Were the Gospels Based on Pagan Myths?
No, responds Timothy Paul Jones. Read his article, linked to above, if you are interested in the subject. It’s well worth your reading time. He concludes with some excellent advice:
What should you do the next time someone pulls out a pagan parallel?
(1) Locate the primary source. With the rarest of exceptions, the primary sources — that is to say, the actual ancient texts that describe the pagan practices — do not include any real parallels to the New Testament.
(2) Determine whether the supposed parallel precedes or succeeds the New Testament. Every text in the New Testament was in circulation no later than the late first century A.D. If the pagan parallel is from a text that was written later than the first century A.D., the New Testament writers obviously couldn’t have borrowed their information from that text.
(3) Determine whether the supposed pagan parallel connects to the New Testament or to later Christian traditions. Connections between pagan practices and later patterns in Christian worship or holiday celebrations may be interesting — but these links have nothing to do with whether the New Testament accounts of the life of Jesus are historically accurate.
