Emphasis added.) As Wheless says, "The proofs of my indictment are marvellously easy."
The Gnostics
From their own admissions, the early Christians were incessantly under criticism by scholars of great repute who were impugned
as "heathens" by their Christian adversaries. This group included many Gnostics, who strenuously objected to the carnalization of their deity, as
the Christians can be shown to have taken many of the characteristics of their god and godman from the Gnostics, meaning "Ones who know," a loose
designation applied to members of a variety of esoteric schools and brotherhoods. The refutations of the Christians against the Gnostics reveal
that the Christian godman was an insult to the Gnostics, who held that their god could never take human form.16
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